Argentina, 2005

I wish

to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to preside

over the General Assembly at its sixtieth session. I am

convinced that your talent will enable us to take useful

decisions. You can count on the full cooperation of my

delegation. I also thank the Secretary-General for his

efforts to renew the Organization and his work on

behalf of the international community.

This general debate is being held after the summit

to review the implementation of the Millennium Goals,

in which many heads of State or Government

participated, including the President of my country.

The work accomplished by the President at that

Meeting will help to overcome the difficulties facing

the Organization.

For the Argentine Republic, respect for the rule

of law is an essential premise. We believe that

democracy is a universal value that is not the heritage

of any country or region in particular. Day after day,

we strive to improve its quality and to ensure the rule

of law and the impartiality and independence of our

judiciary.

Mr. Singh (India), Vice-President took the Chair.

Respect for human rights, whose protective

norms form part of our Constitution, is another of our

concerns. In my country, promoting and protecting

human rights is a State policy that is part of our

democratic identity as a nation and therefore is one of

the main underpinnings of our foreign policy.

Defending the right to life and the right to dignity

of men and women throughout the world does not

allow half-hearted words or half-hearted solutions.

That is due to the importance that human rights have

acquired in the international arena as a factor in the

preservation of peace, development and democracy, as

well as in the cruel historic circumstances through

which my country had to struggle.

We can never devote too much energy to

promoting and protecting the human rights of all

peoples of the world. Intolerance, censorship, torture

and cruelty, even when they are presented as excesses

committed in the name of beliefs, deny the validity of

the forum in which we are now speaking, and they will

continue to do so as long as they exist.

In the context of its lasting commitment to

policies for social inclusion, my country, a few days

ago, adopted a national plan against discrimination. It

unconditionally supports the progress of the

negotiations currently taking place in the Organization

to achieve a comprehensive convention for people with

disabilities and hopes that work on that convention will

be completed in the course of the coming year.

International solidarity can do a great deal for

those deprived of their fundamental rights and

freedoms, especially as nobody expects such torments

to come upon them. That is why, from the start of the

discussions on United Nations reform, we have taken a

very active stance to strengthen and perfect the

universal system for the protection of human rights,

making sure that those rights occupy the central

position that is their rightful place.

There are few things in which men have not

believed — as few as those things they did not expect.

For that reason, in a country whose citizens were

allowed to think that impunity is possible, those that

survived must work to prevent history from being

repeated.

We therefore support the creation of a Human

Rights Council as an essential organ of the United

Nations and to give the issue of human rights the same

importance as that attached to development and

security. During the ongoing negotiations, Argentina

will work decisively to establish an organ that can

carry out vigorous and effective action to promote and

protect human rights in all the world.

Strengthening global justice is necessary to put a

stop to massive human rights violations, genocide and

crimes against humanity. Argentina is involved in the

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fight against impunity for those crimes and

unconditionally supports the International Criminal

Court.

We welcome the adoption of Security Council

resolution 1593 (2005), which refers the situation of

Darfur to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal

Court. That resolution represents a very important step

in the strengthening of the institutions established

under the Rome Statute. It is a historical precedent

linked to the achievement of two main goals of the

United Nations: peace and basic rights.

Argentina, which in its past suffered systematic

violations of human rights characterized by torture,

forced disappearances and summary executions of its

citizens, has taken decisive steps through its domestic

legislation to put an end to impunity. Our Supreme

Court recently ruled that the general amnesty laws

entitled “Punto Final” and “Obediencia debida” were

unconstitutional and that they were an obstacle to

attaining a postponed but necessary justice. Thus, we

join the efforts to ensure that those accountable for

crimes against humanity are tried and punished.

As the President of Argentina stated during the

recent summit, Argentina unequivocally condemns

terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, regardless

of the causes it invokes. Nothing can justify

indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians and

non-combatants. We are strongly committed to fighting

that grave threat to international peace and security.

Our response to terrorism must be ethical and

morally valid, and must therefore be carried out in full

respect of the United Nations Charter, the rule of law,

international law, human rights, refugee law and

humanitarian law.

Given that we have to protect others from fear,

we must act in accordance with the principles of

legitimacy and proportionality and with the support of

international public opinion.

Argentina, the current Chair of the Security

Council’s 1267 (1999) Committee, responsible for

monitoring implementation of the sanctions against

members of the terrorist group Al-Qaida and the

Taliban, believes that the United Nations has a central

role to play in the coordinating the efforts and the

development of international mechanisms. We must

support those endeavours, particularly through the

strict and full implementation of Security Council

resolutions.

This year, my country ratified the 1999

International Convention for the Suppression of the

Financing of Terrorism. With that ratification, it

became a State party to the 12 international

conventions to combat terrorism. And we have just

signed the International Convention for the

Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

In spite of the efforts made, there has been an

increase in the number of attacks. That requires a

careful review and assessment of the objectives,

methods and approaches employed, as well as an

important effort by the international community to

bring conflicts to an end soon, eliminate aggressive

inequalities and achieve a fairer, more rational world.

There has recently been some important

conceptual progress towards the completion of an

international convention on terrorism. We hope that

this instrument can soon be adopted.

My country — which suffered two very serious

attacks, against the Israeli embassy in 1992 and against

the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) in

Buenos Aires in 1994 — is determined to shed light on

those heinous and unjustifiable criminal acts.

Identifying and punishing the culprits is our deeply felt

duty to the innocent victims and their families. It is

also the desire of the Argentine people.

The United Nations is undergoing a reform

process that must be transparent, thorough and

adequate, and it must answer the urgent and undeniable

demands of our peoples. All main organs of the United

Nations should be thoroughly improved. The General

Assembly, the principal deliberative and decision-

taking authority, must find a way to ensure that its

voice is heard throughout the world. The Economic and

Social Council also needs to be thoroughly rethought

and restructured to make it more effective.

A vast majority has called for enhancing the

transparency and the effectiveness of the Security

Council. As part of the Uniting for Consensus

movement, Argentina will work for a Security Council

that includes new members only within the category of

non-permanent members, because we believe that we

should not create new privileges contrary to the

democratic spirit that should reign in the United

Nations. Council members should be accountable for

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their actions, and that can be achieved through periodic

elections.

For its part, the Secretariat must continue its

process of professionalization and universalization to

better ensure its accountability and effectiveness.

Peacekeeping operations are among the most

effective tools of the United Nations to bring peace and

security to troubled peoples. Argentina is strongly

committed to these operations, in which it has

participated since 1958. Currently, we are contributing

to eight of them.

In particular, I would highlight efforts being

made in Haiti in the search for a peaceful and lasting

solution to Haiti’s serious challenges. We have long

known that the response to crisis does not end with the

establishment of a peacekeeping operation. Because of

this, we have established complex operations able to

promote stable solutions in all fields: namely security;

the rule of law; justice; institution-building;

disarmament, demobilization and reintegration; social

and economic development; human rights; and

democracy.

That is why we stress the importance of

establishing a Peacebuilding Commission.

Argentina supports the goals established at the

Millennium Summit and at Johannesburg and

Monterrey. Recent progress in development financing

shows that while developing countries have made

significant efforts to reform and streamline their

economies, these efforts have not been accompanied by

measures on the part of developed countries to fulfil

the commitments adopted at those conferences.

Once again, we urge developed countries to allot

0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product for

development assistance, to open their markets and to

do away with subsidies. We support the Monterrey

Consensus provisions on reform of the international

financial system to adapt the system to the new

challenges posed by the fulfilment of the Millennium

Development Goals.

We believe in the need to study and negotiate the

creation of new international financial instruments that

will prove more efficient in the ongoing fight against

hunger and poverty.

I turn now to two topics that are of utmost

importance to Argentina: first, the international trade

situation. As the summit outcome document that we

have adopted (resolution 60/1) states, international

trade is a fundamental tool for economic and social

development. It is, therefore, imperative that we

establish fair, equitable and rule-based international

trade that is inclusive and gives priority to

development. The ongoing World Trade Organization

(WTO) negotiations in the context of the Doha

development round are of key importance. It is

essential for the WTO to promote a fair international

trade system. Developed countries must eliminate

protectionist measures in the form of subsidies,

non-tariff barriers and arbitrary standards, which

distort and limit commercial exchanges, especially in

the agricultural sector.

The sixth WTO Ministerial Conference, to be

held in Hong Kong, is drawing near, and there is still a

great deal to be done. We hope that it will enable us to

increase the indirect benefits to be gained through

growing participation by developing countries in

international trade.

Secondly, we must also deal with the question of

external debt. International bodies must adopt

effective, broad, equitable and lasting solutions to the

problem of the debt of developing countries. The

concept of sustainability of external debt must be

redefined, bearing in mind the primary responsibility

of the State to maintain and stimulate development in

sectors such as health, education and promotion of

employment. It is illogical to transform developing

countries into relatively less-developed countries so

that when the desperate moment arrives, the debt

cancellation process can begin.

In conclusion, I also wish to refer here to the

question of the Malvinas Islands. Recovery of the full

exercise of sovereignty over the Malvinas, South

Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the

surrounding maritime areas is among the national

interests that are an essential component of Argentina’s

identity as a democratic nation. All Argentines are

strongly committed to the peaceful settlement of this

dispute; this commitment is a priority of my country’s

foreign policy and is enshrined in our Constitution.

Argentina has repeatedly stated its willingness to

resume negotiations on sovereignty, as took place

between 1966 and 1982.

I wish to conclude by reiterating that we have an

opportunity to renew this Organization so that it is

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better equipped to meet the numerous demands of

humanity. Everything we can achieve today will result

in benefits for future generations. We shall cooperate

with other United Nations Members to that end with

due modesty, as any party expecting the same level of

commitment from others would cooperate.