Ecuador, 1982

Sir, I would ask you to transmit to Mr. Hollai,

President of the General Assembly, the greetings

of my country, together with our best wishes for

complete success in the conduct of the work of

this session of the General Assembly, a success

assured by his prestige and experience in the

Organization. I also greet the Secretary-Genera),

who comes from our Latin American region, elected

last December to the elevated responsibility that

the international community has entrusted to him,

for the furtherance of peace and the

strengthening of the United Nations. I also wish

to place on record our profound gratitude to and

praise for Mr. Kittani, the esteemed President of

the thirty-sixth session. His efforts during the

prolonged work of the thirty- sixth session will

always be recalled as an example of selfless

devotion to the cause of the United Nations.

138. World problems have worsened considerably

in the midst of an atmosphere laden with growing

tension, constant collective insecurity,

aggressions that are neither punished nor stopped

and an acute inter¬national economic crisis. The

world panorama has darkened over the past year as

a result of the dangers that confront peace,

while the measures adopted by the Organization to

alleviate this state of tension and insecurity

have not brought about the expected results. The

realization of the noble purposes of the United

Nations has, as at no time before, eluded the

reach of the peoples, who anxiously contemplate

the permanent weakening of the resolutions of the

General Assembly and the non-implementation of

the decisions of the Security Council. Let us

recall that mankind put its trust and its hope in

the United Nations in order to for save

succeeding generations from the scourge of

warfare . If the Organization shows itself

ineffectual in attaining that objective, the

perspectives will become increasingly distressing.

139. For that reason, Ecuador urgently appeals

to the Governments of Member States, and

prin¬cipally to the great Powers, to act in

compliance with their responsibilities and

display the political will needed to give

substance to the measures adopted by the

Organization. That political will is an essential

requirement for the restoration of a climate of

inter¬national understanding and the removal of

the dangers that loom over the future of mankind.

140. To face up to those perspectives, Ecuador

comes to this new session to reaffirm its

position of adherence to the basic principles of

its international policy, outstanding among which

are those relating to the sovereign equality of

States, non-intervention, the rejection of the

threat or use of force in international

relations, the non-recognition of territorial

conquests obtained by force, the peaceful

settlement of disputes, international

co-operation, respect for human rights, and the

rejection of racial discrimination, apartheid,

colonialism and neo colonialism.

141. The joint declarations of the President

of Ecuador and the Presidents of Brazil,

Venezuela and Colombia on the occasion of the

visits made in the course of 1982 by the

Ecuadorian President to those brother countries,

as well as the declaration signed by nine heads

of State from Latin America and Spain on the

occasion of the recent transfer of power in

Colom¬bia, reaffirm adherence to those principles

and indicate the guidelines of Ecuador's

international policy.

142. In the firm belief that peace is possible

only through the observance of those fundamental

prin¬ciples of the legal system of the United

Nations, Ecuador continues to call for the

immediate withdrawal of foreign forces from

territories that do not belong to them, in

Afghanistan as well as in Lebanon and all of the

Middle East, and in Cyprus, Kampuchea, Namibia or

any other territory where forces of occupa¬tion

are to be found.

143. Ecuador has condemned the aggression

against Lebanon as well as the execrable

massacres of hun¬dreds of Palestinians that

recently occurred in west Beirut, and it has

requested that an appropriate investi¬gation be

made in order to determine responsibilities. It

has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the

invading forces as well as the cessation of

hostilities in order to put an end to the loss of

human lives and the destruction of that martyred

country. The Lebanese people must remain free

from any foreign interference so that they may

decide their own destiny in a sovereign and

democratic manner and so that their intrinsic and

inalienable right to live in peace is respected.

Similarly, Ecuador reiterates the basic need to

find a solution to the problem of the Palestinian

people, who have the right to establish

themselves in their own territory, a right to

self-determination and a right to participate on

an equal footing with the other countries of the

region in international negotia¬tions aimed at

finding a just, definitive and compre¬hensive

solution to this serious situation.

144. In this respect, Ecuador has considered with

interest the new proposals aimed at the full

recognition of the basic rights of the

Palestinian people and the need to give effect to

United Nations decisions, particularly those of

the Security Council. In fact, and in accordance

with the latter, the search for practical

measures that would meet the just claims of the

Palestinians and reaffirm respect for the

sovereignty, political independence and

territorial integrity of all States in the region

continues to be the urgent aim of the

international community in the Middle East.

145. Ecuador lives within a democratic system

with full respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms as laid down in its

Constitution and in relevant international

instruments. My country upholds the need for

universal respect for human rights without the

selectivity as to their violations that leads to

covering up in certain regions what is criticized

in others. It also maintains that it is proper

for each State member of the international

community to report of its own accord and in such

international forums as this on the observance of

those rights within their borders.

146. In this regard, the Constitutional

President of Ecuador, Mr. Osvaldo Hurtado, stated

at the opening of the session of the Ecuadorian

Parliament this year that

for ... the Government has scrupulously respected

public freedoms in such a manner that it can

proudly report that in the course of the past

year no act tending to limit them has occurred.

The political parties, the trade unions, the

chambers of commerce and the information media

have been given the widest guaranty’s for the

exercise of their activities.

147. The Charter of Conduct signed at Riobamba

in 1980 by the Presidents of the countries of the

Andean Group, as well as Panama, Costa Rica and

Spaing reaffirms the commitment by which respect

for human, political, economic and social rights

constitutes a fundamental norm for the internal

conduct of States, and notes that joint action in

the defense of such rights does not violate the

principle of non-interven¬tion. It also

reiterates the need to promote the settle¬ment of

disputes among the countries of the Andean Group,

or between them and third parties, by peaceful

means, and it provides for a subregional and

regional process which, inspired by the premises

contained in the 1974 Ayacucho Declaration/for

constitutes an effective contribution to general

and complete disarm¬ament and thus makes it

possible to release resources for economic and

social development.

148. The multiple world problems and the

disputes of every kind that exist in various

regions, including those of a territorial

character, seriously affect world peace and

security and are consequently of interest to the

community of nations.

149. In the specific case of the American

continent, the territorial problems that sail

exist in Central and South America which, we

could assert, involve almost all States of the

region, hamper the co-ordination of an

international policy that would make it possible

to attend to a)l existing problems and to obtain

the co-operation required to solve them.

150. There exists a serious territorial

problem between Ecuador and Peru, dating back to

the time when our peoples acceded to independent

life. The problem was aggravated when, by force

and by the occupation of Ecuadorian territory,

the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro was imposed on

us, By virtue of which Ecuador was deprived of

the Amazonian territories to which my country is

entitled in accordance with unimpeachable legal

titles.

151. Ecuador has always advocated and will not

cease to seek a peaceful and honorable solution

of justice and equity to that problem, one that

recognizes its Amazonian rights. That is why it

renews from this rostrum its invitation to Peru

t& lend its loyal and effective participation to

establishing as soon as possible the climate

indispensable for understanding between the two

countries and for the initiation, as soon as such

a design is consolidated, of negotiations aimed

at the earliest and definitive solution of the

dispute that separates them, without conditions

that might prejudge the results of the

negotiations and with the assistance of the

countries that are most closely linked to the

preservation of peace and the search for harmony

between the parties. This neces¬sary atmosphere

for negotiation has been seriously disturbed by

the warlike events of January and Feb¬ruary 1981

and by other later incidents, but the full

re-establishment of such an atmosphere is

hampered above all by the acts of appropriation

of the territories under dispute that Peru has

since that time been intensifying and by which it

is attempting to pass off the territorial dispute

it maintains with Ecuador as having been resolved

in favor of its own unilateral pretensions.

152. As a result, I reiterate the reservation

that Ecuador expressed before the Assembly at the

31st meeting of the thirty-sixth session with

regard to its rights of territorial sovereignty

over the undefined border zone extending to the

east of the Condor Range to the effect that

whatever acts and works Peru may have carried

out, as well as those it is currently undertaking

and those it may undertake in future, in no case

will Ecuador agree to the sitting of the

landmarks that Peru claims in that Range, which

is not mentioned as a border line in any

instrument between the two countries, not even in

the so-called Rio Protocol that was imposed upon

Ecuador in 1942 after the armed invasion of 1941

and under conditions that included the occupation

of part of its territory.

153. As a country of the Amazon region,

Ecuador fulfils its role under the Treaty of

Amazonian Co-oper¬ation among the eight countries

whose territory makes up the water basin of the

great river that was discov¬ered by the

expedition organized in the sixteenth century

from Guayaquil and Quito.

154. Because of its vocation for peace,

Ecuador has supported all disarmament resolutions

at past sessions of the General Assembly, in

particular those resolu¬tions calling for nuclear

disarmament and for the prohibition of nuclear

tests. We must reiterate our total condemnation

of the unbridled arms race—if only because of a

basic instinct for the preservation of human life

on our planet, which belongs as much to the

non-nuclear as to the nuclear countries. We have

supported resolutions calling for the

reallocation of the astronomical sums spent for

military purposes worldwide to be used for the

development of the poor countries, a development

which is essential for the establishment of the

new international economic order. In that

connection, we have enthusiastically supported

the inclusion in the agenda of the additional

item concerning the relationship between

disarmament and development.

155. On the other hand, we deplore the lack of

political will on the part of the great Powers,

which prevented the General Assembly at the

second special session devoted to disarmament

from even ratifying the points agreed on during

the first such special session.

156. There are, of course, other important

factors that have to be taken into account in the

maintenance of peace and the promotion of the

integral development of nations, such as the

elimination of economic aggression and of theillegal

exploitation of natural resources belonging to

other peoples, the changing of unfair terms of

trade, and the elimination of all kinds of

coercive measures.

157. The United Nations Conference on the Law

of the Sea highlighted the evolution of one

aspect of international law, which began 30 years

ago with the Santiago Declaration, in which

Ecuador, Chile and Peru proclaimed sovereignty

and jurisdiction over the sea along their coasts

to a distance of 200 miles. That legal position

has become universal. The new law of the sea

recognizes wide-ranging and specific rights of

sovereignty of the coastal States over the

natural resources in the adjacent waters, on the

sea-bed and in the subsoil thereof in that

200-mile zone. The recognition that the sea-bed

beyond the limits of national jurisdiction

constitutes the common heritage of mankind is

also an irreversible victory. Much has been

gained. But further progress is necessary to

achieve definitive protection of all the rights

of peo¬ples which, like that of Ecuador, have

been exercising their rights over their seas

without violating any of the norms of

international law.

158. Similarly, in the face of the

unacceptable claim by the space Powers that it is

the right of the first occupant to place

satellites in geostationary orbit, Ecuador has

maintained that the special rights of the

equatorial countries must be recognized for the

benefit of the developing world and in view of

the determina¬tion to keep outer space an area of

peace and co-oper¬ation for scientific and

technical progress in the service of all mankind,

and especially the developing countries, was

reaffirmed in the Declaration of Equatorial

States, which met at Quito in April of this year.

Ecuador will continue to maintain that position.

159. Disarmament is closely linked with the

peaceful settlement of international disputes,

which is an element essential to understanding

among countries and the strengthening of world

peace and security. In every forum of which it is

a member—international, regional and

subregional—Ecuador advocates peaceful

settlement. All disputes between States, both

present and future, must be settled solely by

peaceful means, without interference and without

anything being imposed from outside. We therefore

maintain that the United Nations must redouble

its efforts in this regard.

160. Our country has accordingly supported the

draft Manila Declaration on the Peaceful

Settlement of International Disputes, designed

to strengthen and make more effective the system

of the peaceful settle¬ment of disputes between

States, in accordance with an initiative, in

which Ecuador took part from the beginning, in

the Special Committee on the Charter of the

United Nations and on the Strengthening of the

Role of the Organization. We have also pointed

out the advisability of establishing a body

empowered to co-operate with the parties to a

dispute in the search for a peaceful settlement

at the request of any of them, so that full use

may thus be made of the possibilities afforded by

the Charter for that purpose.

161. Among the increasingly important forums

in which Ecuador participates is the non-aligned

move¬ment, which it joined over a year ago,

although it had endorsed the principles and

policies of the movement ever since the Belgrade

meeting of 1961, because of our wishes for the

consolidation of peace and inter¬national

co-operation, in accordance with Ecuador's

foreign policy, which is independent, and free

from any influence, with respect for ideological

pluralism, and seeks to maintain friendly

relations with all coun¬tries. For the sake of

adequately coordinating the foreign policies of

countries with the greatest historical, political

and cultural affinities, the President of Ecuador

has proposed that the Foreign Ministers of the

Latin American countries join together in a

com¬mittee on co-ordination, which would be an

essential step in strengthening Latin American

unity and soli¬darity. At the subregional level,

Ecuador is an active participant in the

integration process among the Andean countries

which are parties to the Cartagena Agreement.

162. The International Development Strategy

was conceived in response to the new approach of

a world of co-operation, and to promote a new

stage of global economic growth which would

benefit all and which would accentuate the

activities and benefits of peace in relation to

the many development tasks which involve the

fulfillment of the world's needs in the fields of

education, health, housing, productivity, sources

of energy, transport and communications.

Consequently, Ecuador trusts that, in the

Assembly, the political will which is

indispensable for the pro¬gress of the global

negotiations will be forthcoming form the

industrialized countries and that a system of

world economic relations will be arrived at

reflecting the principles of equity, sovereignty,

equality, inter¬dependence and co-operation among

States that are the basis of the new

international economic order. We cannot watch

with indifference the increasingly serious

broadening of the gaps that separate the poor

coun¬tries from the rich countries, with respect

to access to the sources of capital and to

markets, and to the transfer of technology, while

inflation and unemploy¬ment afflict the whole

international community, the harshest effects

being felt by the weakest.

163. The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties

of States must be effectively implemented in

order to establish just and equitable bases for

international economic relations. To that end it

is also necessary to revitalize the Economic and

Social Council, a principal organ of the United

Nations, where the crucial questions of our time

should be debated. The Council should contribute

to consolidating and making more coherent the

whole system of specialized agen¬cies,

development funds and operative programmes

created and consolidated over the past three

decades. It must also follow up the resolutions

of the General Assembly as well as those of the

Council itself and of its Commissions. This

covers the major part of the work of the United

Nations, since 80 per cent of the activities of

the system are in the economic and social fields.

164. In this respect, it is appropriate to

mention that the Committee on Information,

created by the Assembly, has succeeded in

adopting by an admirable and encouraging

consensus 42 recommendations [see <4/37/2/, para.

9/], which we hope the General Assembly will

endorse. They include an appeal to the powerful

world communications media to back up the efforts

of the international community to ensure global

development, and in particular the efforts of the

developing countries to achieve their own

economic, social and cultural development.

165. While the global negotiations are going

on, Member States will have to prepare plans and

projects, as well as train personnel, with the

support of oper¬ational programmes such as UNDP,

whose charac¬teristics of universality,

formulation of programmes by Governments and

financing by voluntary contributions as well as

its 32 years' experience all combine to make it

the ideal instrument to meet the real needs of

world development. That is why its activities

must be trebled, which is possible if the major

countries respond to the General Assembly's

appeals to increase their con¬tributions by 14

per cent. Ecuador, for its part, has done so. The

developing countries have made a significant

increase in their contributions, and there is

growing South-South co-operation in the economic

and technical fields. The world multilateral

system of technical co-operation and

pre-investment is the most commendable, because

of its political independence, its objectivity,

its flexibility and its experience. We reject any

attempt to orient it towards the governing of the

programmes of some States by others, which would

be intolerable.

166. Together with technical co-operation and

pre- investment, which link the transfer of

technology with economic development, from

investment to productivity, trade must be an

instrument of justice between countries, through

agreement on equitable prices and theelimination

of discriminatory barriers. It is also necessary

to stress the multilateral process of trading,

because this contributes to the preservation of

the independence of peoples and prevents the

anachronistic exploitation and dependence which

often accompany bilateral aid. All this must

continue to be considered in international

forums, so that exports from developing countries

may earn a fair remuneration and maintain sources

of employment for the inhabitants of those

countries. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming

session of UNCTAD will result in new approaches,

understandings and decisions which will ensure

the dynamics of development for the countries of

the third world.

167. Although Ecuador is not a contracting

party to GATT, it has always been interested in

its activities, since GATT's main objective is

the reduction of barriers to international trade

and the preparation of rules which will enable it

to be regulated according to equitable and just

terms. However, GATT has not yet succeeded in

solving the problems which affect the trade of

the developing countries, such as quantita¬tive

restrictions and the increased protectionist

measures which are applied to the products of

which the developing countries are major

exporters.

168. We have expressed our concern about the

suggested ways of differentiating between

developing countries in granting preferential

treatment, since the concept of graduation, which

the countries granting the preferences seek to

introduce, is incompatible with the basic norms

of the generalized system of preferences. Ecuador

has spoken of the advisability of examining a

system of safeguards under conditions and on the

basis of criteria that are mutually agreed and

are supplemented by a multilateral mechanism of

control and monitoring. The forthcoming GATT

ministerial meeting will be an opportunity to

reach concrete agreements which may allow GATT to

achieve its essential objective of the attainment

of shared benefits.

169. A regrettable, anachronistic colonial

case arose this year in the South Atlantic—that

of the Malvinas Islands, where an

extra-continental Power mounted a

disproportionate punitive expedition, with the

support of other great Powers, to deny the

Argen¬tine Republic's right of sovereignty.

Ecuador, which maintained its anti-colonialist

position before, during and after that warlike

episode, has rejected the use of force and has

recalled that the principle of uti possidetis

juris of 1810 is the basis, of the territorial

reality of the American countries which gained

independence from the Spanish Crown. Ecuador has

reaffirmed its adherence to the Declaration on

the Granting of Independence to Colonial

Countries and Peoples, adopted as General

Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), paragraph 6 of

which clearly states:

Any attempt aimed at the partial or total

dis¬ruption of the national unity and the

territorial integrity of a country is

incompatible with the pur¬poses and principles of

the Charter of the United Nations.

It should not be forgotten that the islands are

located on the continental shelf of Argentina and

within the security zone established by the

Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance.

170. There is a dispute, and it must be solved

by diplomatic means. In this connection, Ecuador

supported the request for the inclusion of the

question of the Malvinas as an additional item in

the agenda of the present session submitted by 20

Foreign Ministers of Latin American countries and

Haiti so that negotiations between the Argentine

Republic and the United Kingdom may be carried

out within the framework of the United Nations

and as soon as possible.

171. That historic Treaty strengthens the

vigorous unity of the Latin American peoples,

founding mem¬bers of the United Nations and heirs

to an ancient juridical tradition which has

strengthened interna¬tional law and contributed

significantly to the forma¬tion of the United

Nations and of various regional organizations, as

they themselves have acknowledged.

172. Because our country owes to the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, the

culmination of its political inde¬pendence and

the defense of its territorial integrity, the

President of Ecuador has proclaimed as the Year

of the Bicentenary of the Liberator the period

from 24 July 1982 to 24 July 1983, at which time

the bicentenary of this great world figure of

freedom and international understanding will be

celebrated. Ecuador, together with the other

Bolivarian countries, that is, the Andean Group

and Panama, will co-operate fully in the

well-deserved tribute to be paid within the

United Nations to the universal thinking of

Bolivar.

173. When in 1822 Bolivar, as President of

Colombia, proposed to the Governments of Buenos

Aires, Chile, Mexico and Peru that they should

constitute an assembly of confederated countries,

he envisioned that this would lay the legal

foundation between the American Republics and

would come to serve as a counsel in common

dangers, a faithful interpreter of public

treaties whenever difficulties arise and,

finally, as a conciliator of our deferences .

174. These are additional reasons, revitalized

through the San Francisco Charter, upon which

Ecuador relies to reiterate its full trust in the

United Nations and to urge it once again to

intensify its efforts to attain the purposes and

objectives of the greatest legal instrument of

our time.