Ecuador, 1996

I wish to extend to President Razali Ismail

Ecuador’s warm congratulations on his election, which is a

tribute to his valuable contributions to the work of our

world Organization in his capacity as Permanent

Representative of Malaysia. I wish also to convey our

thanks to Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, President of the

General Assembly at its fiftieth session, for the fruitful

work he accomplished.

I wish to express to the delegation of Bulgaria the

heartfelt condolences of the Government of Ecuador for

the irreparable loss it has suffered with the killing of

former Prime Minister Lukanov. Our condolences go also

to the family and friends of that eminent man.

On the threshold of the twenty-first century, we

remain immersed in a process of profound change on the

international scene, resulting from the end of the

ideological confrontation between East and West. We are

seeing the emergence of new opportunities for peace-

building, for the strengthening of development, for the

diffusion of democracy and for stepped-up international

cooperation, especially politically. Ecuador believes that

we should take maximum advantage of these positive

factors and use them as a basis on which to devise the

most ambitious programme possible for the coming years,

with the goal of a world of equity and justice, a world in

which future generations can live well, in secure

conditions, at peace with themselves and with the

environment on which their very survival depends.

In these circumstances, the essential objective of our

Organization, as established in the Charter, remains the

same: the maintenance of international peace and security.

To attain this objective, it is imperative that all Member

States reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles

enshrined in the Charter. Most fundamentally, this means

banning the threat or use of force against the territorial

integrity or the political independence of any State, as

well as the obligation to settle international disputes

exclusively by peaceful means. The larger goal of

international security should be seen as embracing the

political, economic and social conditions in which all

nations develop.

While the danger of worldwide nuclear destruction

has receded, Ecuador continues to maintain that

preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons is not an

end in itself, but an intermediate step towards the ultimate

objective of totally banning and completely destroying all

nuclear weapons. Ecuador regrets that the Conference on

Disarmament was unable to adopt by consensus the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). It takes

the view, however, that the text supported by most States,

which has been endorsed by the General Assembly and

opened for signature by States, is an important step

towards that objective. Ecuador has signed that

instrument. Although it is not the ideal instrument for

which the Conference on Disarmament was striving, it

would be a mistake to start this long and arduous process

all over again. Ecuador will also continue to work for

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general and complete disarmament, which will eliminate

once and for all the grave danger inherent in weapons of

mass destruction and end the squandering of scarce national

resources on weapons.

Ecuador voted in favour of resolution 49/75 K, by

which the General Assembly requested the International

Court of Justice to issue an Advisory Opinion as to whether

international law authorizes the threat or use of nuclear

weapons in any circumstances. We welcome the Court’s

unanimous finding that

“There is in neither customary nor conventional

international law any specific authorization of the

threat or use of nuclear weapons.”

The finding also states that

“A threat or use of force by means of nuclear

weapons that is contrary to Article 2, paragraph 4, of

the United Nations Charter and that fails to meet all

the requirements of Article 51, is unlawful.”

In its finding, the Court also expresses the view that

“There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and

bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear

disarmament in all its aspects under strict and

effective international control.”

The Government of Ecuador believes that the General

Assembly should endorse these views, which form a basis

for the continued work of the international community to

bring about the definitive banning of nuclear weapons.

Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations;

organized international crime; and the production,

consumption and trafficking of all illicit drugs continue to

pose grave threats that undermine international stability and

the security and well-being of society in general. To

eradicate these evils, we need a coordinated and persistent

international effort in which all States should be involved,

in accordance with their capacity and with their degree of

responsibility. In this regard, Ecuador is complying

appropriately with its obligations.

We are currently experiencing the rapid globalization

and interdependence of the world economy, which requires

the adoption of rational domestic policies and a favourable

international economic environment. At present, the

promotion of economic development is reflected in the

liberalization of trade agreements and the establishment of

an open multilateral commercial system. This new state

of affairs has favourable effects; however, in certain

circumstances, it produces adverse consequences. For that

reason it is imperative that policies and the international

environment be structured so as to derive maximum

benefit from these trends and minimize the negative

effects. Ecuador is mindful of this situation, but would

also like to stress the need, as expressed by the Heads of

State and Government in the Declaration on the Occasion

of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, to

“Invigorate the dialogue and partnership between all

countries in order to secure the existence of a

favourable political and economic environment for

the promotion of international cooperation for

development based on the imperatives of mutual

benefit and interest and genuine interdependence,

while recognizing that each country is ultimately

responsible for its own development”. (resolution

50/6, para. 8)

In this regard, direct foreign investment in developing

countries is particular important because it accelerates the

economic process to the benefit of both the investors and

of the recipient economies.

The United Nations should continue to be an

important catalyst in support of the economic and social

development of the developing countries and of the

disadvantaged and marginalized sectors. The world

Organization has sponsored global conferences to address

vital problems related to the environment, population,

social development, crime, the advancement of women,

the protection of the family, human settlements, trade and

development, and public administration. The

recommendations and initiatives adopted at those

conferences have set genuine priorities for the

international community in the promotion of development.

Nevertheless, what has been achieved to date in many of

these fields is still uneven and insufficient. Therefore,

Ecuador reaffirms that, in order to effectively implement

these decisions, there needs to be a rapid mobilization of

the resources for development, as well as a more efficient

use of those resources. Without such an international

commitment, all the conferences’ recommendations and

other similar pronouncements will only enlarge the

overloaded archives of our foreign ministries. Given the

persistence of such environmental problems as the lack of

drinking water, threats to biological diversity, the

depletion of the ozone layer, the warming of the

atmosphere, the diminishing soil productivity,

desertification and diminishing food security,

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Governments of both industrialized and developing

countries must take joint, concerted action.

Ecuador, faithful to its democratic traditions, has

recently provided an example of a transparent electoral

process and of respect for the popular will. As a result,

President Abdalá Bucaram was elected to lead the country,

and for the first time in Ecuadorian history, a woman, Mrs.

Rosal'a Arteaga, has been elected Vice-President of the

Republic. The new Administration’s first and principal

actions are focused on social policies, especially on

combating poverty and on a wide-ranging national

programme of low-cost housing.

Given its faith in the will of the people, Ecuador

welcomes the growing trend towards democratization: more

and more countries have adopted multi-party systems,

organized free and fair elections and begun to transform

themselves into more open and participative societies.

However, Ecuador also believes that this process does not

happen spontaneously but requires the understanding and

support of the international community so as to create and

sustain conditions conducive to such changes. In other

words, democracy and hunger are antithetical elements that

cannot exist together.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action —

which is steadily gaining practical force and

effectiveness — reaffirm the solemn commitment of all

States to promote and protect all human rights and

fundamental freedoms. The interrelationship between human

rights, democracy and development articulated in that

Declaration and Programme, calls for a comprehensive and

global approach to ensure the promotion and protection of

human rights.

In the Declaration on the Occasion of the Fiftieth

Anniversary of the United Nations, the Heads of State and

Government reaffirmed that all human rights are universal,

indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. They made a

commitment, among other things, to protect all human

rights and fundamental freedoms; to strengthen laws,

policies and programmes to secure the full and equal

participation of women in all spheres of political, civil,

economic, social and cultural life; to promote and protect

the rights of the child; to ensure protection of the rights of

people who are particularly vulnerable, including young

people, the disabled, the elderly and migrant workers; and

to promote and protect the rights of indigenous populations.

Ecuador considers that human rights has become one of the

most important spheres of United Nations action. It

supports the work of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights in his efforts to carry

out this broad and important programme of activities.

It should be recalled that economic and social

problems are not restricted to the most disadvantaged

countries. A number of societies are seriously threatened

by increasing external debt, the instability of the

international financial system, persistent unemployment,

intractable poverty and increasingly destructive waves of

crime and corruption. The inequality gap between

developed and developing countries remains unacceptably

large and continues to widen. More than 1 billion people

lack drinking water, and 1.7 billion do not have access to

proper health facilities. This means that poverty continues

to affect more than one fifth of the world’s population.

Hunger, malnutrition, health problems, a total lack of

housing, limited access to education and other public

services and resources, social exclusion, alienation and

violence are only a few of the many factors associated

with poverty. The fight against this scourge is one of the

greatest challenges that the United Nations and its

specialized agencies must face in close cooperation with

non-governmental organizations and the international

community as a whole. Since 1990, commitments have

been made and goals established, with a view to

achieving the overall objective of eradicating poverty in

partnership with all the actors associated with

development. In this context, and from this lofty rostrum,

Ecuador would like to issue an urgent appeal to all

Member States to intensify international cooperation, in

its many aspects, in order to fight vigorously together to

ensure that these commitments and goals have practical

and effective application. We must remember that poverty

is not only a malady which destroys the societies directly

affected, it is also a corrosive contagion that prevents

international relations from developing on a basis of

justice and equity.

Ecuador is a multi-ethnic country with sizeable and

important indigenous groups and significant black

minorities. For this reason, it considers that the

International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People,

declared by this General Assembly, establishes a

programme of action that will restore the rights of those

peoples, which have systematically been victims of a long

historical process of exclusion and discrimination. We

believe it is incumbent on the entire international

community to build universal understanding of the fact

that protecting those populations also means preserving

the cultural heritage of humankind. Ecuador trusts that it

can rely on international cooperation in order to

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appropriately fulfil its obligation in this respect, in

coordination with its national programmes.

The founders of the United Nations must have realized

that they could not foresee exactly what the world would be

like 50 years hence. On the other hand, they established

basic objectives and principles and incorporated them in a

Charter that is sufficiently flexible to enable the

Organization to serve its peaceful objectives and to evolve

in response to new challenges. This is why the Charter, and

its purposes and principles, has endured. However, today’s

changed circumstances, which determine the functioning of

the United Nations, demand a modification in the structure

and the operational practices of our Organization. It is

necessary, among other things, to increase the United

Nations capacity to prevent conflicts through preventive

diplomacy, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. We need better

ways and means to respond to the challenges of emergency

situations. And, along with all of this, it is essential to fully

carry out the work of economic and social development.

The General Assembly must be revitalized as the pre-

eminent organ in which all Member States exercise on an

equal footing their rights and duties as set forth in the

Charter. Equitable representation in the Security Council

must be assured, and its size must be in proportion with the

number of Member States. It must cease being an elitist

organ with antidemocratic privileges, and the efficiency and

transparency of its work must be enhanced. The Economic

and Social Council must regain its essential original

functions as set out in the Charter: primarily, to promote

well-being and to improve living standards for all the

inhabitants of the Earth. The current financial crisis is

seriously affecting the United Nations ability to fulfil the

lofty objectives set forth in the Charter. The greatest

debtors should set an example of their readiness to fulfil

their obligations. Only if there is a general willingness to

provide the United Nations with the resources it needs, as

well as the necessary political support, will it be possible

for the global Organization to live up to the trust and hopes

that humankind has vested in it.

I wish to inform the General Assembly that since the

last session, as regards the peacemaking process being

carried out pursuant to the Itamaraty Declaration between

Ecuador and Peru, and with the participation of the

guarantor countries — Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the

United States — several meetings have taken place at both

the diplomatic and military levels. At these there has been

significant progress, progress that my delegation regards as

conducive to finalizing the procedures for discussions on

the substance of the border dispute between the two

countries. The Government of Ecuador will continue to

work towards the achievement of the ultimate goal, which

is no less than a fair, definitive and honourable solution

to the problem.