Panama, 2001

The

Republic of Panama welcomes with particular pleasure

the election of Mr. Han Seung-soo as President of the

fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly, and wishes

to assure him of our fullest cooperation in the sensitive

work with which he is entrusted. It is also a pleasure

for us to express the deep satisfaction of the

Government of Panama at the well-deserved honour of

the award of the Nobel Peace Prize jointly to the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi

Annan, and to the Organization itself.

As we participate today in this forum, we are still

reeling from the impact of the terrifying terrorist acts

carried out on 11 September in New York, Washington,

D.C., and Pennsylvania. These crimes against humanity

will never be forgotten, and, as a tribute to the

thousands of innocent victims of these senseless

attacks, the United Nations must take whatever

measures are necessary to legitimize any multilateral

action that will have to be taken in future to neutralize

the threat of international terrorism.

The Republic of Panama, as a State Member of

the United Nations, fully respects the mandates issued

by the Organization, and, therefore, we are pleased to

state here unambiguously that every resource available

to us has been directed to fulfil our responsibilities in

the war against terrorism.

Similarly, we support the Security Council

Committee set up under resolution 1373 (2001),

chaired by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Sir Jeremy

Greenstock. We propose to remain in communication

with him on an ongoing basis.

The Government of Panama, under the leadership

of President Mireya Moscoso, is prepared vigorously to

implement the provisions contained in all United

Nations instruments on international terrorism. To that

end, we will soon submit to our Legislative Assembly

the four United Nations instruments that have not yet

been ratified by our country, together with the

International Convention for the Suppression of the

Financing of Terrorism of December 1999, which we

have just signed here. Likewise, we will ratify, as soon

as possible, the Rome Statute creating the International

Criminal Court.

In parallel with the joint actions taken against

terrorism in conformity with the many relevant United

Nations Conventions and resolutions of the General

Assembly and the Security Council, and in order to

address terrorist activities, we respectfully appeal to all

to set aside any differences that may have arisen in July

in respect of the problem of massive illegal trade in

small arms and light weapons. It is well known that the

ultimate beneficiaries of this deadly traffic are not only

rebel movements — sometimes sponsored by other

nations — but also notorious terrorist groups. That is

why Panama reiterates the position it maintained

during the Conference: that no State has the right to

promote this deadly traffic by claiming its own national

interests are at stake. This issue must be re-examined in

the light of recent events.

The Republic of Panama is particularly concerned

at the social, political and economic implications of the

illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and wishes

to declare its commitment to promoting an American

convention on this question, with a view to creating a

legal framework that will enable the countries of the

hemisphere to completely suppress this traffic and thus

strengthen regional security.

We are caught up in a vortex of bloodshed that

brings us ever closer to generalized conflagrations. The

States represented here, when we became Members of

this Organization, undertook formally to promote peace

and human rights; to meet the food, health care and

educational needs of our peoples; to preserve the

environment; and to bring about overall social,

economic and political development.

However, for this commitment to have a real

effect, we must secure the support of those States that,

due to pure fanaticism, particularly in the Middle East,

have not been able to come to terms with the purposes

and principles of the United Nations. My country

believes that the intolerance and intransigence

demonstrated in that part of the world are the result of

ancient ways of thinking and injustices that can be

easily discerned and which constitute flagrant

violations of the United Nations Charter. The Republic

4

of Panama has repeatedly urged the parties in conflict

to renounce the use of force, re-establish cooperation

on security and adopt measures to restore mutual trust,

which enable a return to the peace process based on the

norms of international law.

In recent days, the international community has

witnessed with deep sadness the intensification of

violence in that region. Because of the brutality

occurring in the Middle East, Panama considers that it

is the responsibility of the United Nations to

vigorously strengthen its mediating role in order to put

an end to the unfortunate bloodshed that has grieved

the international community for decades.

In particular, Panama calls on the Security

Council to assume a more active role in the efforts to

apply the recommendations of the Mitchell report,

which proposes using constructive dialogue and mutual

concessions to move beyond the violence. An

indispensable step is recognizing the right of the

Palestinian people to create a sovereign State and the

right of the State of Israel to live in peace and security.

We must make our best effort, employ our most

outstanding human resources and put ourselves to the

task of reconciling all humankind. The Republic of

Panama will persist in this task and will always

advocate peaceful solutions to conflicts through

dialogue and the rejection of violence as the means to

resolve internal or international disputes.

Other examples of situations that cause

unnecessary friction and that could be resolved through

dialogue are the issues of the Saharan people’s right to

self-determination, the Argentine Republic’s claim to

the Falkland Islands, and the representation of the

Republic of China on Taiwan in the United Nations

system while the internal situation of that fraternal

people is being resolved.

Panama defends human rights without reservation

and will never accept acts which violate them,

wherever the violations occur and whatever the

circumstances used to try to justify those violations.

Let us add to this very clear position of ours our

sincere commitment to the universal campaign for the

rights of the child and to the fight against HIV/AIDS,

as these are an essential part of human rights. On this

latter issue, Panama considers that the key to any future

success lies in everyone’s acceptance of their economic

and social responsibilities with respect to this terrible

disease and in developing good community planning at

the local and provincial levels to prevent the spread of

HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Human rights are clearly defined in the political

and civil spheres as much as in the economic, social

and cultural spheres. Since the proclamation of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10

December 1948, much progress has been made.

However, the principles proclaimed on that occasion

are being challenged by the inequalities of

globalization and financing for development, by

unpayable foreign debts and by the indiscriminate

destruction of the environment. All these factors of

extreme poverty require acts of profound solidarity on

behalf of the richer nations. We firmly believe that the

eradication of poverty and inequality will prevent the

erosion of human rights and halt the social upheavals

that generate violence and cause the loss of the

political, social and economic rights of the citizens of

the world.

The United Nations Conference on Environment

and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992,

was a tremendous effort towards sustainable world

development. The most important outcome of the

Conference was the adoption of Agenda 21, which

covers in depth the topics of poverty, hunger, disease,

illiteracy and the progressive deterioration of

ecosystems. Agenda 21 also encourages us to focus our

attention on the financial resources required to promote

sustainable development at the national level, with the

goal of creating a corresponding measurement system

for it that can be easily interpreted. This is an ongoing

and important task that we cannot neglect.

The United Nations Conference on Financing for

Development will be held in Monterrey, Mexico, in

March 2002. We believe that the Conference offers a

magnificent opportunity to reduce the abyss between

the rich countries of the North and the poor countries

of the South in both the practical and conceptual

aspects of this issue.

In the course of last month’s meetings of the

Conference’s Preparatory Committee, opinions with

substantial differences were expressed, and these must

be reconciled. As a result of these disagreements, there

have been pessimistic predictions that it will be

impossible to formulate a plan of action at Monterrey. I

believe, on the contrary, that since we already know the

objections that will be made by those who assume the

5

risks of financing, we cannot delay revising our

arguments, in order — creatively and responsibly — to

define parameters for financing for development that

are more in tune with the realities of today’s world.

The current realities are pressing and encompass,

among other things, the need to provide financing at

discounted rates to developing countries; to vigorously

attack the problem of foreign debt; to design measures

to raise the depressed prices of our raw materials and

other export products; and to agree collectively on

mechanisms to prevent financial crises.

Following this line of thought, and because we

consider it of interest to the General Assembly, we will

mention that in June of this year the Central American

countries and the United States signed a joint

declaration under the Alliance for the Sustainable

Development of Central America (ALIDES). This

alliance is a regional strategy to make the Central

American isthmus a region of peace, freedom,

democracy and development. Its general objectives

include the sustainable management of biodiversity, the

strengthening and modernization of institutional

structures, the promotion of trade and the mitigation of

natural disasters.

Specifically, ALIDES works for regional

economic integration and the region’s integration in the

international economy; the harmonization of

macroeconomic policies and the modernization of

infrastructure in the areas of energy, transportation and

telecommunications; the creation of protected

biological corridors, river basins and other areas; the

strengthening of democracy and the rule of law in the

region; the improvement of the levels of education,

health and security of the population of Central

America; and the restoration and preservation of

national values.

Central America’s desire for development has

been strengthened by the launching of the Puebla-

Panama Plan. We created for the region a mechanism

for ongoing and permanent consultation to perfect an

integral strategy for long-term development.

While we are making great efforts to mitigate the

social problems that afflict us in some regions, in the

United Nations we continue to debate structural

problems that limit to some extent the ability of many

of our countries to have an effect on the administration

of the Organization. Among the different debates

relating to United Nations reform, we would like to

refer to the one held on 30 October on agenda item 49,

entitled “Question of equitable representation on and

increase in the membership of the Security Council and

related matters”. Last year the delegation of Panama,

both at the Millennium Summit and the General

Assembly, supported the aspiration of many years to

bring about the reform of the Security Council.

We have said — and we wish to repeat today —

that we agree it must have a more equitable and more

representative composition, but in order to achieve this

fundamental objective it is indispensable that the

permanent members accept that the power structure of

1945 has ceased to exist. Now, looking at the new and

vital interdependence of all nations around the world,

we see a genuine opportunity opening before us to get

rid of the obsessions that no longer suit the structure of

our Organization.

In conclusion, we would like to restate our

conviction that, as we have seen after the horrendous

terrorist acts of 11 September, the legitimacy and

effectiveness of future Security Council actions will

depend on all Member States feeling the absence of

unilateral measures and of the usual marginalization in

decision-making on matters affecting all of us. It is in

this direction that we should guide our work.