Paraguay, 2011

On

behalf of the people of Paraguay, Mr. President, I offer

you sincere congratulations on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth

session. I also thank Mr. Joseph Deiss for his laudable

work as President of the previous session, and

congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his re-appointment

as Secretary-General. Throughout his tenure at the

head of the Organization for the past five years, he has

demonstrated his gift for leadership and his

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unwavering commitment to world peace and

international security.

The people of Paraguay and their President, in

consonance with our extraordinary national history,

believe deeply in the human being as the subject and

end of and reason for every effort designed to benefit

humankind. The centrality of humans in the history of

the universe in all their endeavours, interests and

conquests will be constantly proclaimed in this forum.

In order to begin to discuss the future of

humankind, we must correct mistakes and rethink

paradigms that for decades, sometimes even for

centuries, have demonstrated their utter uselessness in

bringing about change for good. Restoring men and

women to centre stage in the concerns of the universe

is a fundamental step in order merely to begin to trace

a basic outline for a future of certainty that seeks to

replace the frustrations of managing the development

paradigm with the realities of a world in which well-

being is much more tangible.

What good does it do to discuss development

plans if the goal of dignifying the human being is not

the beginning and the end of the process? At this stage

in history, when we are thrilled by the most incredible

technological achievements capable of keeping pace

with our flights of imagination and our dreams, where

does that leave the nightmare of starving children who

fight for a crust of bread, smile if they get it — and

still want to play? What benefit do we derive from the

media hype about these great global and commercial

achievements while in complicit silence the other half

of humanity is holding out its hand, begging for a little

help, for the love of God? What good does it do us to

continue supporting a way of creating happiness in the

world that has been loudly shown to be a failure over

and over again?

Regions that enrich the economy of part of the

world with the natural abundance of their waters, their

oil, the precious stones hidden in the belly of their soil,

continue inexorably to accumulate debt while their

daily offerings increase the wealth of rich societies

every day. The poor neighbour in today’s world

possesses riches — those closer to the simplicity of

well-being and happiness, such as water, food, forests

and renewable energy — that are vital to its rich

neighbours. But unbridled wealth cannot be the basis

for political dominion and certainly not for wars and

military might. We live in societies because our

peoples and other human beings have mutual needs.

Population growth is a serious global issue.

Sometimes it seems as though we live in a world that,

worse than resigning itself to poverty, resigns itself to

inequality, to the pornographic spectacle of scandalous

imbalances which reveal the inner workings of an

ostentatious world celebrating its shame, as described

by Gabriel García Márquez in his tale of Innocent

Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother. As long as

that continues, the dialogue between the rich bank that

sustains and coordinates the world economy and the

poor world that provides the natural resources will

gradually become senseless.

My country’s growth rate in 2010 exceeded

15 per cent; but tensions made efforts to redistribute

that wealth and reduce inequality more difficult than

achieving the growth itself.

I think that this is true all over the world. The

United Nations needs to discuss measures to enable or

assist Member States to work their way through fiscal

policies and international market regulations that

contribute to the stark reality of the huge fortunes that

exist in the hands of just a few in some countries as

compared with the inequalities, droughts, humanitarian

crises in others.

Solidarity is a ten-letter word that is fine-

sounding but sometimes empty: empty of free will,

actions and especially results. Solidarity is no longer

simply a moral imperative; it is a prerequisite for

achieving progress and combating the dark side of

ignoring it: violence and crime.

We live in a world which urgently requires a

paradigm shift. And we must admit that the world is at

a crossroads; because one discourse that has been

going on for five centuries in the name of progress and

another for six decades in the name of development

have only added uncertainty about any improvement in

the future lot of broad regions and thousands of

millions of people.

The unrepentant incapability of the developed

countries to understand a very simple equation in order

to set up local development plans as local plans for

development means that known errors will be repeated

despite the urgent need for profound, convincing and

radical rethinking capable of harnessing the mutual

trust that can promote progress towards the only

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tangible parameter, the only valid outcome, the only

genuine reality, which is a good life for all men and

women.

Achieving the good life for all should be the

paradigm of our time. It clearly entails envisioning a

post-development future in which thoughtfulness,

objectivity and goodwill coexist in harmony and

genuine solidarity reigns without delay between those

in the powerful and wealthy world and those who live

in poverty elsewhere.

This is not just a moral vision. Of fundamental

importance to progress is the sharing of wealth. And

that brings me to the main theme of this forum,

avoiding future conflict and future violence. But the

paradigm of the good life requires plans that focus on

the dignity of human beings and the future rather than

on resource exploitation systems which almost never

benefit the people.

In Latin America — the region to which my

Government is committed — we live the daily paradox

of poverty in the midst of the best basic conditions for

generating wealth. Historically, since colonial times,

our wealth has followed a one-way path to other

regions of the world, without generating any structural

improvements in our economies.

We attend the prestigious world summits of the

developed countries where the lot of poor countries has

been debated for decades, yet we have had no luck.

When will the countries of Latin America realize that

we export nature, we export oxygen, we export fresh

water, we export food, we export renewable energy? It

makes no sense that our countries remain poor, when

we have so many assets and products that enrich the

rest of the world.

Finally, on this subject, a paradigm shift to ensure

that human beings are at the centre of world concerns

requires commitment on the part of those who govern

the most powerful countries. We in turn must commit

to supporting them and not abandoning them if that

paradigm shift takes place. And the most intelligent

form of support is, as we have just mentioned, to

develop an awareness of what we are and the enormous

potential with which our countries are endowed.

Paraguay reaffirms its steadfast commitment to

multilateralism based on a democratic and egalitarian

new world order, an order that will ensure the

comprehensive and effective development of our

countries. Paraguay therefore believes both in a

stronger and more democratic United Nations, as a

truly global organization, and in strengthening progress

in the regional integration of peoples. For example, we

have the Union of South American Nations —

UNASUR — and the future Community of Latin

American and Caribbean States, which provide

common space for nations that share a common history,

common values and common plans for sovereignty and

independence.

Global change is picking up speed. The still

significant primacy of the central Powers in economic

and military terms, and therefore in political and

cultural terms, is facing demands for democratization

of the world order and progress in multilateralism. The

financial, energy, social and environmental crises are

proof of the contradictions and conflicts in the strategic

interests of the great Powers as well as the weaknesses

of the aid-dependent countries and those in the midst of

development. We believe in mediation as a remedy to

overcome social injustice and as a path towards peace.

Among our peoples’ demands for strengthened

democracy, we see the spirit of the words of Nelson

Mandela when, in the past century, he said that there

can be no democracy with poverty and no democracy

with social inequality. That is why the theme of the

sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly, on

strengthening the role of mediation in the settlement of

disputes by peaceful means, conflict prevention and

resolution, has taken on greater relevance.

Article 1 of the United Nations Charter states that

the purpose of our Organization is

“to take effective collective measures for the

prevention and removal of threats to the peace,

and for the suppression of acts of aggression or

other breaches of the peace”.

Thus, in the face of violence and today’s wars, whether

traditional or silent, short or long-term, there is a

demand for mediation as a mechanism for peace, as a

tool to overcome global social injustice and thus a

necessary foundation for achieving international peace

and security.

In that context, we advocate mediation in order to

overcome global social injustice and both traditional

and silent wars. It must be based on the shared but

differentiated responsibilities of all countries,

developing and developed, in order to guarantee the

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conditions necessary for a peaceful world that relies on

the comprehensive and effective development of our

peoples. Lastly, it must avoid ruinous hypotheses at all

costs, such as those that led to “preventive attacks”,

which culminated in the loss of many lives, the

destruction of entire cities and vital elements of

universal culture, and sowed the seeds for the dreadful

mistrust of any subsequent such initiatives.

The self-determination of peoples should not be

shaped by the political or economic interests of those

who oversee global equilibrium with weapons. It is,

and must be, written in stone.

Paraguay plays an active role in United Nations

peacekeeping missions. Beginning this year, after more

than a decade of uninterrupted contributions of military

observers, Paraguay will be contributing a multirole

engineering unit to the United Nations Stabilization

Mission in Haiti, the first to be deployed under our

national flag.

The General Assembly should adopt the

necessary reforms so as to reaffirm its inherent nature

as a universal, democratic and equitable representative

body. In this way, its powers will be recognized and

will take precedence over those of other bodies in the

Organization, such as the Security Council, in order to

underscore the processes that help to overcome

violence and globalized social injustice and build the

multipolar, democratic and egalitarian world that we so

greatly desire.

In the same vein, democratizing the Security

Council is becoming an increasingly urgent task. We

urge the Council to fulfil its primary role of promoting

world peace and avoiding war, which is why it must be

reformed and become more democratic. We must

accord greater legitimacy to the Council by making it

more representative of the new multilateral and

multipolar world order, and by gradually doing away

with veto rights.

We must express our concern, here before the

General Assembly, regarding the actions taken in Libya

under resolution 1973 (2011) of the Security Council

and in the context of the responsibility to protect. We

believe that the use of force must always be a last

resort.

That is why we are concerned about the crisis

affecting the United Nations Security Council, which

can be overcome only through its reform and

democratization. Thus, we insist and urge that efforts

continue to be made to that end so that the Council can

once again fulfil its mission of guaranteeing

international peace and security.

In terms of foreign policy, Paraguay, as one of the

founding Members of the Organization, upholds and

reiterates the constitutional principles governing its

international relations: national independence, self-

determination of peoples, legal equality of States,

solidarity and international cooperation, international

protection of human rights, freedom of navigation in

international rivers, non-intervention, and condemnation of

all forms of dictatorship, colonialism and imperialism.

In the 50 years since the embargo was imposed

on the people of Cuba, Paraguay has repeatedly

expressed its opposition to that economic, commercial

and financial blockade, as have the countries of Latin

America and the Caribbean. Paraguay has stood

together with those countries and called for the

immediate lifting of the embargo. In particular, we

deplore the impact of this unjust blockade on the

Cuban people, which is a consequence of positive laws

that affect free trade and the transparent practice of

international trade.

In that respect, Paraguayan legislation does not

recognize the extraterritorial application of foreign

laws that violate the sovereignty of other States. This

practice also violates the principles of international law

that we, the Members of the United Nations, defend

and strive to uphold.

Paraguay has consistently supported the

resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at

previous sessions which call for the lifting of the

economic, commercial and financial embargo against

Cuba. In full observance of resolution 65/6, entitled

“Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and

financial embargo imposed by the United States of

America against Cuba”, and before this Assembly,

Paraguay once again reiterates its support for the

resolutions adopted in that regard.

Consistent with the stance it has taken in

international forums, in particular the United Nations,

and considering the resolutions that condemn the

Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, such as

Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973),

446 (1979) and 478 (1980), Paraguay established

diplomatic relations with Palestine on 25 March 2005

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and recognizes a free and independent Palestinian State

based on the borders of 4 June 1967.

We are gratified that the agenda of the sixty-sixth

session of the General Assembly includes the

recognition of the free, sovereign and independent

State of Palestine. We are convinced that this is a

confirmation of the historic debt of the international

community to recognize the legitimate right of the

Palestinian people to have its own State with well-

defined borders. This will be a significant contribution

to the peace process in the Middle East.

We believe that urgent efforts are needed to

design and build a new international financial

architecture, one that responds to the new era in which

we live and provides measures for avoiding systematic

cyclical crises and for developing regional mechanisms

for economic and financial cooperation. Under this

new framework, nations with common histories and

destinies can create their own spaces for cooperation

and economic partnerships.

The countries of South America have focused the

actions of UNASUR on this goal. We are confident

that, by coordinating and linking our economic

initiatives, we will lay the foundation for integration,

which will not only protect our countries from crises

that are not of our creation, but also guarantee the

comprehensive development of our peoples.

Paraguay is among those nation States which,

over the course of history, have fallen prey to various

vulnerabilities, given their geographic situation and

historical experience. Paraguay has been weakened by

a historic model of socio-economic development based

on the looting of its natural and strategic resources and

administered through relations of structural

dependence.

That is why, in January 2010, Paraguay became

the Chair of the Group of Landlocked Developing

Countries. In that capacity, we urge transit countries

and their main neighbours, as applicable, as well as

international organizations and the most developed

countries, to increase their commitment to implement

the Almaty Programme of Action, addressing the

special needs of landlocked developing countries

within a new global framework for transit transport

cooperation. This will help such countries to overcome

their limitations and will facilitate their overall

development.

As a complement to beginning the preparations

for the Conference of Landlocked and Transit

Developing Countries, which will help us to overcome

the adversities we face, we are promoting the

Multilateral Agreement for the Establishment of an

International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing

Countries, in the conviction that scientific advances in

that area will be of great importance in overcoming the

obstacles that such countries face.

Regarding the Millennium Development Goals,

Paraguay reaffirms its full commitment to achieving

those goals and expresses its concern about the extent

to which they will be met by 2015. This is why we

encourage Governments, civil society organizations

and the private sector to work together to achieve

them.

Given its commitment to the goal of fully

respecting the human rights of our peoples, Paraguay

has decided to present its candidacy for the Human

Rights Council for the term 2014-2017. We hope to

have the support of the international community.

We must express our serious concern for the

environmental crisis, which is worsening on a daily

basis and even generating uncertainty about the

survival of the human race. We fully support

strengthening the only legally binding agreement in

this area, the Kyoto Protocol, and its further extension.

The agreements reached in Cancún are a great support

in improving emissions levels but they are voluntary in

nature, which contradicts the principle of climate

justice that our peoples so favour.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who

helped the Paraguayan initiative for the International

Day of Friendship to come to fruition. The friendship

of individuals, peoples and nations is not exclusively a

question of diplomacy, much less a commercial

enterprise to make money from the inclination of

human beings to join together. Friendship is that bond

which must necessarily be based on solidarity, and, in

Paraguay, we believe that it is high time for the world

to make it happen.

I am pleased that this initiative has become

universal. On behalf of the Paraguayan people, we

greet all the peoples of the world in the hope that we

will find the way to overcome global social injustices

and thus guarantee a world culture of peace and

friendship based on the well-being and genuine

development of all our peoples, without distinction.