Peru, 2009

I wish first of all to congratulate Mr. Ali Abdussalam

Treki on his election as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. Knowing his

broad experience in the United Nations and his

dedication to dialogue and consensus, I assure him that

Peru will constructively support his initiatives.

The global outlook is extremely complex and full

of great contradictions. We face the deepest economic

and financial international crisis that our generation

has experienced and which once again proves that the

borders in a global world are purely cartographic and

that the symbol of our times remains interdependency.

The economic and financial crisis has stymied world

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growth and, above all, exposed the weaknesses that

caused the market to malfunction. As rarely in recent

history, the international community has mobilized

huge resources and political capital to avoid

unprecedented economic collapse. A significant share

of those resources must support the developing

countries, which certainly did not cause the crisis but

are the most affected by it.

It is regrettable that the convergence of wills and

interests with regard to the crisis is, in turn, not

apparent with equal resolve in the endeavour to achieve

the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and to

firmly address the threats that endanger freedom,

democracy and, ultimately, regional and global

stability.

In that context, allow me to point out that one

crucial problem we face is the huge sums spent on

arms acquisitions. How can we explain to our peoples

that, in the midst of one of the worst global economic

recessions and with more than 1 billion people living in

extreme poverty throughout the world, countries can

commit over $1,464 billion to military expenditure in

2008, and that, while economies contract, arms

purchases grow in real terms every year?

Recently, the President of Peru, Mr. Alan García,

in a communication to South America’s ministers for

foreign affairs and of defence that is being circulated

as a document of this General Assembly (A/64/367),

seriously questioned that state of affairs in the region

and asked why, in the five years since the

establishment of the Union of South American Nations,

our countries have allocated for military spending a

total of $156 billion, but in addition have acquired

approximately $23 billion more in new weapons,

cannons, aircraft and ships. That figure could reach

$38 billion this year. The President appealed for that

absurdity to stop if conditions are created for a

strengthening of security and confidence in the region.

To that end, on this occasion I affirm Peru’s

proposal that a friendship and non-aggression pact be

concluded to guarantee the commitments to

strengthening a zone of peace in South America, and to

achieve the gradual reduction of arms purchases and

the future establishment of a peace and interposition

force to avert any conflict in the region. The final

objective would be to create a regional collective

security system that complements and is upheld by the

Charter of the United Nations, enabling all our

countries to end the arms race in which South America,

a region that is otherwise demonstrating great maturity

and respect for international law in the handling of its

disputes, seems to be engaged for no discernible

reason. Our proposal will certainly require greater

study and consideration in the light of experiences in

other parts of the world.

A second transnational threat that is not receiving

due attention is drug trafficking and its dangerous link

to terrorism and violence in general, the consequences

of which affect not only the security and rights of

millions of people, but also the environment. We are

paying an enormous price through our inaction

concerning a problem that causes millions of deaths a

year and tremendous material losses.

At the global level, the traffic in drugs brings in

around $500 billion a year, equivalent to 8 per cent of

global trade, while, according to data of the United

Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, their use affects

over 200 million people, in particular young people,

throughout the world.

According to the 2008 report of the International

Narcotics Control Board, it is clear that South

America’s narcotics trafficking networks collaborate

with one another in their illicit activities, especially

money-laundering, and recruit specialists at the highest

technical level. It is therefore a matter of urgency that

combating narcotics trafficking once more be given top

priority on the world agenda and in cooperation

between developed countries, pursuant to the principle

of shared responsibility.

We must respond jointly to halt the advance of

narcotics trafficking and related criminal activities,

such as trafficking in arms or people, the destruction of

nature, corruption and terrorism. Legislation concerning

illicit crops and their interdiction and eradication should

be complemented by prevention and rehabilitation

programmes aimed at comprehensive, alternative and

sustainable development. To that end, the concerted

efforts of all international actors are essential under the

principles of cooperation and, above all, shared

responsibility.

In Peru, drug traffickers are working with the

remnants of terrorist groups. This situation

exponentially increases the level of violence among

both criminal groups, and if we do not solve the

problem now, we may find ourselves in a situation of

unprecedented consequences in the future. Illicit coca

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production is a process of utmost destructiveness to the

environment. Three hectares of forest have to be

destroyed to obtain one hectare of coca. This is causing

irreparable damage in the Peruvian Amazon forest; the

logging and burning of trees to clear land for illegal

crops erodes the soil and has resulted in the

deforestation of 2.5 million hectares of Amazon forest,

a leading contribution to global warming.

For all these reasons, the Government of Peru has

devoted special attention to the problem in terms of

financial and human resources. But the results have

often left us feeling that this is a solitary struggle with

a problem for which the international community, and

especially the countries that consume the bulk of

narcotic drugs, do not have adequate or rapid solutions.

Peru, which dedicates more than $600 million a year to

fighting an illicit industry with a turnover of

$22 billion, cannot fight the illicit production of drugs

alone or hope for any long-term success without the

firm, supportive cooperation of the international

community and, particularly, of the consuming

countries, based on the established principle of shared

responsibility.

Real cooperation has diminished alarmingly since

2002. The largest contributor to Peru reduced its

contribution from $140 million to $128 million in 2003

and to $116 million in 2004. This year, the total will be

$70 million and next year, $57 million. Peru therefore

considers it essential for the United Nations Office on

Drugs and Crime to draft a report providing updated

figures for the global resources that the international

community allocates to combating the illegal narcotics

trade, the donor sources and specific ongoing projects,

as well as identifying key programmes to improve

cooperation with the countries most affected by illegal

drug production. Such precise, reliable and

internationally comparable information would dispel

many myths concerning the efforts and joint action that

we should undertake without delay, and would be a

practical starting point from which to better coordinate

the efforts of contributing States, international

organizations and financial institutions with those

States most affected by illegal narcotics production and

trafficking, in order to strengthen them in this fight. We

hope that this task can be accomplished without delay,

since, I repeat, international action in this area must not

be postponed.

Another sensitive issue that has been the subject

of special debate is that of climate change and the

preservation of the environment in general. Peru is

suffering dramatically from the effects of global

warming, seen in the accelerated retreat of its tropical

glaciers and its ensuing difficulties in adequately

meeting the water needs of its population. Peru

considers it essential to establish concrete goals for

technological cooperation and transfer, as well as the

creation of financial assistance funds for projects

aimed at directly combating the effects of climate

change in the countries most affected by it. Faced with

the urgent need to confront the adverse effects of

climate change, Peru supports the ongoing establishment

of binding international commitments by the countries

that created this problem, and hopes that at the

fifteenth International Conference on Climate Change,

to be held in Copenhagen in December, all States will

be willing to adopt them.

In this regard, Peru reiterates its proposal that a

financial mechanism be established towards the

creation of a global fund to support measures aimed at

mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate

change in developing countries. This would involve a

duty of $0.50 on every barrel of oil, inasmuch as the

fuel bears a responsibility at every stage in its chain of

production, from extraction through refining to its

uses, direct and indirect. Peru also proposes that

comprehensive programmes of adaptation to climate

change be established. Such programmes, which could

be financed by the Global Environment Facility or the

World Bank, would identify a comprehensive approach

to sectoral adaptation and emphasize strategies to

reduce the occurrence of disasters and to protect the

health and food security of affected populations,

economic infrastructure and biodiversity.

Finally, we wish to raise an issue of particular

interest to Peru and developing countries in general —

the situation of migrants. Peru is an active promoter of

the defence of the human rights of migrants and their

families, and of the sharing of responsibility for

addressing this phenomenon by their countries of

origin and host countries. We endorse the principle that

migration is a factor for development and has

undeniably been so throughout human history. It has

enriched the culture and social life of nations, and

allowed us to come into contact with the contributions,

discoveries and developments that have gradually

shaped our modern society.

It is therefore essential that we be aware that

what migrants contribute to their host countries today,

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and what they can contribute in the future, will be in

large measure the backbone of those societies. That is

why xenophobic and discriminatory pressures must be

avoided, since they do nothing but delay the inevitable

integration of the world and the human race.

In Latin America, we are living through a crucial

time in the consolidation of democracy and the

promotion of the social and political rights of our

peoples. Peru therefore expresses its deep concern over

the recent events in the sister country of Honduras,

where the democratic system has been abruptly

interrupted. The actions taken against Brazil’s embassy

in Honduras should be repudiated and should cease

immediately, pursuant to Honduras’s legal traditions as

a country that respects its international obligations,

particularly the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic

Relations.

We call for a dialogue aimed at re-establishing

democracy in Honduras. All Honduran political groups

should take advantage of the return of President

Manuel Zelaya to Tegucigalpa to establish a

Government of unity and national reconciliation as

outlined in the San José agreement, which, through

entirely peaceful means, will allow the country to

move forward with free, democratic and transparent

elections that will guarantee the election of a

Government that respects its Constitution and promotes

national integration and solidarity for each and every

Honduran citizen.

At a time when communications and technology

bring us closer together than ever before, we must also

understand that our problems and responsibilities

should also bring us closer together and that challenges

to one State are challenges to all. This Assembly

therefore remains the most appropriate forum in which

to discuss global and local challenges, which are now

identical and of concern to us all, and should also —

why not? — inspire us all with hope.