Spain, 2002

The

world has changed since the Assembly last met. The

twenty-first century began on 11 September 2001, and

our great collective challenge is to ensure the primacy

of the rule of law in the sphere of international

relations. The natural forum for that legal culture and

legitimacy is the United Nations.

In that context and with that ambition,

participating in the great objectives of peace, the rule

of law and the preservation of the international

order to which the Secretary-General referred

during the current session it is an honour for me to

address the Assembly on behalf of Spain, also a

candidate for a non-permanent seat on the Security

Council. Should we be elected, we are determined to

devote all the effort and resources necessary to fulfil

that great responsibility.

A year ago, the entire world became aware of the

horror of terrorism that threatens us all. We asked

ourselves then what course the international

community should take and what role the United

Nations should play in shaping international relations

in the twenty-first century. Uncertainty remains, but it

is now clear that interdependence among countries and

regions will be the centre of gravity of a newborn

international civil society. States must cooperate with

one another to make use of opportunities and to fight

against threats, because neither opportunities nor

threats have a purely local character.

Thus, it is time for the rule of law, and the United

Nations, as the seat of the political and normative

legitimacy of international society, is called to be the

centre of gravity of this new framework. The United

Nations is the organization that can and should

impose including through the use of force, if it is

unavoidable the decisions taken collectively by the

community of States.

The occasions on which the United Nations has

been able to respond to the demands of the

international community have also been successes for

the Member States. In the same way, the cases in which

the United Nations has been unable to find solutions to

existing problems have also been our responsibility. All

of us make up the United Nations; its failures are our

failures, as its successes are our successes.

Terrorism is a clear example of this and of the

need to react together resolutely. Each terrorist attack is

an attack against us all, and we must all react.

Terrorists do not respect borders; borders should

therefore not constitute an obstacle to the collective

fight against this scourge. Are there any today who still

think that this problem does not, or will not, affect

them?

The United Nations is aware of the gravity of the

threat that this scourge poses to the principles that

underpin the Charter and that are the foundation of our

civilization. Security Council resolution 1373 (2001)

has put international cooperation against terrorism on a

substantially different level. That resolution charts the

course for the cooperation that is essential for the

international community to be able to deal with those

who attack our most essential values: life, freedom and

democracy.

The growing importance of law has a very direct

bearing upon the intense activity of the Organization in

favour of human rights. In this context, allow me to

focus on a heinous and silent violation of human rights:

domestic violence. This scourge primarily affects

women, children and older persons the most

vulnerable sectors of society in all our cultures,

regardless of level of development or social well-being.

How can we explain, shamefully ignore and, thus, in

indirectly accept, that violence against women should

today be the cause of more death and disability than

cancer, traffic accidents or even war? Can we tolerate

this situation? As a woman and as a human being, I say

that the answer is an unambiguous no.

In the same vein, the International Criminal Court

is an essential legal instrument to ensure that the most

serious violations of human rights do not go

unpunished. With its subsidiary jurisdiction, the Court

represents the most significant advance in the

16

structuring of the international community since the

San Francisco Charter.

In the framework of this reinvigoration of law,

the Organization must pay special attention to

challenges stemming from new technologies, in

particular those associated with biotechnology. We do

not want uncontrolled science with unclear objectives

to determine the future shape of our societies, bringing

to life the terrifying allegory of Aldous Huxley's Brave

New World. Spain, which along with other countries of

the European Union has ratified the Oviedo

Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, a

protocol to which bans cloning for research purposes,

recalls the fact that article 11 of the Universal

Declaration on The Human Genome and Human

Rights, approved by the United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in

1997 and unanimously endorsed by the General

Assembly in 1998, already bans human cloning for

reproductive purposes. Therefore, it is necessary to go

beyond that prohibition in a new convention.

In spite of these encouraging results,

underdevelopment, poverty, the existence of weapons

of mass destruction and regional crises in particular

the crisis in the Middle East constitute some of the

outstanding tasks before us. Allow me briefly to review

these issues in order, in the words of Pablo Neruda,

not to fill our hearts with salt, but to walk in

knowledge.'

In the difficult struggle for development, we

should all invest both our efforts and our hopes. In that

regard, I would like to reiterate what was said

yesterday with regard to the Monterrey and the

Johannesburg summits and the New Partnership for

Africa's Development (NEPAD), for poverty is fought

by recognizing human rights and freedoms and by

promoting the rule of law.

In mentioning development, I wish to stress once

again the importance of women in the world. Their

lagging behind, and their explicit or implicit secondary

status their role in general are very often patently

unfair. This situation is the source of the shortcomings

of many societies. Let us recall that the advancement of

women is not only an obvious right, it also likely

represents the most effective and promising strategy to

cope with the persistent nightmare of

underdevelopment.

In any case, poverty must be eradicated wherever

it exists, both in the poorest countries as well as in

middle-income countries, which are joining the global

economy while undergoing fragile political and

economic processes. Middle-income countries

frequently have large pockets of poverty and are

especially vulnerable to global economic swings. Latin

America is a good example of a continent where in the

last decade an important and successful effort has been

made to put in place democratic regimes, foster

economic growth and open up to the world economy. It

is crucial to ensure continued international support

when this process is threatened by temporary

difficulties.

Disarmament no doubt poses another challenge

for all of us, notwithstanding the progress made in the

areas of anti-personnel mines, small arms and chemical

weapons. In this context, Spain is following with

understandable concern the development of events

regarding Iraq. For the sake of international security

and stability and for the welfare of the Iraqi people, we

hope that the announced immediate and unconditional

return of arms inspectors in accordance with Security

Council resolutions 687 (1991) and 1284 (1999) will

become a reality. The Iraqi regime is currently

flagrantly violating those resolutions. Arms inspections

must be accompanied by Iraqi guarantees to the

international community that it will destroy its

weapons of mass destruction. That is the only possible

path towards lifting the sanctions and normalizing

Iraq's relations with the international community. If

necessary, the international community must assume its

responsibilities and ensure compliance with the

resolutions adopted by the body that embodies

international legitimacy.

The citizens of our States fail to understand why

some regional crisis continue indefinitely, causing

despair among the peoples who suffer from them and

generating a sense of injustice that fuels hatred and

bitterness. Encouraging progress has undoubtedly been

made, especially in Africa, and we spoke of that

progress yesterday. But the Middle East crisis

continues to be in all our minds.

Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338

(1973), and 1397 (2002), the principles of the Madrid

Conference and the agreements between the parties

have established a framework for peace between

Israelis and Palestinians. How many Palestinians and

Israelis will still have to die and how many

17

international resolutions will we need before Palestine

and Israel can live together as States in peace and

mutual respect? It is necessary to complete the peace

process; that is the goal of the negotiating efforts of the

Quartet, which Spain supports.

We must counter these crises with our ability to

carry out dialogue and negotiation. Spain has promoted

integration mechanisms, particularly in the

Mediterranean region through the Barcelona process.

In that regard, Spain has always given special attention

to its contacts with the Arab world, with which it

maintains special relationships. In that context, I would

like to make a brief reference to our relations with the

Maghreb.

Spain is among the Maghreb's foremost

commercial partners, in addition to being one of the

main investor countries there. Hundreds of thousands

of citizens from Maghreb countries live in Spain,

making up Spain's largest resident foreign community

and contributing to the creation of wealth through their

work and dynamism. Spain has therefore for many

years made the Maghreb the main focus of its

international cooperation policy.

All of this means that maintaining strong and

fruitful relations with Morocco is a strategic priority of

Spanish foreign policy. The clearest expression of that

priority is the treaty of friendship, cooperation and

good-neighbourliness that exists between our countries.

The Government of Spain wishes to promote relations

in all areas and once again to place those relations on

the level they deserve, given the proximity of our two

peoples and the importance of our common interests. I

am confident that my Moroccan colleague's next visit

to Madrid will be a good opportunity to make progress

along that path.

In any case, I wish to clearly emphasize here

today that the autonomous communities of Ceuta and

Melilla are an integral part of Spain, on an equal

footing with the rest of Spain's autonomous

communities. They are therefore an integral part of the

European Union. Their citizens are represented in the

Spanish and European Parliaments, with the same

standing and in the same manner as the rest of our

citizens.

The tasks before the Organization require that its

mechanisms function adequately. Spain looks forward

to the Secretary-General's forthcoming report on the

reform of the Organization. We support in-depth

reform of the Security Council that addresses all

aspects of the matter.

Before ending my statement, I cannot fail to

mention the question of Gibraltar and the recurrent

mandates of the General Assembly urging Spain and

the United Kingdom to continue their bilateral

negotiations to find a permanent solution to this

dispute. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that

during the past year the Governments of both countries

have deployed intense negotiating efforts in this regard,

and that we have made substantial progress. We intend

to continue these negotiations in a constructive spirit so

that as soon as possible we may reach a satisfactory

and comprehensive agreement that takes into account

the legitimate interests of the residents of the colony as

well as the traditional United Nations doctrine with

regard to Gibraltar, a doctrine confirmed year after year

by the resolutions of both the General Assembly and

the Special Committee of 24.

Let us be clear: now, the beginning of the

twenty-first century, is the time to resolve this

question, in accordance with the relevant resolutions

calling for the implementation of the principle of

territorial integrity. For all of those reasons, we

condemn attempts to interfere with the natural

development of such negotiations, actions that openly

and flagrantly violate that doctrine.

I cannot conclude without giving a very warm

welcome, and offering my country's cooperation, to

Switzerland, as well as to the Democratic Republic of

Timor-Leste, which will soon become a Member of the

United Nations.

Our meetings within this building give rise to

many plans, ideas and, of course, words. But they also

give rise to action. The action of the United Nations, as

well as that of each of its Member States, must not be

confined within these walls; millions of people depend

on our ability to implement all that has been discussed

here in order to enjoy a better life or simply to protect

the life they have. Spain is fully aware of this

responsibility and we are ready to work alongside other

Members of the Organization so that words may be

transformed into deeds, and deeds transformed into

results.