Spain, 2010

May my first words be to congratulate the

newly appointed President of the Assembly, Mr. Joseph

Deiss, to whom I wish great success in his conduct of

the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly.

September is an important month in the agenda of

international politics since the middle of the last

century because it marks the beginning of the new

session of the United Nations General Assembly, which

has the city of New York as its backdrop.

Far removed is the San Francisco Conference,

which turned the page on global conflicts and opened

the way for international cooperation by establishing a

new Organization, the United Nations, an Organization

geared towards promoting peace, justice and a better

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life for all humankind. Far removed, as well, are the

times of the Bretton Woods Agreements, which

established free trade rules for commercial and

financial relations among the most industrialized

nations of the world in order to achieve peace.

In the first decade of this century we witnessed

events that have shaped the future of international

relations and caused a new world to emerge, as we saw

in New York in the month of September. On

11 September 2001, the cities of New York and

Washington suffered terrorist attacks that stunned the

world and were among the most traumatic in the

history of the West. In September 2008, New York was

the centre and focus of a panic created by the

bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, while just a few

weeks ago, our host city experienced tensions related

to intercultural coexistence and saw the relaunching of

the most ambitious programme of international

cooperation in history, the Millennium Development

Goals.

These events mark the true beginning of the

twenty-first century, which is unfolding in an

environment of accelerated global and interdependent

transformation. We are at a historic crossroads where

we must promote awareness of the reform of the

United Nations system and the establishment of new

mechanisms for global governance that modernize the

system of international relations, consolidate

multilateralism and security, and strengthen global

economic recovery, while providing accountable

management of growing interculturalism.

Effective multilateralism is the method that will

enable us to tackle the challenges of the twenty-first

century. It is a method that stems from the efforts of

the General Assembly and from the commitment and

work of the leaders of the States represented here. It is

a method based on respect and understanding in order

to build new alliances and common strategies and

policies.

On many occasions, we hear speeches that

emphasize the incapacities and weaknesses of the

United Nations system. But I prefer not to preach

classic doom and gloom here; rather, I would

acknowledge the work and success of the United

Nations as well as its capacity to respond, as seen in its

response to the natural disasters suffered by Haiti and

Pakistan. The capacity to take action and effectively

coordinate the efforts of all countries through a

multilateral approach is a path that the international

system should continue to follow at this time of great

challenges before us.

On 11 September, the concept of security was

transformed and expanded. In September 2006, the

Member States approved the United Nations Global

Counter-Terrorism Strategy, a resolution and annexed

Plan of Action (resolution 60/288) which presumed for

the first time to define a common strategic approach

agreed by all States Members of the United Nations.

This strategy was presented by Secretary-General Kofi

Annan one year after the brutal and traumatic attacks

of 11 March 2004 in Madrid. Since that time, the

intensity and number of terrorist attacks have

decreased, and we have improved security, although we

are far from having won the war against international

terrorism.

This year we have also seen very significant

advances in the area of security, disarmament and

nuclear non proliferation. The new Strategic Arms

Reduction Treaty makes it possible to reduce by 30 per

cent of the nuclear warheads in the United States and

Russia and represents the greatest nuclear agreement in

20 years. Last May, 189 countries signatories of the

Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

approved the convening of a conference in 2012 to

transform the Middle East into a zone free of weapons

of mass destruction.

We are beginning to come out of the worst

financial and economic crisis since the 1930s. The

negative fallout of this crisis will be felt through time

by millions of people, especially in terms of decent

employment. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers on

15 September 2008, the international financial system

has required States and international institutions, such

as the International Monetary Fund and the World

Bank, to intervene at an unprecedented level in order to

maintain worldwide demand and financial markets.

The lack of international regulation helped to

bring about the crisis of the financial entities and has

required strengthened coordination, making the Group

of 20 a new forum for economic governance. The

lesson of the crisis is that, for their development,

international markets need not only the invisible hand,

but also a global regulatory system. That is what we

have understood in Europe, where we have adopted

measures to harmonize the legislation of member

States, so that regulatory authorities would be able to

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exercise both executive and disciplinary powers. Since

the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, Europe is now on a

path to cohesiveness in the area of foreign policy and

should be seen as a single interlocutor with its own

voice in the international community. It should

therefore enjoy an appropriate status in the General

Assembly.

My Government, the Government of Spain, is in

the vanguard of the fight against hunger and poverty. It

has proposed in the United Nations, together with other

Member States, the creation of a tax on international

currency transactions whose proceeds would be used

for the achievement of the Millennium Development

Goals. While the Food and Agriculture Organization

has provided us with encouraging data — we have seen

hunger decrease in the world for the first time — the

figure of 925 million hungry people in the world is

morally and politically unacceptable.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon knows that he

can count on Spain for the mobilization of efforts to

achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Indeed,

fighting poverty cannot be a casualty of the economic

recession because, despite the crisis, it is not material

conditions but political will that will be the key to the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by

2015.

The time has come to take responsibility for

combating climate change. To face this challenge, we

need to change the way in which we perceive

development and economic growth. A greater effort is

required to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

and dependency on fossil fuels, and to commit to

renewable energy and efficient and responsible

consumption. The United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change has created a point of

reference to provide us with a regime that defines

realistic solutions and responds to our concerns and

priorities.

In a few months, we will attend the Climate

Change Conference and should be aware of the effort

necessary to pave the way to the meeting in Cancún,

where the very credibility of the multilateral system

will be at stake. The Conference will be successful if

we take a realistic approach demonstrating solidarity

and generosity towards the most vulnerable States. It

should lead us to an ambitious agreement by which

States represented in the General Assembly can take

ownership of the objectives and verifiable

commitments contained therein.

To bring these objectives to fruition, we need the

equitable integration of almost half the world’s

population — women. The tenth anniversary of the

adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000),

on women and peace and security, should provide us

with an opportunity to enhance gender equality in the

public arena, in institutions and in the economic, social

and cultural spheres. We can and should move ahead

with these reforms because there are positive

indications that this mandate is dynamic, such as the

recent creation of UN Women, led by former President

of Chile Michelle Bachelet, whom I congratulate on

her appointment as Director of the new entity.

With regard to human rights, Spain is firmly

committed to abolishing the death penalty and

introduced an initiative to the General Assembly two

years ago to that end. The International Commission

against the Death Penalty, proposed by Spanish Prime

Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, will soon be

established and begin its work. We believe that capital

punishment is an absolute violation of human rights

due to its irreversibility, which also makes it the most

extreme case of cruel, inhuman and degrading

treatment.

My country unequivocally supports peaceful and

negotiated solutions to all international conflicts, in

accordance with United Nations resolutions. Achieving

peace in the Middle East remains a strategic priority

for Spain. That is why, on the eve of the twentieth

anniversary of the Madrid Conference, we continue to

work resolutely to ensure that the process of direct

talks between Israelis and Palestinians will finally lead

to the two-State solution. The Israeli and Palestinian

peoples know they can count on all our support at this

time, when various thorny issues related to the conflict

are being addressed.

In this regard, I add my voice to the appeal made

from this very rostrum by the President of the United

States for the moratorium on building in the

settlements to be maintained. In order to achieve a

lasting, fair and comprehensive peace, it is vital to

resolve the issues that relate to Syria and Lebanon and

to work within a multilateral framework that creates a

genuine global coalition for peace in the Middle East.

We all know that stability in the Western Balkans

and the full integration of its countries into the

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European Union is a basic priority for Europe. In 2010,

we commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Zagreb

Conference. Spain, which held the European Union

presidency at the time, convened a high-level meeting

in Sarajevo in May that was attended by all actors

involved and at which the European Union reaffirmed

its commitment to the region’s stability and European

future. Recently, the consensus adoption by the

General Assembly of resolution 64/298, sponsored by

the 27 members of the European Union and Serbia on

one of the region’s pending issues showed the

willingness of all actors in the international community

to achieve the aforementioned objectives.

Spain reiterates its support for the mediation

efforts undertaken by the Personal Envoy of the

Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Mr. Christopher

Ross. The conflict in that territory must be resolved by

mutual agreement among the parties and pursuant to

the United Nations resolutions calling for the self-

determination of the Saharans.

In our view, Ibero-America is undergoing

unprecedented social and political change. At the start

of the bicentennial commemorations of the

independence of these republics, Spain wishes to join

the celebrations by attending the Ibero-American

summits and by strengthening its bilateral relations and

relations between the European Union and Latin

America.

Cuba deserves special mention following the

recent decisions taken by Cuban authorities. Embargos

and unilateral attitudes that only disappoint new

expectations are useless and make no sense.

Africa is clearly one of the most important future

challenges to the international community and the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Progress achieved in the areas of good governance and

democratization on the continent are cause for

optimism and should allow it, with international

cooperation, to overcome the crises in the Sahel,

Somalia or the Great Lakes region. Spain reiterates its

firm commitment to Africa.

Coexistence in a globalized world should

motivate us to strengthen the instruments for good

governance and promote cultural and intercultural

diversity, which are among the most pressing

challenges of the twenty-first century. International

consolidation of the Alliance of Civilizations, as a tool

of preventive diplomacy, is now a fact and a resource

we must use. More than 100 States, along with

23 international organizations, now belong to the

Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations. I take

this opportunity to invite those countries that have not

yet joined to do so.

In a landscape of international economic crisis,

intercultural tensions run the risk of exacerbation. This

should impel us to continue working for the respect

and understanding of cultures and civilizations in order

to counter expressions of hatred, fanaticism, division

and confrontation.

The new world requires us to adapt and enlarge

the international institutional architecture. As the

Spanish philosopher, José Ortega y Gasset said, “men

do not live together just because; they do so for the

purpose of great undertakings”. Today the United

Nations has a great undertaking: to complete the

reform of our institutions and lay the foundations for

global governance. Together, we can face the

challenges and global crises of the twenty-first century

and construct an international system that is fairer,

more balanced and more sustainable.

Bretton Woods in 1944 and the San Francisco

Conference in 1945 were the results of half a century

of crises and two world wars. Believe me, we are not

doomed to wait another half century to reform and

establish new institutions for the twenty-first century.

We have already waited a decade, but we cannot

continue to wait much longer, because we can feel

history breathing down our necks.