Uruguay, 2006

Madam President, I bring to you the greeting of the

people and Government of the Eastern Republic of

Uruguay to this Assembly. This Assembly is the

broadest and most representative and important forum

in the world today.

Madam President, may I express my personal

satisfaction at seeing you exercise such an important

function and I am sure that as a woman you will be

able to add to the office an additional share of

moderation and restraint.

In Uruguay, like the United Nations, we feel that

it is very important to preach by example. That is why

the Government I represent has also assumed, among

its many tasks, that of elevating the status of women

and increasing their participation in various areas.

Likewise, I am very happy to bring to you a

special message from the President of Uruguay,

Mr. Tabaré Vásquez, for the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, to thank him for his unrelenting

efforts to drive the immense process of reforming the

Organization. My country and the other Members of

this house are fully committed to this reform.

On the occasion of the sixteenth Ibero-American

Summit that will take place in Uruguay, the countries

of the conference will express to the Secretary-General

their thanks for his outstanding work. I would also like

to say that the main subject of the Summit will be

migration and development. Recently, we had a very

constructive high-level dialogue on this subject in this

house.

A year ago, during the sixtieth session of this

forum, the President of our country said that the

commitment of Uruguay to the United Nations

Organization is both demanding and hopeful.

Our commitment is demanding because of the

challenges that the current world faces and because of

the opportunities implicit in the present, upon the

management of which our future depends.

Our commitment is hopeful. Although we realize

that there are difficulties and limitations on the

international scene and at the regional and national

levels, we believe in human beings, we believe in

society, we believe in democracy as a common house

and in freedom as the mother tongue of humanity.

The Eastern Republic of Uruguay reaffirms the

principles that characterize our foreign policy, namely,

our commitment to peace, sovereignty, democracy and

solidarity; a firm rejection of all types of terrorism,

violence and discrimination; the inalienable right of

countries to have stable and secure borders and to fully

exercise their sovereignty and self-determination; the

respect for international law as a guarantee of

sovereignty of peoples and their peaceful cohabitation;

non-intervention in the internal affairs of States;

multilateralism as a way of strengthening international

law and as a way to organize the role of the United

Nations; and the recognition of the indivisibility of all

human rights, be they political, social, economic, civil

or cultural, including collective rights, such as the right

to development and the environment. Consequently,

our country feels that progress in reforming the

Organization must be achieved and we are making our

contribution to that process, which will enable the

35 06-53341

United Nations to fulfil its tasks with greater

effectiveness.

Greater effectiveness should also be sought by

the important recently created bodies, the Human

Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission.

Uruguay is already actively participating in the Human

Rights Council and we hope to join the organizing

committee of the Peacebuilding Commission.

As a country that is a major contributor of troops

and in support of the goal of peacekeeping, we have

participated in peacekeeping missions since the

creation of this Organization. The most recent example

of this our active undertaking and participation in the

United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti

(MINUSTAH), which is an essential mechanism for

securing a lasting peace and for restoring the social

fabric of a dear Latin American nation.

Likewise, Uruguay would like to renew its active

commitment to the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) as agreed to by the Heads of State and

Government. When I say “active”, I say this as a

reflection of how much progress has been made

towards the goals set forth in the agreement signed in

September 2005.

I cannot refer now to each of these goals at this

time, but one of the main goals is “the eradication of

extreme poverty and hunger”. In Uruguay, by means of

the interaction of various governmental programmes,

we have implemented an emergency social plan that

deals with the most basic needs of those in extreme

poverty.

Poverty has begun to decrease, dropping from

32.6 per cent of the recorded population in 2004 to

29.8 per cent at the end of 2005. We feel that this is

still not sufficient, but it is progress, not only in terms

of social protection, but also in terms of social

integration.

This is so because the great problems that have

produced poverty in our country, as in other countries,

are not just hunger, the lack of housing, illiteracy,

academic failure or teenage pregnancies, but also

discrimination, stigmatization, insecurity and despair,

indeed, situations that indicate being integrated in

society is much more than subsisting.

Social integration is essential, too, because the

right to participate in social life also involves

recognizing individuals as active citizens and not just

as people who need to be helped.

And social integration is key, because the right

that our citizens are asking for — all of them, even the

poorest — is not just the right to live, but also the right

to be recognized as individuals and the right to live

together in society. This is called democracy and

citizenship.

Allow me from this important podium and on

behalf of the Government I represent to refer to three

matters of particular importance for our country. One

of them has to do with the facts of the recent past.

There can be no future without memory, no freedom

without justice. That is why, within the framework of

legislation in force, Uruguay is taking concrete steps to

heal the wounds caused by the violation of human

rights during the dictatorship that ruled the country

between 1973 and 1985. It has been difficult work and

it is also very difficult to learn and accept the truth, but

it does strengthen democracy as a form of Government

and condition in society. Moreover, truth and justice

help to ensure that the horrors of the past are never

repeated.

I am very happy to inform this General Assembly

that my country has taken one further step in the

promotion and defence of human rights. The

Uruguayan parliament has just unanimously approved a

bill on genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes

and cooperation with the International Criminal Court.

Another subject that relates to the current

situation and the future is climate change and the

degradation of the environment. Uruguay is a party to

the main international conventions in this area and,

while stressing the indispensable international

cooperation on this subject, we do particularly stress,

once again, the individual responsibility of each State

to actively protect the environment in its territory and

waters and to make the vigilant participation of civil

society a high priority.

It is not enough to simply protest pernicious

transfers of polluting industrial processes. It is

incumbent upon the State to act firmly to be vigilant

and monitor and to impose high environmental

standards on foreign and domestic companies.

Uruguay receives significant investment for

industrial development on its territory, but we have

very strict controls on the environmental aspects of

06-53341 36

those investments and we apply an internationally

recognized standard that reflects our motto “Natural

Uruguay”. We require the use of the most modern

technologies available, and we monitor effectively, on

the ground, the environmental effects of such ventures.

The Government of Uruguay reiterates its

commitment to the protection of the environment in all

parts of the world as a human right and as the

cornerstone for achieving true sustainable

development. In this sense, Uruguay calls upon the

international community, and particularly the donor

countries, to increase their cooperation in the area of

the environment for developing countries and assume

in a responsible manner global environmental goals

that involve shared but differentiated responsibilities

for everyone.

Finally, I would like to address our commitment

to the strengthening of the multilateral trading system

and the need to bring the Doha Development Round to

a successful conclusion, in order to ensure that the

development dimension is reflected in specific results

and not just programmatic measures. For that, it is

important to resume, as soon as possible, the

negotiations in Geneva, always bearing in mind that we

will not achieve satisfactory results without the

elimination of agricultural subsidies, in the form of

exports that receive internal support and the significant

opening up of access to markets, particularly in the

developed countries.

Everyone here in this Hall knows that there is no

peace in intolerance and terrorism, and there is no

freedom in poverty, nor democracy in inequality. We

reaffirm our conviction that these threats can only be

overcome if we join our efforts together and fully

appreciate the wealth of our own cultural diversity,

both among nations as well as within our respective

nations.

Among nations, we must rely on the respect of

our traditions and cultures and a broad-based dialogue

among them in order to find useful synergies. And

within each of our countries, we must rely on active

policies promoting social cohesion that embrace our

very cultural, ethnic and religious diversities. We have

to move from words to acts, from declarations to

action. This is not easy, but it is essential.

We are not starting from zero. The brief history of

this Organization is testament to that.

But we still have a lot of work to do. It is a large

task which, honestly, will never end and the results will

never be perfect.

But these zones of continuity and imperfection

establish the ideals that call on us to act and the

commitments that drive us forward.

If this sixty-first session of the General Assembly

of the United Nations is able to help us in this task, it

will have fulfilled its mission.