Uruguay, 2007

I wish to congratulate Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his election

to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

second session.

On behalf of my country, Uruguay, I would like

to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and to all of those

who today are paying their respects and are celebrating

this International Day of Non-Violence.

The Eastern Republic of Uruguay would like to

begin by reiterating its ongoing commitment to the

principles and guidelines which are and will continue

to be at the very core of its international activity: the

sovereign equality of States, the rejection of the use of

force or the threat of the use of force, peaceful

settlement of international disputes, attachment to and

support for institutions of international law, support for

international law itself, non-intervention in the internal

affairs of other States, the self-determination of

peoples, the promotion of human rights, international

cooperation in economic and social matters, and

support for multilateralism and for the quest for

collective answers based on consensus and respect for

law, and within the framework of the principles of the

United Nations Charter which means the rejection

of any attempt to impose the will of one State over that

of others.

Achieving these principles is sometimes impeded

by the attitude of a few dominant States that impose

illegitimate decisions, provoking conflicts that involve

a large part of humankind and affect the weakest

countries. But above all, they weaken the legal and

political authority of the United Nations. It is clear

today that lying behind those attitudes we can discern

hegemonic economic interests.

In accordance with the suggestion of the

President, we will address the proposed agenda,

beginning with climate change.

At the High-level Dialogue here on

24 September, Uruguay expressed its opinions and

referred to various aspects of this problem that lead to

a serious and paradoxical situation for less developed

countries: even though they do not contribute

significantly to global warming, they are the ones that

suffer the most and are the most vulnerable to its

affects.

Regrettably, as we all know, there are highly

industrialized countries responsible for emitting

millions of tons of gas that cause global warming and

climate change, which, however, do not seem ready to

reduce their emissions nor to cooperate with the

international community to compensate for these

effects. We must call upon those countries to sign the

Kyoto Protocol and to contribute, in a way that is

proportionate to their responsibility in generating this

problem, so that this struggle can be carried forward by

all the nations of our planet in solidarity.

For basically agricultural and fishing countries

such as Uruguay and many other undeveloped

countries, climate is a decisive factor for development.

The dramatic climate variations that are increasingly

notorious constitute a serious threat for their

possibilities for progress and the well-being of their

populations. This is why our countries have affirmed

that temporary aid and depending on the goodwill of

rich countries when faced with specific catastrophes

does not accomplish much. Rather, we need effective

measures to be adopted from now on to prevent these

catastrophes and commitments that are to be made now

in order to avoid continuing to create the conditions

that produce these catastrophes.

In considering the topic of financing for

development, we should begin with the following

question. What have been the causes of

underdevelopment, economic and political dependency

and poverty for billions of people, most of whom live

in the southern part of the planet?

Looking for such financing, we tend to

immediately think of financial organizations like the

World Bank, or those which, in order to maintain

budgets that is, economic and social programmes

reflecting fiscal imbalances, have for decades

prescribed economic formulas, such as those applied

by the International Monetary Fund, which instead of

leading to development have destroyed the productive

apparatus of entire regions of the planet, thus

generating unemployment, increasing poverty and

concentrating wealth.

My country, along with other countries of the

South American region, the Cairns Group and the

Group of 22, has been saying for two decades that it is

important to have just standards of trade rather than

preaching about the unconditional opening of markets

on the pretext of free trade while simultaneously

practising the crudest and most ruthless protection of

the world’s predominant systems of production and

stubbornly refusing to comply with part V of the

Agreement on Agriculture, annexed to the Marrakesh

Agreement, whose objectives include the elimination

of subsidies and the opening up of markets.

Unfortunately, we have not managed to convince the

United States and the European Union of this.

To put it briefly and concisely, developing

countries do not need to be “helped”; they need

guarantees of free access to markets and, in particular,

the elimination of domestic production subsidies,

which violate the competitiveness guarantees, which

are so highly touted. It is in agriculture that the

southern countries are highly competitive and produce

consumer goods of high quality, generally free of

genetic modification. Real free trade would not make

them turn to international credit and would enable

them to generate their own resources to finance their

own development, integrate their economies, to expand

their markets, create their own multilateral credit

institutions and diversify their products and, as a result,

their markets.

Uruguay is the Chairman pro tempore of the

Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and we

firmly believe in the regional integration of all of the

countries of South America. That is their strategic

option in foreign policy.

Our South America possesses all of the natural

resources that we find in the world; we have energy

reserves for more than 100 years; we have the potential

to produce food for 4 billion people; we have the

largest global freshwater reserves; we have major

mineral resources. Hence, we can make decisive

economic and social progress, with a view to

eliminating poverty.

But despite all of that, we face an absurd and

criminal situation: out of 400 million people in South

America, 200 million live under the poverty threshold;

there are areas of the continent where there are

extremely high rates of infant mortality. Life

expectancy for part of that population is practically

half of what it is in developed countries.

We cannot forget that in today’s world South

America is a factor of peace and political stability. All

of the current Governments of South America have

been democratically elected. Both in MERCOSUR and

in its associated States, we have adopted the so-called

democratic clause that says that a country can belong

to these integration systems only if it respects

democratic principles.

That is why, after 200 years of non-integration,

we will tenaciously defend that achievement so that

anti-democratic and destabilizing interference will fail

and so that the continent of hope, as we call it, can

have an impact on the world to affirm peace and

respect for international law, democratic stability,

fundamental freedoms and human rights, which with

great sacrifice these people have recovered after

decades of a doctrine focusing on national security.

Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In order to

achieve them, we need greater social justice, a better

distribution of wealth and the gradual establishment of

new criteria that would place the economy at the

service of humankind instead of being a factor of

slavery and poverty for a large part of humankind a

tool that is used for the excessive enrichment of

privileged groups.

Our country knows the difficulties that all

developing nations face in working towards those

objectives. The current Uruguayan Government

inherited a country that had experienced the worst

crisis in its history, with levels of poverty affecting

1 million people out of a population of 3.5 million

people; in tens of thousands of cases poverty reached

the levels of abject poverty. All of this was the result of

the application of a foreign economic model which was

contrary to the interests of the region and its people.

Tackling this reality meant not only medium-term

and long-term productive development measures, but

also emergency social measures. Thus, in 2005 we

implemented an emergency plan which in two years

reduced the number of poor by 120,000, eliminated

abject poverty and helped to socially reintegrate a large

percentage of those who had been affected.

The Government is moving forward with a social

equity plan, which involves the integration of more

than 500,000 people one seventh of the

population into the national health system, which is

also being substantially modified. It also includes

benefits of roughly $40 per month to all children who

go to primary school and roughly $45 per month for

those who attend secondary or technical school. All of

this will help bring about a positive process of social

inclusion.

Likewise, laws are being considered to transform

the entire educational sector and which are also aimed

at achieving the MDGs. At present, school is

mandatory from the age of 4 and special attention is

being paid to dealing with the problem of dropouts.

For Uruguay, no type of terrorism is acceptable or

justifiable: neither State terrorism, which we

experienced during the 1970s and 1980s and which

became a national security doctrine, nor the terrorism

that is practiced by some groups to further their social,

political, religious or other demands, claiming victims

who, in the end, are always innocent people.

In the United Nations context, Uruguay is a party

to all United Nations-system counter-terrorism

conventions. We have submitted the relevant reports to

all United Nations committees in this area.

Uruguay is concerned both by acts of terrorism

and by their underlying causes. These include the

promotion of hate based on cultural, political, racial or

religious differences; the talk of a so-called inevitable

clash of civilizations; military invasions; and the

persistence of difficult conditions for part of

populations living in occupied territories.

Interventionism and non-compliance with United

Nations resolutions to resolve conflicts are causing an

increase in extremism and religious fanaticism among

such peoples and seem to be the factors that have

contributed most to the worsening and proliferation of

terrorist attacks.

Uruguay calls for all cultures and peoples to

come together in a respectful dialogue so that what is

different or foreign will not be a reason for aggression,

discrimination, subjugation or hatred. We fully support

the initiative of Spain and Turkey: the Alliance of

Civilizations.

In the view of Uruguay, peacekeeping in conflict

zones is an essential mission not only of the United

Nations, but also of all countries wishing to cooperate

in building a safer world where peace and cooperation

are the norm. Our country currently takes part in 12 of

the 15 peacekeeping missions of the Organization

deployed in Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Despite

the fact that we have only 3.5 million people, we are

the seventh largest troop contributor to those

operations and we are the greatest per-capita troop

contributor in the world.

Uruguay has acquired experience in matters

linked to peacebuilding and reconstruction in areas

devastated by conflict, and offers electoral assistance

to States as well.

With respect to United Nations reform, Uruguay

believes it is a priority to strengthen mechanisms to

eliminate the resort to preventive wars, interventionism

and unilateral actions that are undertaken without

taking into account the opinion of the international

community. Uruguay also expresses its full support for

the new Human Rights Council, in which we have been

honoured to serve as one of the Vice-Presidents. With

respect to Security Council reform, we hope that in the

current session we will be able to move forward on the

basis of a consensus. Uruguay supports the inclusion of

Brazil as a permanent member, as well as that of India,

Germany and Japan, and an increase in the number of

non-permanent members.

The effectiveness of the United Nations is a topic

that concerns us. Uruguay is one of the countries that

have been chosen for the “One United Nations” pilot

plan, within the framework of the recommendations of

the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence. The

Government of Uruguay has committed itself to

carrying out this pilot project in coordination with the

United Nations agencies in Uruguay, defining three

strategic areas as the basis of that coordination: State

reform, especially in health, education and

development strategies; decentralized development,

with civic participation; and policies to eradicate

poverty and structural inequities.

Lastly, Uruguay believes that all United Nations

Member States must abandon patterns that date back to

the Second World War and develop organizational

standards for the General Assembly, the Security

Council and the other principal organs of the United

Nations. Member States should establish conditions

that would bring the United Nations into the twenty-

first century, thus guaranteeing peace and providing a

forum in which to promote a dignified life for peoples

along the axis of freedom, which is the basis for

justice.