What an honour it is to be at the General Assembly and to
represent Ecuador and our citizens’ revolution. I
would like to begin by congratulating President Sam
Kutesa on his election to lead the General Assembly
at its sixty-ninth session. I want him to know that he
will have the full support of the delegation of Ecuador
during his tenure. Similarly, I want to express Ecuador’s
appreciation and gratitude to our brother John Ashe for
his work at the head of the General Assembly. I wish
to convey the brotherly greetings and solidarity of
President Rafael Correa, Minister Ricardo Patiño and
the citizens’ revolution.

Four years ago today, Ecuador suffered an
attempted coup d’état in which there was an attempt
against the life of the President of the Republic, Rafael
Correa Delgado. Four years ago, democracy in Ecuador
was threatened, but it prevailed. The international
community’s condemnation was immediate. Countries,
particularly those in the region, and the United Nations
and other international organizations supported the
millions of Ecuadorians who took to the streets and
squares of my country, condemning the use of violence,
rejecting the coup d’état, channelling the aspirations
of all sectors of the population and consolidating
democracy in my country.

I would like to convey my appreciation to
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who immediately
made statements bringing that issue to the world’s
attention and sent a special mission to Ecuador to
assess the situation. The effective work of Assistant
Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and his
team deserves to be remembered and appreciated.

Democracy in Ecuador was strengthened, the coup
plotters were isolated and the law and the will of the
people, as expressed at the ballot box, prevailed over
the interests of small, but powerful, groups, which
were then left behind in history. On the night of
30 September 2010, all the Heads of State of the Union
of South American Nations (UNASUR) met in Buenos
Aires to support the Ecuadorian Government and
President Rafael Correa. As a result of that meeting, the
12 countries of South America adopted an additional
protocol to the Constitutive Treaty of UNASUR, which
added a democratic clause that seeks to discourage a
breakdown of, or threat to, democracy in the region. In
Ecuador and in South America we are not returning to
the past; we cannot return to the past. The use of force
as a means of expression and of resolving differences
will not return. That became clear on 30 September
2010. We have chosen the path of law and dialogue to
build a better world and future for our peoples.

The Government of Ecuador — the Government
of the citizens’ revolution — has suggested the
implementation of a radical change in the State’s
structures and its political and development model.
Ecuador’s position internationally is therefore in
line with that reality. “Sumak Kawsay”, which in
the language of our ancestors means “living well”, is
built on a daily basis through a new model based on a
socially inclusive and supportive economy, supported
through a citizen-based democracy and sustained in
its planning. The changes made by the Government of
the citizens’ revolution in Ecuador are clearly in line
with the Millennium Development Goals and the post-
2015 agenda and reflect the values encapsulated in the
Human Development Index of the United Nations. Let
me briefly mention some of the achievements of the
citizens’ revolution over the past seven and a half years.

Approximately 1,136,000 Ecuadorians — 10 per
cent of the population — have been lifted out of poverty.
We reduced the rate of unemployment to 4.9 per cent in
2013, which is the lowest in Latin America. We have
maintained a policy of wage increases, and Ecuador
now has the highest rates in real values in the region.
Moreover, Ecuador is the leader in Latin America
and the Caribbean in reducing inequality, which is a
major problem afflicting our region. The country’s
competitiveness is no longer based on labour scarcity or
exploitation, but rather on public investment in roads,
ports, airports, telecommunications, power generation
and systems of justice and security for our citizens.
Public investment in Ecuador is the highest in the
continent, at 15 per cent of our gross domestic product
(GDP) in 2013 — three times the Latin American
average. Thanks to that effort, we have moved up
15 places in terms of our competitiveness, according to
the World Economic Forum.

We have universal basic education, which fulfils
one of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. Child
and youth labour have been substantially reduced.
There are 82 public schools that have been registered
with the International Baccalaureate Organization, and
it is expected that, by 2017, 500 schools will offer the
International Baccalaureate. Thanks to the educational
changes under way in Ecuador, 179,290 students have
moved from the private education system to the public
education system. In other words, in the past two years,
19 per cent of students left private schools to study in
State schools. As I said, we are experiencing a true
revolution in education.

Ecuador has invested some 2 per cent of our GDP
in higher education, which is more than double the
average for Latin America. In the seven and a half
years it has been in office, the Government of Ecuador
has funded 8,000 scholars abroad, most of whom are
enrolled in masters and doctoral programmes at the
best universities in the world. That represents the
largest investment in scholarships in terms of GDP in
Latin America.

I have mentioned all those achievements of our
citizens’ revolution — and many more exist, but I
cannot mention them owing to a lack of time — because
those achievements were at stake on 30 September
2010, four years ago today. Those advances were made
possible because democracy prevailed and because the
Government of Ecuador continues to work for the well-
being of its people.

The most important challenge facing the Ecuadorian
State, along with the fight against poverty, is changing
its economy, and that means changing the production
matrix of our country. To ensure sustainability in our
domestic and production model, we are committed to
boosting our productive development, trade flows and
non-speculative foreign direct investment in target
sectors, such as technology transfers and the financing
of strategic projects. The fundamental objective
of Ecuador’s foreign policy is therefore to assist in
promoting the internal development of the country,
balancing that with its international relations. That
means expanding its political, trade, economic and
social networks with an alternative and complementary
view of the integration scheme that the country has
traditionally had at the global level.

Ecuador reiterates its concern with regard to
the challenge of global warming. As we change our
production and energy model, my country is promoting
the generation of renewable energy sources with fewer
greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, the
mass use of induction cookers and the optimization of
the use of raw materials, reducing waste as much as
possible. However, the ability of developing countries
to meet the goals of a post-2015 development agenda
is directly proportionate to developed countries’
continuing provision of resources aimed at the timely
implementation of plans and projects for addressing
natural disasters caused by weather events exacerbated
by human activity, based on the principle of common
but differentiated responsibilities.

My country was grateful for the Secretary-
General’s invitation to the Climate Summit held here
on 23 September. We are pleased with the decisions
some developed countries have made on their national
plans for mitigating and adapting to climate change,
particularly the announcement by some, including
France, that they would be increasing the capitalization
of the Green Climate Fund. Despite those efforts, the
Fund will not reach its target of $15 billion by the end
of the year. We, the developing world, would like to see
more ambitious national plans and policies on the part
of the developed countries if the global consequences
of this irrefutable scientific reality are to be addressed.

Ecuador’s foreign policy is now making it a priority
to strengthen South-South relations with a view to the
sovereign integration of our peoples and the creation
of new areas for regional governance. In that regard,
Ecuador is working to achieve harmonious South
American and Latin American integration, to build a
multipolar world and to democratize our international
organizations, with the goal of creating a more just and
equitable world order. We are promoting multilateralism
and working on innovative integration processes,
cooperation for development and a harmonious political
dialogue. In that context, UNASUR, the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
(CELAC) are very relevant entities and are national
priorities in our efforts to create improved integration
mechanisms.

Regarding UNASUR, I am pleased to announce
that its new headquarters will soon open in Quito, at the
centre of the world, the point where two hemispheres
and the South American brotherhood meet. In January
2015 Ecuador will take over the rotating chairship of
CELAC, with the purpose of reinvigorating the regional
integration agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean

and furthering our political cooperation, while
continuing to base integration on respect for pluralism
and States’ diversity. The Government of Ecuador
initiated the creation of this integration mechanism,
and it has been a major undertaking. CELAC does
not exclude any Latin American or Caribbean State;
we have firmly rejected unilateral embargoes and
sanctions, and our ongoing struggle is about fighting
inequality and poverty.

We must overcome and end injustice. It is therefore
unacceptable that the United States of America’s
blockade of our sister Republic of Cuba has been
going on for more than 50 years, and that despite the
fact that Cuba has been supported by the Assembly for
21 years. We also condemn Cuba’s inclusion in the list
of countries that sponsor terrorism.

We would like to reiterate once more that we must
call for a settlement through dialogue of the conflict over
Argentina’s Malvinas Islands. The United Kingdom
should comply with the more than 40 resolutions
adopted by the Assembly on the subject. We also support
Argentina in its efforts to address the pernicious effects
of speculative hedge funds. Argentina is not alone in
that fight, and it can count on the backing and solidarity
of Ecuador and our entire region.

Concerning Palestine, I would like to state that on
17 July the Government of Ecuador firmly condemned
Israel’s military incursion into Palestinian territory
and called for an immediate end to Israel’s military
operations and the indiscriminate attacks on the
civilian population in the Gaza Strip. My country has
appealed to the international community to shoulder
its responsibility for preventing such indiscriminate
attacks in the interests of saving innocent lives and
maintaining international peace and security. As proof
of our support for the Palestinian cause, Ecuador
decided to establish a diplomatic presence there, and
it is now up and running in Ramallah. Meanwhile,
just a few days ago we sent humanitarian assistance to
Gaza, and we will shortly send a second humanitarian
assistance convoy there for the use of the Palestinian
national authorities.

In 2016 Ecuador will host the Africa-South
America Summit, a responsibility requiring considerable
preparation and providing an opportunity to draw
up joint policies that unite us with our African
brothers. The time has come to further strengthen the
relationship between Africa and Latin America, and
Ecuador has therefore decided to open new embassies
in Algeria, Nigeria and Angola in the near future. We
will also strengthen our existing embassies in Africa,
and we will be opening additional diplomatic missions
there in a second phase. We intend to work with our
African brothers for our mutual benefit and shared
opportunities.

For Ecuador, it is a source of pride and a heavy
responsibility to be hosting the forthcoming third
United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable
Urban Development, Habitat III, in 2016. Thus in one
year, 2016, we will host the meetings of the CELAC
Heads of State, the Africa-South America Summit and
Habitat III.

For over a year, we have undertaken intensive work
to address the main issues stemming from the rapid
urban growth that we have seen in our countries, issues
that were raised at the most recent World Urban Forum,
last April in Medellín, Colombia. We hope to continue
to generate synergies in order to move towards a new
global agenda for sustainable urban development that
we will take up at Habitat III.

The Government of Ecuador, in its efforts to build
a just and equitable society, has sought in recent years
to implement a system of rights in terms of habitat
and urban development. The principle guiding its
action — “the right to the city” — is understood not as
a unitary right, but as a set of interrelated rights linked
to the land. Policies for habitat, human settlements and
housing are expressions of the State’s aspiration to
build, as I mentioned, a society of living well, through
public regulation in line with the concept that Ecuador
promotes, namely, harmony with nature. Ecuador
is the only country in the world that sets forth in its
Constitution “the right to nature”.

With respect to the reform of the United Nations
system, Ecuador has actively and constructively made
profound and comprehensive proposals for change
in some international organizations, with a view to
making them more efficient, democratic, participatory
and inclusive. We aspire to their universalization and
transparency, as well as to increased and equitable
representation, consultation and decision-making on the
part of all States, especially the developing countries.
Consistent with that, the Government of Ecuador has
advocated the reform of the global governance system,
in order to democratize decision-making and improve
transparency in the management of all multilateral
organizations. Many Members of this Organization join
us in that approach.

Ecuador proposes marking a turning point with
respect to the United Nations system, as with its current
structure it is not addressing the international tensions
and disputes or the troubled international situation.
Ecuador seeks to democratize the Security Council,
which should be composed of clusters, in order to
find a balance, ensure representativity and protect the
principle of the equality of States. Only in that way
can the Council play its role in maintaining peace and
international security.

We are at the threshold of the seventieth anniversary
of the United Nations. We have a historical obligation
to modernize and democratize the Organization,
strengthening the role of the General Assembly in
such decision-making as the election of judges to the
International Court of Justice and the election of the
Secretary-General.

At present, we are concerned that, despite the
progress made in 2014, a great many threats continue
to loom over humankind. Situations of armed conflict,
humanitarian crises, violations of human rights
and breaches of international law threaten entire
populations, demanding an urgent response from the
international community. The Government of Ecuador
has expressed its conviction regarding the need to
respect international law and reach negotiated and
peaceful solutions. It has totally rejected all forms
of interference and unilateral action that violate the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, trample
on human rights or disregard international law. We also
strongly condemn all terrorist acts, whether perpetrated
by irregular groups or in the name of a State. Ecuador
has condemned the actions of the Islamic State in both
Iraq and Syria.

Those global challenges must be dealt with by
the United Nations, as the most appropriate forum to
address and respond to the difficult situations that we
are facing. It will surely have the support and solidarity
of all Member States.

Let us endeavour to ensure that international law is
the standard that governs our actions. A few months ago,
in this very Hall, Member States adopted a resolution
which called for respect for the right to privacy in the
digital age (resolution 68/167). The same label has
been applied to another abuse — global surveillance.
Once again we are in a situation where we are being
monitored and spied on. Ecuador, along with several
other countries, co-sponsored a draft resolution put
forward by Germany and Brazil and, with the adoption
of that legal instrument, a new process for defining
human rights — the right to privacy — was initiated.
The resolution, adopted by consensus, constitutes a
rejection of an abusive posture. The abuse was brought
to our attention by an Australian citizen who felt that
the world should know what was being done with
sovereignty.

The decision of that Australian citizen led to
the harshest persecution, which caused him to seek
protection for his life in the light of the real threats he
had received. I am referring to Julian Assange, who is
now associated with Ecuador because, after reviewing
the merits of his case, we granted him asylum. Two
years have passed in the new life of Mr. Assange, two
years without freedom of movement, two years in
which he has been confined to a small space waiting
for justice. There it is again, Sir, that dream of justice.

When asylum is granted, it is primarily by
immediate recognition and respect for a fundamental
human right — the right to life. What has been difficult
is convincing the counterpart — the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — that in this
situation the fundamental human rights of Julian
Assange should be taken into account. Ecuador will
continue to work tirelessly to find a solution in this
case. To that end, we hope to have the support of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
and the Kingdom of Sweden.

I appeal to the Kingdom of Sweden to enforce
one of the most important legal principles recognized
internationally and by the Swedish legal system:
effective judicial protection. After four years, the
Prosecutor’s Office of that country has been unable
to take statements from Julian Assange, even though
under Swedish law this could have been done in another
country, even though Ecuador repeatedly offered its
judicial cooperation, and even though Julian Assange’s
lawyers expressed their willingness to cooperate.

Turning to another subject, and with this I will
conclude my statement, I would like to speak about
transnational corporations. In recent years, there have
been increased demands brought by transnational
corporations in international arbitration courts against
the States and peoples of the South. Those multimillion
dollar disputes, such as the Chevron-Texaco case in
Ecuador, threaten the tax resources and jeopardize the
validity and legitimacy of the national jurisdiction of the
States concerned. The scale of the problem could even
compromise the development plans of the countries of

the South, in Latin America and other regions of the
world.

In that context, we are also establishing, within the
framework of UNASUR, a regional arbitration centre
that will, inter alia, provide legal advice in investment
disputes. We are also creating a code of conduct for
arbitrators and mediators within UNASUR. And we
are establishing, with other regions of the world, an
observatory on transnational corporations. All of that is
aimed at creating support mechanisms that can analyse,
monitor and respond to States’ requests so as to prevent
and solve investment disputes. Ecuador, together with
South Africa, has also submitted a proposal in the
Human Rights Council aimed at creating a binding
instrument to impose international human rights legal
obligations on transnational corporations. For the
time being, a working group is being established to
consider that initiative. My country attaches special
importance to the matter, and we will work to reach an
understanding with States because that is an extremely
important issue. We are confident that we will have the
States’ full support.

Finally, I wish to reiterate to the Secretary-General
Ecuador’s gratitude for the appointment of the former
Vice-President of the Republic, Mr. Lenín Voltaire
Moreno Garcés, as Special Envoy on Disability and
Accessibility. Ecuador will continue to support all
initiatives of the Organization to promote and protect
the rights of people with disabilities and their families.

At the beginning of my statement, I pointed out
some achievements of the citizens’ revolution in the
past seven and a half years. The changes brought about
have had a profound impact and have caused a historic
transformation. My country also wishes to work with all
Member States to achieve a true transformation of the
United Nations. We have enormous challenges ahead
to promote development, maintain peace and reduce
inequality and poverty. Ecuador is fully committed
to working together on that historic task. I hope to
see fellow Member States in the Hall next year at the
seventieth session of the General Assembly, when we
can then celebrate important decisions that we have
taken.


I
congratulate His Excellency Mr. Sam Kutesa, former
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, on his election
to the presidency of the General Assembly. We wish
him the greatest success in carrying out his duties.

Whirlwinds of oppression and violence, anxiety,
desperation and the systematic violation of human rights
affect many corners of the world. We are witnessing an
upsurge in violence and armed confrontations and an
increase in atrocious crimes and extremism with an ever
increasing number of displaced persons, humanitarian
crises and deplorable acts that remain unpunished.

We are also concerned in particular about the
universal dimension of the crisis caused by the Islamic
State in Iraq and the Sham (ISIS). That reality requires
the coordinated and forceful multilateral action of
the international community in accordance with the
relevant bodies of the Organization. We have seen
the images and heard the screams of pain and distress
rising out of Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan,
Mali, Libya, the Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and the
Central African Republic. The cries can also be heard
in Central America, where thousands of children and
young people cross borders alone heading towards the
United States of America, fleeing violence and a lack
of opportunities in pursuit of dreams that can turn into
nightmares. The Assembly can never put aside the
future of those children because, in many ways, the
girls and boys of Central America who travel alone are
also our sons and daughters.

Costa Ricans are not indifferent to the terror
of armed conflicts, less still to the suffering of the
millions of victims of its most abject manifestations. As
a nation, we have always stood with our sister nations
in our efforts to bring an end to war and to establish
peace. The conflicts that torment us often emerge from
the fragile situations of States and their institutions:
extreme poverty, corruption and impunity. In all of
them, serious human rights violations have occurred.
None of those conflicts broke out without prior
warning. Ther were clear warning signs. In some cases,
the threat was identified but no action was taken, as in
Syria. In other cases, the danger was not acknowledged
in time, as in South Sudan. However, in all such cases,
the victims are those who are most vulnerable and most
need our help but who cannot make their voice heard.
They are the reason that we are here today.

Faced with the loss of human lives, we have reason
to ask ourselves if we have kept the solemn promise
that accompanied the founding of the United Nations
69 years ago. Do all Members of the Organization refrain
from resorting to the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of other
States? In some cases, that is so, in others not, but the
failure to act is unacceptable. When States disregard
that promise, the system of the United Nations is called
to action. Otherwise, it becomes weak. It loses its
essence. It loses its spirit.

The greatest challenge facing the international
community, the United Nations and the Security
Council — the challenge I wish to talk about
today — is maintaining international peace and
security as essential common goods. If we want peace,
we must prepare for peace. Maintaining international
peace and security begins with a culture of peace. As
an unarmed democracy and home to the University for
Peace, the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights
and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Costa
Rica believes that the culture of peace and education for
peace must be an absolute priority. We are convinced
that peace, like war, is not the product of a human or an
historic destiny but is borne of the very freedom of the
human being.

Maintaining international peace and security is not
restricted to dealing with conflicts. The Organization
was founded on the ashes of two world wars precisely
in order to prevent them. Prevention begins at the
State level, with the strengthening of democracy and
its institutions, good governance and a social welfare
State founded of the rule of law as a basic prerequisite
for the promotion of development and fair and inclusive
societies. Prevention is also founded on a solid and
functioning multilateral system. Costa Rica values
and encourages the preventive diplomatic measures
provided for in Chapter VI of the Charter of the United
Nations, which include mediation, good offices and
early warning.

As part of the Group of Friends of Mediation,
I would like to highlight Costa Rica’s leadership in
negotiating General Assembly resolution 68/303,
which seeks to acknowledge the key role that regional
and subregional organizations play in mediating and
managing conflicts. To date, that is the first General
Assembly resolution on mediation to recognize that

role. Its inclusion is therefore a true achievement of the
General Assembly.

Maintaining international peace and security
requires all States to resolve our disputes peacefully in
line with the Charter of the United Nations and in strict
accordance with international law and agreements. Costa
Rica firmly believes in and implements all aspects of
international law. We therefore underscore in particular
the role of the International Court of Justice and the
International Criminal Court. Peace cannot take root
where there is impunity. When war crimes, genocide
and crimes against humanity have been committed,
those responsible must be investigated and put on trial,
including by the International Criminal Court when the
national jurisdiction proves insufficient.

Our country opposes the weakening of the Rome
Statute and any proposed reform that could promote
tolerance for impunity. Once again, we remind the
Security Council of its authority and responsibility
to refer to the International Criminal Court cases that
occur in non-States parties. That is the only approach
we recognize. Our only weapon is and will always be
international law.

Maintaining international peace and security
also necessitates strengthening the single global
Organization charged with defending them. The
Security Council must progress from a reaction
mentality towards one of action, and reaffirm its moral
and political commitment to all humankind. It must be
vigilant, strategic and proactive. It must be democratic,
efficient, transparent and inclusive. My country has
objected to the use of the veto to obstruct measures
aimed at preventing or resolving conflict. Costa Ricans
are amazed by the way some permanent Council
members have invoked the principal of sovereignty to
block intervention by the Council at a moment when it
should have acted to prevent rivers from turning red
with the blood of innocent victims.

We reiterate our call on the permanent members
to refrain from using the veto, especially in situations
of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and
mass human rights violations. We therefore welcome
the French proposal for a code of conduct addressing
the use of the veto. In that spirit, Costa Rica supports
the Secretary-General’s Rights Up Front Action
Plan so as to place human rights at the centre of the
prevention activities of the United Nations. Given our
serious and unshakeable commitment to human rights,
I respectfully ask the Assembly to back Costa Rica’s
re-election to the Human Rights Council in October.

Our poet Jorge Debravo said that we Costa Ricans

“have the obligation to fight for a better future for
man, for a wonderful future. It is not an option for
us to remain silent. It is not an option for us to be
observers or simple witnesses to the struggles of
our nations. In a time like this, remaining neutral is
to betray humanity’s future”.
Because silence is not an option for us, we condemn
the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas
and its use of human shields, just as we condemn the use
of disproportionate force in military operations carried
out by the Israel Defense Forces. We demand respect
for the ceasefire and the negotiation of a permanent
solution based on two States living side by side in peace
and harmony.

Because silence is not an option for us, we reject the
transfer of conventional weapons to existing conflict
zones. As one of the world leaders in the negotiations
that led to the Arms Trade Treaty — an idea originally
proposed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former-
President Óscar Arias Sánchez — we urge States to
reconsider their laws and policies regulating the transfer
and availability of arms and munitions, with a view
to preventing access by those who would use them in
violating human rights and international humanitarian
law. To trade in death is to become an accomplice to
atrocities. In that context, it would be appropriate to
ask the Assembly: What is the ethical — not legal or
regulatory — difference between trafficking arms
that kill young people in less-developed countries and
trafficking in drugs that lead to the same result in the
planet’s richest countries?

Because silence is not an option for us, Costa
Rica rejects the use of explosive weapons in densely
populated areas of Syria, Gaza and eastern Ukraine.
Costa Rica urgently calls on Member States to develop
stricter rules and commitments to prohibit and restrict
their use, not only because they violate international
humanitarian law, but also because taking action on that
issue, here and now, is critical to reducing incentives to
non-combatants to take up arms and join the extremists.

Because silence is not an option for us, we also
condemn the use of cluster munitions in Syria, South
Sudan and eastern Ukraine. As the host of the Fifth
Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster

Munitions, which took place in San Jose from 2 to
5 September, my country will continue to reject the
manufacture, use and trade of those weapons. We
rejoice that our beloved Central America has become
the first region of the world to be declared free of cluster
munitions, and reiterate our commitment to continuing
to promote the Convention’s universalization.

Because silence is not an option for us, we reiterate
our rejection of nuclear weapons. No State should
develop or possess nuclear weapons. Maintaining and
updating nuclear weapons requires immense economic
and human resources that are necessary for responding
to the key challenges of our time, such as achieving
the Millennium Development Goals and the sustainable
development goals. Costa Rica is ready to negotiate a
new, legally binding instrument on nuclear disarmament
and calls on States to honour their commitments in that
regard.

There can be no peace without sustainable
development. There can be no peace in the world so
long as there is poverty. There can be no peace in the
presence of extreme wealth disparity. There can be no
peace while we destroy humankind’s habitat. There
can be no peace while large sectors of humankind
lack guaranteed access to drinking water. There can
be no peace so long as we fail to understand that all
of humankind and Planet Earth’s biodiversity can and
must thrive and live together. There can be no peace
while we fail to guarantee all human rights — civil,
cultural, economic, political and social — and in
particular the right to development.

Because we yearn for peace, we call on the
nations of the world to join us in defining the post-
2015 development agenda. In just one year’s time,
the General Assembly will be tasked with adopting
the international framework for achieving sustainable
development. The challenge we will face is colossal;
we must therefore humbly acknowledge that, despite
progress, the implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals has been, at best, insufficient.

I am convinced that the new sustainable development
agenda must be a tool primed for action, with precise
objectives, clear targets and indicators that will allow us
to measure and monitor its success. In addition, it must
result from a broad international consensus, including
open and transparent negotiation processes that involve
not only the Member States, but also other international
actors and civil society organizations whose experience
will significantly enrich the final agreement.

We are facing the most serious threat in our
history — the very survival of our species. Actions
taken to confront it must not be timid. On the contrary,
every public policy, national and international alike,
must take climate change into account as a determining
factor. Costa Rica celebrates the vision of the Secretary-
General in convening the Climate Summit at the
opening of this session. Now is the time to demonstrate
our political commitment to achieving a legally binding
instrument on climate change by 2015. In addition, we
demand robust action on the part of those countries that
contribute most to global warming. Their production
and consumption methods must be completely revised
as their impact on the planet’s most impoverished
people — the ones most affected by climate change — is
undeniable. If humankind is to survive, we must reverse
the current trend.

Three years ago, 33 countries came together to
establish the Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC). Its agenda is underpinned
by full respect for the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations and international law.
Its objective is to build diverse, equitable, fair and
egalitarian societies, where eradicating poverty and
hunger are given priority status. I salute the nations,
members of this community.

In an international context of increasing military
tension and armed conflict, and with the realization
that a region’s prosperity and stability can contribute
to international peace and security, CELAC member
States have declared Latin America and the Caribbean
a zone of peace. As President Pro Tempore of CELAC,
Costa Rica reiterates its commitment to preventive
diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of disputes,
with the aim of forever eradicating both the use and the
threat of force from our region.

Costa Rica trusts that the United Nations will
maintain international peace and security in order to
promote sustainable development and ensure genuine
respect for all human rights. At a time when we must
control the reflexive use of coercive measures as a
first course of action, when anxiety and despair are
unsettling many, it is essential to re-establish hope.
When faced with fear, we must have confidence. When
faced with conflict, we must turn to peace. When faced
with rejection and prejudice on the part of others, we
must offer a caring and fraternal embrace. When faced
with death, we must think of life.

With faith in dialogue and consultation, I have
come to the General Assembly to ask that we declare

peace — that we conscientiously and decisively work
together towards a culture and education for peace;
towards strengthening of the social State based on
the rule of law, as well as its institutions and our
economies; towards conflict prevention and resolution
of international controversies by peaceful means;
towards a renewed role for the Security Council;
towards an end to and a reversal of climate change; and
towards sustainable development from which not one
person in the world is excluded.

I have come to tell the Assembly that silence is
not an option for us. We must raise our voices when
confronted with actions and situations that go against
the universal principles enshrined in the Charter of
the United Nations. I have come to inspire us to work
together on new paradigms for sustainable development,
human security and peace for the whole world.

The Costa Rican poet Julieta Dobles Yzaguirre
wondered: “Will the Earth in the new millennium/
become that common home?” I would like to respond to
the poet with her own words: “No one is saved alone./
Perhaps in sharing words and actions/ peace will finally
break out.”


At the outset, I
should like to congratulate the President on his election,
which testifies to the strong commitment of Africa to
the United Nations and to multilateralism. I also wish
to express my appreciation for the dedication to the
Assembly of his predecessor Ambassador John Ashe. I
reiterate my gratitude to the Secretary-General for his
leadership at the helm of our Organization and for his
relentless efforts in favour of peace in such a difficult
and complex time in international life. I commend him
also for convening the Climate Summit, which has
renewed political support for the achievement in 2015 of
a fair, universal and legally binding climate agreement.
Portugal, and the European Union as a whole, will
continue to work tirelessly and in an inclusive manner
towards the achievement of that goal.

During this session, we face the enormous challenge
of renewing and building upon the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), with a view to adopting
the post-2015 development agenda. The President may
count on the support and commitment of Portugal on that
and other issues and in the ongoing work of the General
Assembly, which is the first home of multilateralism
and of legitimate international collective action. The
commitment of Portugal to the United Nations, to the
Charter and to its principles and values is firm, resolute
and enduring.

At this Assembly session, Portugal is a candidate
for the Human Rights Council for the 2015-2017 term.
We hope to have the support of all members in the
upcoming election. If elected, Portugal will be serving
for the first time as a member of such an important
body.

Last April Portugal underwent its second Universal
Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council. Our
positive national human rights record was widely
acknowledged. Portugal has actively participated in
multilateral human rights forums, in particular in the
Human Rights Council, submitting annual resolutions
on the right to education and on economic, social and
cultural rights. We hope to be able to make an even
greater contribution to the Human Rights Council over
the coming three years, as we deeply believe in the
Council’s ability to strengthen the capacity of States to
comply with their human rights obligations.

In that context, Portugal has submitted a bold set of
pledges and commitments that will guide the discharge
of our mandate with the purpose of promoting and
protecting the universality, indivisibility, inalienability
and interdependence of all human rights — civil,
cultural, economic, political and social. Through our

actions during our last mandate in the Security Council,
in 2011 and 2012, we demonstrated that consistently
promoting and upholding human rights was a priority
for us. If elected to the Human Rights Council, Portugal
will engage in its work, fully committed to a strong,
independent and effective multilateral human rights
system. Portugal is in fact a party without reservations
to eight core United Nations human rights treaties and
all their optional protocols.

We continue to witness events that we expected to
see eradicated in the twenty-first century — large-scale
human rights violations, the deprivation of vast
populations of their most elementary dignity, and a
disregard for basic international principles such as the
territorial integrity and sovereignty of States. Today
the Charter of the United Nations remains as relevant
as it was 69 years ago. In order to deal with the crises
we face today we must base our search for fair, legal
and lasting solutions on the generous and ambitious
principles and norms of the Charter. The Charter
offers the necessary institutional mechanisms, but their
functioning and effectiveness depend on the political
will of all Members of the Organization.

Terrorist, extremist and radical groups deserve our
most vehement repudiation and condemnation. They
constitute, in the first instance, a threat to States and to
the populations of the territories in which they are based.
They also present a risk to regional and global peace,
security and stability. That menace requires concerted
and firm responses from the international community.
The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) is a sinister example of that kind of criminal and
barbaric action. It must be fought and neutralized. The
Security Council summit and resolution 2178 (2014),
which it adopted on the worrying phenomenon of
foreign terrorist fighters, were important steps in that
direction.

The Middle East continues to require special
attention. In Iraq we have been witnessing inhumane
terrorist actions targeting defenceless populations,
victimizing mainly women, children and persons
belonging to ethnic and religious minorities. The
situation in Iraq cannot be disconnected from the
prolonged conflict in Syria, where the levels of violence
and suffering are, by their dimension and duration,
beyond words. All parties must assume responsibility
for finding a political transition to a democratic and
pluralistic society.

Once again we come to the Assembly without
progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The
expectations that we all shared here a year ago have been
dashed. The recurring cycle of hostilities must come
to an end. The conflict we saw in Gaza this summer
must not happen again. I wish to take this opportunity
to congratulate Egypt for brokering the ceasefire and to
recognize the efforts of other regional and international
partners, including the Secretary-General and United
States Secretary of State John Kerry.

There will be no lasting peace or stability in
the Middle East without a solution to that issue. I
reiterate my country’s support for a solution based on
United Nations resolutions, establishing a sovereign,
independent and viable Palestinian State, living side by
side with the State of Israel, whose legitimate security
concerns must be guaranteed.

The positive signs that we saw a year ago regarding
the Iranian nuclear programme were confirmed with
the signing of the Joint Plan of Action in Geneva. A
new political impetus is now needed. Portugal supports
and encourages the ongoing negotiations with a view to
a comprehensive agreement.

The events of 2010 and 2011 in Northern Africa
had an unprecedented political, economic and social
impact. The countries there are now confronted with
significant challenges with regard to the consolidation
of political reforms, sustainable economic growth and
security. Portugal is currently co-chairing the Western
Mediterranean Forum, also known as the 5+5 Dialogue,
which brings together 10 countries from the northern
and southern shores of the Mediterranean. We wish
to strengthen the contribution of that platform to the
enhancement of cooperation and confidence-building
among its countries.

Libya is an important partner in that Forum, and it
is with great concern that we see the deterioration of the
situation in that country. The international community
must give its assistance to the political transition
process, but it is paramount that all Libyan stakeholders
commit to an inclusive, genuine and fruitful national
dialogue.

In Europe, the Ukrainian crisis and the illegal
annexation of Crimea brought back tensions that we
thought were outdated. We welcome the ceasefire
agreement and appeal for its full implementation.
Portugal encourages the parties actively to seek a

lasting political solution that respects the sovereignty,
territorial integrity, unity and democracy in Ukraine.

Africa is a significant partner for Portugal.
African States are not only political partners but also,
increasingly, business and investment partners in a
relationship based on parity and mutual benefits, which
drive job creation and economic development. While
fully respecting Africa’s ownership, we also seek to
contribute to international efforts, notably those of
the United Nations, aimed at stabilizing conflicts or
preventing security risks in Africa. Therefore, Portugal
is participating in the United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. We also stand
ready to engage in multinational efforts to strengthen
security in the Gulf of Guinea, and we are willing
to cooperate in the reinforcement of the maritime
capacities of the countries of the region.

In recent months we have received good news from
the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, a friendly country and
member of the Community of Portuguese-speaking
Countries (CPLP). The restoration of constitutional
order, the holding of free elections and the inauguration
of legitimate democratic institutions, two years after the
April 2012 coup d’état, are surely praiseworthy signs of
hope. The enormous socioeconomic difficulties and the
recurrent and severe political instability that Guinea-
Bissau has been suffering for a decade and a half did
not prevent the people from electing their new leaders
through free, transparent and orderly elections.

The opportunity to turn the page of history must
now be seized. The people of Guinea-Bissau and the
authorities are taking the right steps. Consolidating the
progress achieved requires support from the international
community. International partners can and must play a
decisive role in areas such as financial assistance and
building technical capacity, underpinning the priorities
identified by Guinea-Bissau. Further, we believe that a
stabilization force based on the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) Mission in Guinea-
Bissau, possibly enlarged to incorporate new African
partners and mandated by the United Nations, would
be appropriate. Therefore we welcome the initiatives
supporting Guinea-Bissau undertaken by the United
Nations, together with, in particular, the African Union,
the CPLP, ECOWAS and the European Union.

At the Millennium Summit, Heads of State and
Government made the historic and inspiring decision
to adopt the Millennium Development Goals. We now
have the responsibility to accelerate the achievement
of those Goals while at the same time preparing
a new development agenda. Portugal is strongly
committed to the definition of that new agenda. We
need a transformative new global partnership that
mainstreams human rights and combats inequalities. It
should also promote peaceful, stable and just societies,
advancing also the important issues of population and
development. Universality and shared responsibility
are key concepts in that regard. But the universality of
the post-2015 agenda should not be synonymous with
insensitivity to the specificities of the least developed
and most vulnerable countries, such as small island
developing States.

New challenges such as climate change, illicit
trafficking, piracy and pandemics are major threats
in today’s world. The outbreak of Ebola in Western
African countries demands strong, combined efforts by
the international community to contain and eradicate
that plague. Portugal is participating in the current
urgent global effort, notably in Guinea and in the
framework of the United Nations operation.

Despite the efforts of previous Presidents, the
reform of the Security Council has not yet happened.
Portugal’s position on that subject is well known. In
spite of persistent differences of approach among the
membership, we must not give up. Together we must
find a solution, making the Security Council a body
more representative of today’s world. The seventieth
anniversary of the United Nations is an opportunity to
bring about Security Council reform.

Portugal is by tradition a seafaring nation and has
recently adopted a new national maritime strategy
focusing on blue growth. We actively support United
Nations efforts for the sustainable management of
the oceans and their resources, and we co-chair the
working group that will complete the first global report
of the marine environment. We advocate the adoption
of an international instrument, in the framework of
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
on the conservation and sustainable use of marine
biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. In
June 2015 Portugal will organize a major international
event on oceans, the “Blue Week”, to promote debate
on maritime issues in all their dimensions. We look
forward to broad participation in that event.

The Portuguese language is the principal link that
brings together the States belonging to the Community
of Portuguese-speaking Countries. It is a vehicle for
global communication spoken by about 250 million

people in their everyday lives, in commerce, trade,
business, culture and social networks. It is also an
official or working language in various international
organizations, including specialized agencies of the
United Nations. The CPLP has the ambition of having
Portuguese as an official language of the United Nations.
The summit in Dili last July confirmed the vitality of
the CPLP. On that occasion Timor-Leste assumed the
presidency of the Community, thus lending a whole
new dimension and scope to the CPLP by having its
presidency located for the first time in Asia.

I would be remiss not to refer to the fact that on
20 November we will be celebrating the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child. Portugal is a party to that
instrument without reservations, as well as to its three
Optional Protocols. I take this opportunity to call for
the universal ratification of the Convention and its
Optional Protocols.

During this sixty-ninth session we will also have
before us a new draft resolution on establishing a
moratorium on the use of the death penalty. We hope
the draft resolution continues to enjoy significant and
increased support this year.

If we become a member of the United Nations
Human Rights Council as we hope, we will act in
accordance with the principles of cooperation and
dialogue. We will engage with all States and other
stakeholders in order to build bridges for the full
implementation of human rights norms and standards.
If we garner the trust of the Assembly, it will be a
privilege to work, as a Council member, with the new
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, to whom I reiterate our
full support. I also wish to pay a special tribute to the
former High Commissioner, Ms. Navi Pillay, for her
outstanding job, often accomplished in particularly
difficult circumstances.

I conclude with a reference to the First World
War, a tragic event mentioned at the very beginning
of the United Nations Charter when it affirms the
determination “to save succeeding generations from the
scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought
untold sorrow to mankind”. As we mark the centenary
of the First World War and prepare the celebration
of the seventieth anniversary of our Organization,
we must bear in mind and reflect carefully on those
words of the Charter. The President can count on
Portugal’s commitment to the purposes and principles
of the Charter in the pursuit of peace, development and
respect for all human rights.


This year
marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World
War. A distinguished thinker in modern China, Yan Fu,
described the devastation caused by the war: “How sad
that the air is heavy with the stench of war”.

Next year will be the seventieth anniversary of the
end of the Second World War. Over 2 billion people
across the world were affected by that calamity. In
China alone, the aggression committed by Japanese
militarists left more than 35 million Chinese soldiers
and civilians dead or injured.

The United Nations was established to keep the
scourge of the two World Wars from occurring again,
and it embodies the fervent hope of all countries for
peace and stability. To achieve that goal, the Charter
of the United Nations presented a grand vision of joint
efforts to build a better world.

In this world, we should treat each other as equals.
The principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity
must be upheld. The pursuit by different countries of
economic and social development must be respected.
Their right to independently choose their own social
systems and development paths must be safeguarded.
We should be open and inclusive. Only in that way
can we open the door of dialogue and exchange and
achieve harmony among countries with different social
systems, religions and cultural traditions. We should
pursue mutually beneficial cooperation. Each country
should align its own interests with those of others and
work to maximize areas where their interests converge.

Only by helping one another can countries prosper.
We should jointly initiate a new thinking for win-win
and all-win progress and reject the old notion of a zero-
sum game, or the winner takes all. We should uphold
justice. It is imperative to promote greater democracy
and the rule of law in international relations, to apply
fair and just rules to tell right from wrong and settle
disputes, and to pursue peace and development within
the framework of international law. All parties should
jointly uphold the authority and effectiveness of the
United Nations and reform and improve the global
governance structure.

As we have seen in Gaza, Iraq, the Central African
Republic and South Sudan, our world is far from
peaceful. In the face of all those who have been killed
in war, we must ask ourselves how we can keep the
tragedies from recurring. In the face of women and
children displaced by fighting, we must ask ourselves
when they can return home. In the face of incessant
conflicts, we must ask ourselves how we can open the
door to lasting peace. To address those problems, China
believes that we should do the following.

First, we should seek political solutions. To beat
swords into ploughshares may take time and effort, but
history and reality have repeatedly demonstrated that
to meet violence with violence will not lead to enduring
peace, and the use of force will only create more
problems than solutions. Coercive action should be
authorized by the Security Council. If a country places
its domestic law above international law and interferes
in other countries’ internal affairs at will, or even seeks
regime change, the international community cannot but
question the legitimacy of its actions.

Secondly, we should accommodate the interests
of all parties. Parties to a conflict should reject the
zero-sum approach, address each other’s concerns in
negotiations and endeavour to meet each other half
way. They should seek to meet their legitimate concerns
through consultations in a mutually accommodating
way. When conducting mediation, the international
community should uphold justice and take an objective
and balanced position. Countries should not be partial
to any party in the conflict. Still less should they avail
themselves of the opportunity to pursue their own
agenda.

Thirdly, we should promote national reconciliation.
The ongoing armed conflicts are largely caused by
ethnic and sectarian tensions. The process of national
reconciliation and the process of political settlement
should be advanced in tandem with each other. All
parties should uphold the Charter of the United
Nations, develop and practice a culture of inclusion and
tolerance and uproot the seeds of hatred and retaliation,
so that the fruit of inclusion and amity will grow on
post-conflict land.

Fourthly, we should uphold multilateralism. We
should give full play to the role of the United Nations
and observe international law and the basic norms
governing international relations. Chapter VII of the
Charter is not the only means for the Security Council
to maintain international peace and security. We should
make better and full use of the means of prevention,
mediation and conciliation stipulated in Chapter VI.

Given their familiarity with local developments, we
should leverage the strengths of regional organizations
and countries and support them in addressing regional
issues in ways suited to their regions.

The conflicts in Ukraine remain a cause of
concern. We welcome and support the Minsk ceasefire
agreement and urge all parties in Ukraine to strictly

implement it and seek a comprehensive, sustained
and balanced political solution through political
dialogue and negotiation. China hopes that the various
ethnic groups in Ukraine will live in harmony and
that Ukraine will live in peace with other countries.
That is the fundamental way for Ukraine to achieve
long-term stability and security. China hopes that
the United Nations will play its due role in finding a
proper solution to the Ukrainian crisis and supports the
international community’s constructive efforts to ease
the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine.

China supports Iraq in upholding its sovereignty,
independence and territorial integrity. The formation of
the new Iraqi Government has provided an important
opportunity. We hope that the Iraqi Government will
lead its people in a joint endeavour to develop their
country in the spirit of inclusion and reconciliation.
China calls for providing more humanitarian assistance
to support Iraq. To help the Iraqi people overcome
difficulties and to achieve peace and stability in their
country is the shared responsibility of the international
community.

China firmly opposes all terrorist acts and supports
the international community in responding to the
threat posed by terrorist forces in a coordinated and
concerted way in accordance with the relevant Security
Council resolutions. China believes that in conducting
international counter-terrorism cooperation, we should
take a multipronged approach and address both the
symptoms and root causes of terrorism, and that the
United Nations and the Security Council should fully
play leading roles. There should be no double standard
when it comes to fighting terrorism; still less should
terrorism be identified with any particular ethnic group
or religion.

As new developments emerge in the global fight
against terrorism, the international community should
take new measures to address them. In particular, it
should focus on combating religious extremism and
cyberterrorism, resolutely eliminate the root causes of
terrorism and extremism, block channels that spread
them and crack down hard and effectively on the use of
the Internet and other new means of communication by
terrorists to instigate, recruit, finance or plot terrorist
attacks.

The Syrian crisis has continued for nearly four
years. It is negotiation, not fighting, that offers
solutions. China urges all parties in Syria to end the
fighting and violence immediately, cooperate fully with
United Nations humanitarian assistance operations and
help bring an end to the suffering of innocent civilians
as soon as possible. We urge all the parties to act in the
overall interests of the future and fate of their country
and people, demonstrate the necessary political will,
actively support the mediation efforts of the Secretary-
General and his Special Envoy, and follow a middle
way that draws on workable practices from other
countries and regions, suits Syria’s national conditions
and accommodates the interests of various parties, in
order to give peace a chance.

The Palestinian issue is an open wound on the
conscience of humankind. China calls on Israel
and Palestine to agree on a durable ceasefire, and it
urges Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip and
stop building settlements. At the same time, Israel’s
legitimate security concerns should be respected. We
hope that Israel and Palestine will choose the way of
peace and resume and advance the peace talks as soon
as possible. The aspirations and legitimate demands of
the Palestinian people for an independent nation must
not remain unmet indefinitely. Advancing peace in the
Middle East calls for the concerted efforts of many, not
of one or two countries alone. The Security Council
should play its rightful role, and we support its efforts
to take action in response to the demands of Palestine
and the League of Arab States.

Negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue have
entered a crucial stage. All the parties should display
good faith, continue their efforts in a spirit of mutual
respect, equality, collaboration and accommodation,
and work hard on the most difficult issues, so that a
win-win agreement that is comprehensive, fair and
balanced is arrived at as soon as possible.

The two sides of the conflict in South Sudan
should establish a ceasefire immediately, organize an
active political dialogue that addresses the interests
of the people in South Sudan in general and, through
the mediation of the Intergovernmental Authority
on Development, work with all the country’s ethnic
groups and parties to speedily reach a fair and balanced
solution and achieve national reconciliation and ethnic
unity. South Sudan is the youngest Member of the
United Nations. The South Sudanese people deserve a
life of hope and vitality, not the devastation caused by
conflicts and wars.

China welcomes the election of Mr. Ashraf Ghani
as the new President of Afghanistan and Mr. Abdullah
Abdullah as its Chief Executive, and will continue to
support the Afghan people in their work to achieve a
smooth political, security and economic transition and
to build jointly with them an Afghanistan that enjoys
unity, stability, development and amity. We support
an Afghan-led and -owned peace process, with the
international community fulfilling its commitment and
responsibility to Afghanistan and its people. China will
host the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul
Process so that we can give Afghanistan fresh support
as it stands on the threshold of a new era.

On the issue of the Korean peninsula, China calls
on all the parties to act objectively and impartially,
remain committed to the goal of denuclearizing the
peninsula, firmly uphold its peace and stability, and
endeavour to resolve the issues through dialogue and
consultation. The Six-Party Talks remain the only
viable and effective way to resolve the nuclear issue on
the Korean peninsula, and we now have the pressing
task of restarting the talks as soon as possible. The issue
should be tackled through a sustainable, irreversible
and effective dialogue process that addresses all the
parties’ concerns in a comprehensive and balanced
way. Since there are still many uncertainties on the
peninsula today, all the parties concerned should
exercise restraint, refrain from provocative acts, work
harder to help ease tensions and jointly uphold peace
and stability.

While the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) established by the United Nations in 2000
have contributed greatly to improving human survival
and development, global development is still a task for
the long term. The international community is not only
dealing with the formidable challenges of reducing
poverty, eradicating hunger and improving education
and the health of women and children, it is also facing
new challenges in the form of the environment, climate
change and energy and resource security.

Next year is the deadline for meeting the MDGs,
and the post-2015 development agenda will take
over this historic mission. Building on past progress
and also breaking new ground, the international
community should formulate more effective plans
and take more robust action to advance humankind’s
shared development. As we see it, the development
agenda should have three goals. First, it should advance
people’s well-being, with a focus on eradicating
poverty and encouraging development. Secondly,
it should promote inclusiveness, in the interests of
supporting social equity and justice. Thirdly, it should
ensure the implementation of all these things. Based
on the principles of diversity in development models
and shared but differentiated responsibilities, the
agenda should aim to enhance global partnerships for
development and improve implementation tools and
mechanisms.

Climate change is a challenge that all humankind
is facing. Mr. Zhang Gaoli, Vice Premier of the State
Council, led the Chinese delegation to this year’s
Climate Summit at the United Nations as a special
envoy of China’s President. We congratulate the
United Nations on the Summit’s success and hope that
the political momentum it generated will translate
into effective actions for improving international
cooperation on climate change. All parties should
work to conclude negotiations on a new post-2020
climate-change regime as scheduled, by the end of
2015, in accordance with the principles of shared but
differentiated responsibilities, equity and respective
capabilities, with the aim of creating fairer and more
equitable and effective arrangements for international
cooperation on climate change.

The Ebola epidemic, which is raging in some
African countries, has once again sounded the alarm
on global health security. As a good brother and partner
of Africa, with whom it shares the good and the bad,
China will continue to stand firmly with the African
people and to support and assist them to the best of its
ability. We will also take an active part in the relevant
international assistance efforts. China calls on the
World Health Organization, the United Nations and
other international agencies to work closely with the
international community, come up with new initiatives
for strengthening global health security and provide
more assistance to developing countries, particularly in
Africa.

Next year is one of special historic significance,
as it marks the seventieth anniversary of victory in
the anti-fascist world war, the founding of the United
Nations and victory in the Chinese people’s war against
Japanese aggression. Remembering the past makes us
cherish peace, and recalling history will help to guide
us as we embrace the future. China welcomes the
inclusion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the
Second World War on the agenda of this session of the
General Assembly as an important opportunity.

When we look back on what happened 70 years
ago, the historical facts are clear, and a final verdict
has been pronounced on what was right and what was
wrong. History should not be falsified or truth distorted.
Today, 70 years later, let us jointly uphold human
justice and conscience so that those who attempt to
deny aggression and distort history will have nowhere
to hide. Let us jointly defend the Charter of the United
Nations and the outcomes of the Second World War,
so that that vision of a world free of war, with lasting
peace, will take deep root in our hearts and pass from
one generation to the next.


This year we
face extraordinary tests of our values and our resolve.
In responding to the aggression against one of our
Member States, Ukraine; in seeking peace in the Middle
East; in dealing with the terrifying spread of the Ebola
virus in West Africa; and in overcoming what I want to
focus on today, which is the mortal threat we all face

from the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) in Syria and Iraq. Deir ez-Zor is a province in
eastern Syria. Home to the Al-Sheitaat tribe it was
captured by ISIL last month. Seven hundred tribesmen
were executed; many were beheaded. The vast majority
were civilians, Muslims who refused to take an oath of
allegiance to ISIL’s sick extremist world view and who
paid for this with their lives. They are not alone. Across
Syria and northern Iraq thousands have suffered the
same fate — Muslims, both Sunni and Shia; Christians;
Yazidis; people of every faith and none.

ISIL is not a problem restricted to just one region. It
has murderous plans to expand its borders well beyond
Iraq and Syria and to carry out terrorist atrocities right
across the world. It is recruiting new fighters from all
over the world. Five hundred have gone there from
my country, Britain, and one of them almost certainly
brutally murdered two American journalists and a
British aid worker. This is a problem that affects us all
and we must tackle it together.

There is not one person in this Hall who will view
this challenge without reference to the past, whether in
Iraq or in Afghanistan. Of course it is absolutely right
that we should learn the lessons of the past, especially
what happened in Iraq a decade ago. But we have to
learn the right lessons — yes to careful preparation;
no to rushing to join a conflict without a clear plan.
But we must not be so frozen with fear that we do not
do anything at all. Isolation and withdrawing from a
problem like ISIL will only make matters worse.

We must not allow past mistakes to become an
excuse for indifference or inaction. The right lesson is
that we should act, but act differently. We should be
comprehensive, defeating the ideology of extremism
that is the root cause of this terrorism, so that we win the
battle of ideas and not just the battle of military might.
We should be intelligent, supporting representative and
accountable Governments and working with them at
their request, not going in over their heads. We should
be inclusive, working with partners in the region who
are prepared to be part of the solution, potentially
including Iran. We should be uncompromising, using
all the means at our disposal, including military force,
to hunt down these extremists. Let me take each of
these in turn.

The root cause of this terrorist threat is a poisonous
ideology of Islamist extremism. This has nothing
to do with Islam, which is a peaceful religion that
inspires countless acts of generosity every day. Islamist
extremism on the other hand believes in using the most
brutal forms of terrorism to force people to accept a
warped world view and to live in a quasi-mediaeval
state. To defeat ISIL, and organizations like it, we must
defeat this ideology in all its forms.

As evidence emerges about the backgrounds of
those convicted of terrorist offences, it is clear that
many of them were initially influenced by preachers
who claim not to encourage violence but whose world
view can be used as a justification for it. We know
this world view. The peddling of lies — that 9/11 was
somehow a Jewish plot, or that the 7/7 London attacks
were staged; the idea that Muslims are persecuted all
over the world as a deliberate act of Western policy; and
the concept of an inevitable clash of civilizations.

We must be clear. To defeat the ideology of
extremism we need to deal with all forms of extremism,
not just violent extremism. For governments there
are some obvious ways we can do this. We must ban
preachers of hate from coming to our countries. We must
proscribe organizations that incite terrorism against
people at home and abroad. We must work together
to take down illegal online material like the recent
videos of ISIL murdering hostages. We must stop the
so-called non-violent extremists from inciting hatred
and intolerance in our schools, universities and even
our prisons. Of course, some will argue that this is not
compatible with free speech and intellectual inquiry.
But I ask “Would we sit back and allow right-wing
extremists, Nazis or Ku Klux Klansmen to recruit on
our university campuses?” No, so we should not stand
by and just allow any form of non-violent extremism.

We need to argue that prophecies of a global war
of religion pitting Muslims against the rest of the world
are nonsense. We need Muslims and their Governments
throughout the world to reclaim their religion from
these sick terrorists as so many are doing, and quite
rightly doing, today. We all need to help them with
programmes that channel young people away from
these poisonous ideologues, and we need the strongest
possible international focus on tackling this ideology,
which is why here at the United Nations the United
Kingdom is calling for a new Special Representative
on extremism.

But fighting extremism will never be enough.
Communism was defeated not simply by pointing out its
flaws, but by showing that the alternative of economic
freedoms, democracy and the rule of law could build a
better society and a better world. Young people need

to see the power of a different, better, more open,
more democratic path. The twentieth century taught
us the vital role of representative and accountable
Governments in offering their people opportunity, hope
and dignity.

Of course we should not be naïve. Not every
country can move at the same speed or even reach the
same destination. We should respect different cultures,
traditions and histories. But let us be clear — the failure
to meet people’s aspirations can create a breeding
ground where extremist and even terrorist insurgency
can take root. Governments that only govern for some
of their people cause deep resentment. In Iraq, the
failure of the Al-Maliki Government to represent all of
the people has driven some of them into the arms of the
extremists.

Too often, people have been faced with a false choice
between an autocratic and unrepresentative government
on the one hand and a brutal insurgency, with religion
misused as its rallying call, on the other. To combat this
we must support the building blocks of free and open
societies. In Iraq this means supporting the creation of
a new and genuinely inclusive Government capable of
uniting all Iraqis — Sunnis, Shia, Kurd, Christians and
others. In Syria, it must mean a political transition and
an end to Al-Assad’s brutality.

I know there are some who think that we should
do a deal with Al-Assad in order to defeat ISIL. But I
think this view is dangerously misguided. Our enemies’
enemy is not our friend; it is another enemy. Doing a
deal with Al-Assad will not defeat ISIL because the
bias and the brutality of the Al-Assad regime were and
are one of the most powerful recruiting tools for the
extremists. Syria needs what Iraq needs — an inclusive,
representative, democratic Government that can look
after the interests of all its peoples.

To those who have backed Al-Assad or who have
stood on the sidelines, I would say this: “We are ready
to join with you in a new political effort to secure
a representative and accountable Government in
Damascus that can take the fight to ISIL”. It is simply
not credible for Al-Assad to lead such a government
although we are prepared to look at every practical
option to find a way forward.

We must be inclusive, engaging the widest possible
coalition of countries in this international effort. ISIL is
a threat to us all, but the greatest threat is to the region.
It is very welcome that a number of Arab countries
have already taken part in the action to degrade ISIL.
They have shown courage and leadership. Iran should
also be given the chance to show it can be part of the
solution, not part of the problem. Earlier today I met
with President Rouhani. We have severe disagreements.
Iran’s support for terrorist organizations, its nuclear
programme, and its treatment of its people all need to
change. But Iran’s leaders could help in defeating the
threat from ISIL. They could help to secure a more
stable, inclusive Iraq, and a more stable and inclusive
Syria. If they are prepared to do this, we should
welcome their engagement.

Finally, when the safety and security of our
people are at stake, we must be uncompromising in
our response. That starts at home. For our part, in
the United Kingdom we are introducing new powers
to strengthen our ability to seize passports and stop
suspects from travelling; to allow us to strip British
identity from dual nationals and temporarily prevent
some British nationals getting back into our country;
to ensure that airlines comply with our no fly lists
and security screening requirements; and to enable
our police and security services to apply for stronger
locational constraints on those in the United Kingdom
who pose a risk. Here at the United Nations we have
led in the adoption of a Security Council resolution to
disrupt the flows of finance to ISIL, to sanction those
who are seeking to recruit to ISIL and to encourage
countries to do all they can to prevent foreign fighters
joining the extremist cause.

What about the role of our military? I do not believe
that the treat of Islamist extremism will best be solved
by Western ground troops directly trying to pacify or
reconstruct Middle Eastern or African countries. But,
pursuing an intelligent and comprehensive approach
should include a place for our military. Our military
can support the enormous humanitarian efforts that
are necessary, as our Royal Air Force did in helping
the millions of people who fled from ISIL. We should,
together, do more to build the capability of the legitimate
authorities that are fighting the extremists. That can
mean training, equipping and advising, and providing
technology and the other assets necessary for success.
Whether it is supporting action against Boko Haram in
Nigeria, against Al-Shabaab in Somalia, against Ansar
al-Sharia in Libya, or against Al-Qaida in Yemen, it is
right to help those who are fighting on the front line for
their societies, their countries and their freedom.

Along with our European partners, we have already
been supplying equipment directly to Kurdish forces.
We are strengthening the resilience of the military
forces in neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan, and
British Tornado and surveillance aircraft have already
been helping with intelligence gathering and logistics
support to help those taking on ISIL in Iraq.

We now have a substantial international coalition in
place, including Arab nations, committed to confronting
and defeating ISIL. We have a comprehensive strategy
to do that, with the political, diplomatic, humanitarian
and military components that are needed to succeed
over time. The Security Council has now received a
clear request from the Iraqi Government to support it
in its military action against ISIL. So we have a clear
basis in international law for action, and we have a need
to act in our own national interest to protect our people
and our society. It is right that Britain should now move
to a new phase of action. I am therefore recalling the
British Parliament on Friday to secure approval for the
United Kingdom to take part in international air strikes
against ISIL in Iraq.

My message today is simple. We are facing an evil
against which the whole world should unite. As ever, in
the cause of freedom, democracy and justice, Britain
will play its part.


It is indeed a distinct
privilege to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Sam
Kutesa on behalf of the Government and the people of
Barbados on his election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. It is appropriate
that I also commend his predecessor, His Excellency
Mr. John Ashe, for the aplomb with which he guided
the deliberations of the General Assembly at its sixty-
eighth session.

The theme of this year’s Assembly — “Delivering
on and implementing a transformative post-2015
development agenda” — is both timely and critical.
Fourteen years ago, world leaders placed the Millennium
Development Goals, a set of time-bound and measurable
goals and targets, at the heart of the global development
agenda. Today, we stand on the cusp of the unveiling of
a future global agenda for development. This must be an
ambitious, long-term project to improve people’s lives
and protect the planet for future generations. The 17
goals and targets proposed by the Open Working Group
on Sustainable Development Goals must form the
basis for the elaboration of the post-2015 development
agenda. This is especially so if we are to create a truly
transformative global programme anchored in the three
dimensions of sustainable development, with poverty
eradication as its central objective and overarching
goal.

The special vulnerabilities faced by small island
developing States (SIDS) and which serve to constrain
our development are well known. As such, the
international community recognized SIDS as a special
case in sustainable development in Agenda 21 — a
recognition that is echoed in the Barbados Programme of
Action; the Mauritius Strategy, the outcome document
(resolution 66/288, annex) of the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20);
and, most recently, the Small Island Developing States
Accelerated Modalities of Action (Samoa Pathway).

Despite that recognition, the Rio+20 outcome
document indicated that SIDS have made less progress
than most other groupings, or even regressed, in
economic terms, especially in terms of poverty
reduction and debt sustainability. This finding was
repeated in the Samoa Pathway. The International
Monetary Fund has also acknowledged that, in the past
10 years, SIDS have slid down the ladder of progress.

In design, delivery and implementation, therefore,
the post-2015 development agenda must as a priority
address the unique and particular vulnerabilities and
challenges of small island developing States. It must
foster the resilience of SIDS as a key objective of
global efforts. A development agenda that ignores the
integration of SIDS-specific issues would be incomplete
and of questionable validity.

The post-2015 development agenda must also make
provisions for countries like Barbados, which is both
a small island developing State and a highly indebted
middle-income country. We continue to suffer the
devastating impact of the global economic and financial
crisis and have limited scope, capacity, fiscal flexibility
or policy space to respond effectively to them. We face
declining export demand and decreased investment
and demand for services upon which our economy is
dependent, including tourism. Fiscal and financial
stresses have forced us to make significant adjustments
to our expenditure programmes. Against that backdrop,
we face the daunting challenge of continuing to provide
adequate social safety nets for the most vulnerable of
our citizens in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Debt servicing and debt unsustainability far too
easily undermine the advances that we desire to make
towards our sustainable development. Too often, the
plight of middle-income countries is overlooked on
the presumption that by virtue of our gross domestic
product (GDP) per capita we do not require international
assistance. Barbados emphatically restates that GDP per
capita cannot be the sole defining criterion for access
to concessionary financing. The social, economic and
environmental vulnerability of countries such as ours
must be taken into account.

Barbados is therefore pleased to see that the
United Nations Development Programme’s Human
Development Report 2014, entitled “Sustaining Human
Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building
Resilience”, incorporates the concept of vulnerability
and places emphasis on strengthening the resilience
of people, communities and countries. It is our hope
that those factors will give a more accurate picture of
the challenges that developing countries face. On that
issue, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mr. Freundel
Stuart, stated in his address at the Third International
Conference on Small Island Developing States, held in
Samoa in September, that

“the time has come for new approaches to be
designed to assist middle-income countries which
have been graduated from access to concessional
resources”.

I echo that call today. I implore the international
community to address the needs of middle-income
countries in the elaboration of a post-2015 development
agenda. Accordingly, Barbados welcomes the third
International Conference on Financing for Development,
to be held in Addis Ababa in July next year. The outcome
of the Conference must make provisions for the special
needs of SIDS and middle-income countries.

Barbados is fully cognizant of the responsibility
that developing countries themselves bear towards
achieving their development goals. However, the reality
is that, in seeking to meet those goals, the developing
countries are forced to do so on an uneven playing
field. The global financial and economic system and
the governance process that accompanies it continue to
operate in an exclusionary manner. Barbados reiterates
its call for a more transparent architecture that is
supportive of development objectives.

Barbados has developed and implemented a cross-
sectoral Green Economy Initiative, which is predicated
on the fragility of our small island ecosystems. The
Initiative prioritizes natural resource protection
intervention, business and investment choice, human
development programming and the facilitation of export
market development strategies. Barbados continues
to partner with the United Nations Environment
Programme and, more recently, the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization to promote a
transition to a resource-efficient green economy. We
have taken action to enact a series of incentives in
support of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Our efforts to transition to a green economy will
be undone if the international community does not take
immediate and urgent action to address climate change.
The most recent findings of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change underscore, yet again, the
vulnerability of SIDS, particularly to the effects of
climate change, sea-level rise, ocean acidification and
extreme weather events. Together, they represent an
existential threat to SIDS. We therefore urge major
carbon emitters to take all necessary actions.

Barbados welcomed the holding of the Secretary-
General’s Climate Summit 2014 at United Nations
Headquarters on 23 September. We hope that the
momentum from the Summit will inject urgency into
the proceedings of the upcoming twentieth session of
the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 20),
to be held in Lima in December. We also hope that,
beyond COP 20, it will ultimately galvanize political
will to conclude the negotiation of an ambitious, legally
binding international climate agreement in Paris in
2015.

If SIDS are to have an impact internationally,
particularly at this crucial moment during the design
and construction of a new global architecture for
sustainable development, we must ensure that our
voices are heard. We must be guided by the concept of
a SIDS collectivity that recognizes strength in unity.
We SIDS must speak with one voice at the international
level.

Any discussion on the creation of a new global
sustainable development agenda must have at its core
the means of implementation. Indeed, the means of
implementation must be the foundation on which
the agenda is based. We know that MDG 8, global
partnership for development, remains one of the least
fulfilled of all of the Millennium Development Goals.
The international community can therefore ill afford
to let the new development agenda fail as a result of
a lack of adequate and reliable means to implement
it. The means of implementation must encompass
far more than financing. As we use the sixty-ninth
session to complete the framework of the post-2015
development agenda, it is incumbent upon us to ensure
that definitive and durable partnerships are made to
facilitate the following elements — first, the provision
of adequate financial and other resources; secondly,
fair trade and market access; and thirdly, technology
transfer and capacity-building, particularly in the area
of data collection and statistical analysis.

My country sees peace and security as enablers and
indicators of sustainable development. They constitute
indispensable prerequisites for human, social and
economic development, as well as for progress and
prosperity. Barbados therefore views the continuing
crises and armed conflicts, including those in the
Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria, Iraq and
Ukraine, with grave concern. Indeed, we view them
with grave alarm. Armed non-State actors and terrorist
groups continue to destroy lives, destabilize nations and
threaten national and international peace and security.

In the face of such hostilities and blatant acts of
aggression, the Security Council has been paralysed.
Barbados will continue to be actively engaged within
the Caribbean Community in negotiations on the reform
of the Security Council. We applaud Ambassador Ashe,
former President of the General Assembly, for his

initiative to move discussions on the issue forward. We
also welcome the summary of the intergovernmental
negotiations on Security Council reform prepared by
the Chair of the Open-ended Working Group. Barbados
calls on all Member States to work assiduously during
the current session to make substantial progress, if
not to finalize, the decades-long project of Security
Council reform.

My country reiterates its commitment to democracy
and the respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms. We welcome the discussions that will take
place during this session on the responsibility to protect.
Our position is motivated by principle and objectivity,
and we have no desire to see the issue politicized.

The Ebola outbreak constitutes a public-health
emergency of international concern and a threat to
global security. It also threatens the peacebuilding and
development gains of the countries most affected. It
is our sincere hope that the recently adopted Security
Council resolution 2177 (2014) and General Assembly
resolutions 69/1 and 69/3 will accelerate the mobilization
of resources to assist the affected countries and halt the
epidemic.

Barbados has long supported a negotiated two-
State solution to the question of Palestine, the right of
the Palestinian people to self-determination and their
right to live in peace and security in a Palestinian State
within pre-1967 borders. Barbados’s position is that
the State of Israel has a right to exist and the people of
Israel have a right to live in security and to do so with
the full and undisputed recognition of the rest of the
world. The Palestinians are also entitled to enjoy the
fruits of prosperity within their own sovereign State.
This year’s unprecedented escalation of the crisis in
Palestine revealed, yet again, the urgent need to reach a
durable, negotiated solution, and we call on all parties
to rededicate themselves to achieving that aim.

The long-standing economic embargo on Cuba
continues to be of serious concern to Barbados. The
Government of Cuba has always demonstrated a
willingness to assist the Caribbean, and indeed the
developing world, in our quest for development. We join
with the overwhelming majority of States Member of the
United Nations in opposing that unilateral action and
look forward to a time — the sooner, the better — when
it will be relegated to the pages of history.

In closing, Barbados believes that there is an
inextricable link among development, international
peace and security. As we stated in 1993, within the
context of an “Agenda for Peace”,

“Where access to food, clothing, shelter, education,
health and the opportunity for gainful employment
is denied, democracy cannot flourish” (A/48/PV.26,
p. 11).
We also hold the converse to be true. There can
be no real development without respect for human
rights, the rule of law and democracy. We hope that
much of the time and energy of this body at its sixty-
ninth session will be spent on delivering a post-2015
development agenda that will redound to the benefit of
us all. Barbados will continue to be in the vanguard of
that effort.