First of all, I would like to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande on his assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly and to wish him every success in discharging his important duties. Mr. Muhammad- Bande can count on full support of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the duration of his tenure. My delegation is also grateful to Her Excellency Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces for her tremendous work in presiding over the Assembly during its seventy-third session. We are also grateful to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, for his efforts to reform the Organization and make it more integrated, effective and efficient.
The threats and challenges facing the world today demand our joint efforts to strengthen the international legal order and rekindle faith in multilateralism and confidence in the United Nations. Preserving the values of multilateralism and international cooperation, which underpin the Charter of the United Nations, is fundamental to promoting and supporting the three pillars of our Organization, namely, peace and security, development and human rights. It is our common duty, therefore, to promote and support a reformed, reinvigorated and strengthened multilateral system. The objective of ensuring a peaceful, just and prosperous world is hardly achievable if the universally accepted fundamental values, norms and principles are overtly disregarded so as to whitewash aggression and other illegal actions.
In that connection, accountability and the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the principal organs of the United Nations — the Security Council and the General Assembly — acquire significant importance. Evident disregard for Security Council resolutions containing binding demands cannot be an accepted practice if the Council is to discharge its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.
The United Nations, which was established to prevent war and human suffering by binding all its Members through a common rules-based order, plays a central role in ensuring that all involved in addressing peace and security concerns uphold the uniform application of the purposes and principles of our Organization. Supporting that role of the United Nations is crucial to maintaining peace, stability and sustainable development.
One of the strongest advocates of multilateralism in the contemporary international relations system is the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. We look forward to hosting the next Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, which will be held in Baku next month, on 25 and 26 October. Throughout its history, the Non-Aligned Movement has played a fundamental role in strengthening international peace and security by promoting adherence to its Bandung Principles. Azerbaijan’s chairmanship will provide additional impetus for advancing the founding principles of the Movement, the sixty-fifth anniversary of which will be celebrated in 2020.
As we move forward on the path to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we must regularly assess to what extent we are delivering on our commitments. Sustainable efforts backed by adequate resources are essential to secure a bright future for our people and ensure that no one is left behind. Yesterday, Azerbaijan became a member of the Group of 77 and stands ready to actively contribute to efforts to ensure sustainable development through the promotion of economic cooperation.
Azerbaijan has maintained its sustainable economic growth and made consistent efforts to improve the living standards of its citizens. Through the successful implementation of economic development programmes over the past 15 years, Azerbaijan’s economy has developed at a record pace, with a gross domestic product (GDP) 3.3 times that of its initial GDP. Over the same period, industrial production has increased 2.6 times, exports 4.7 times and foreign exchange reserves 24 times, reaching up to $45 billion.
The social sphere has always been in the spotlight. This year, the Government adopted a social package that covers more than 4 million people, in a country of 10 million people. Social investments over the past 15 years resulted in a poverty rate decrease from 49 per cent in 2004 to less than 5 per cent in 2019. Over the same period, the unemployment rate dropped from 10.6 per cent to less than 5 per cent.
The World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 report lists Azerbaijan among the top 10 leading reformers. Our favourable business climate attracted investments of about $250 billion in the Azerbaijani economy over the past 15 years, half of which are foreign investments.
Azerbaijan contributes to regional development efforts by promoting connectivity, bringing together continents and creating platforms for mutually beneficial cooperation. Despite being a land-locked country, Azerbaijan has transformed into an important international transportation hub.
Azerbaijan attaches particular importance to the promotion of cultural diversity. All ethnic and religious groups live in Azerbaij an in peace and harmony. In recent years, we have hosted several major global events and launched a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening dialogue and mutual understanding. Among such initiatives is the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, which has been recognized by the General Assembly and the Secretary-General as a key global platform for promoting intercultural dialogue.
Having one of the youngest age distributions among the European countries, the Government places special emphasis on the full realization of the future generation’s potential by offering quality education and decent job opportunities. A new employment strategy for Azerbaijan for the period 2019 to 2030 has set 13 targets for 2030. Those targets aim to reduce unemployment among young people, improve vocational education and training and increase employment in small and medium enterprises.
Azerbaijan continues to strive to ensure gender equality and empower women in their public and social lives. I am pleased to announce that we are currently developing a national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), on women and peace and security.
As an emerging donor country, Azerbaij an continues to lend international humanitarian and development assistance to a number of countries through the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Azerbaijan International Development Agency. Particular attention is being paid to addressing the needs of developing and least developed countries.
The existential threat of climate change is becoming more real with every hurricane, wildfire and centimetre of sea-level rise. Azerbaijan is highly sensitive to the effects of climate change and is already facing negative impacts, such as floods, droughts and heat waves. My country is a party to major international agreements on climate action, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Our national policies and strategies have been adapted to be in line with those international instruments. The Government has taken important steps to minimize carbon dioxide emissions and has pledged to reduce them by 35 per cent by 2030.
It is well known that the Republic of Armenia’s aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan has resulted in the occupation of almost one fifth of my country’s territory and the expulsion of more than 1 million Azerbaijanis from their homes and properties. The unresolved conflict continues to undermine international and regional peace and security. It is very important to note that, since last year’s general debate, no progress has been achieved in the political settlement of the conflict.
Despite direct contacts between the leaders of the two countries and meetings of Foreign Ministers over the past two years, the apparent lack of genuine interest by Armenia’s leadership impedes the conflict resolution process. On the contrary, Yerevan, in words and deeds, has derailed the process and sabotaged the efforts for finding a peaceful settlement as soon as possible. The recent statements by the Prime Minister of Armenia and the members of his Government leave no doubt as to their annexationist intentions, in clear disregard of international law and the relevant Security Council resolutions.
In his statements delivered recently, including at the General Assembly here in New York, the Prime Minister of Armenia publicly disclosed his Government’s strategy in negotiations — “to defend the outcomes of the war”. In fact, what the leadership of Armenia intends to defend is the unacceptable status quo created through the unlawful use of force and the resulting occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, accompanied by heinous crimes against humanity, war crimes and acts of genocide committed against the Azerbaijani civilian population and the total ethnic cleansing of all non-Armenians within the occupied territories.
In unanimously adopted resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), the Security Council condemned the use of force against Azerbaijan, the occupation of its territories, the attacks on civilians and the bombardment of inhabited areas. In addition, it reaffirmed respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force for the acquisition of territory. Through its resolutions and in response to territorial claims and forcible actions, the Council confirmed that the Nagorno Karabakh region is an integral part of Azerbaijan and demanded the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied territories. Relevant General Assembly resolutions and numerous decisions and documents adopted by other authoritative international organizations are framed along the same lines.
Nevertheless, key Security Council demands, unfortunately, remain unimplemented. Instead, despite early warnings and condemnation by the international community, and against the background of ongoing efforts to reach a political settlement to the conflict, deliberate actions are being carried out in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan with a view to changing their demographic, cultural and physical character. Such actions include the implantation of settlers, the destruction and appropriation of historical and cultural heritage, and the exploitation and pillage of, and illicit trade in, assets, natural resources and other wealth in the occupied territories. Those actions constitute a clear violation of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and the 1977 Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions, amounting to war crimes and entailing State and individual criminal responsibility under international law.
It is abundantly clear that such policies and practices can in no way be reconciled with the objectives of achieving a peaceful resolution of the conflict, thereby necessitating the urgent action of the United Nations and the wider international community in order to defend the values, norms and principles of rules-based and civilized inter-State relations, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
The primary objective of the ongoing peace process is to eliminate the consequences of the war unleashed by Armenia, thereby ensuring the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan — as called for in the Security Council resolutions — the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders and the return of the forcibly displaced persons to their homes and properties — again, as enshrined in the Council’s resolutions. The achievement of that objective is a must and is not subject to compromise.
Azerbaijan remains committed to the earliest- possible political settlement of the conflict. At the same time, negotiations cannot last forever and imply a continuation and sustainment of the situation created as a result of the unlawful use of force, occupation and ethnic cleansing. Nor can they prejudice the realization of the inherent right of self-defence under the Charter and international law. Rather than wasting time on attempts to mislead the international community and its own people, Armenia must drop its losing attempts to prolong the unsustainable status quo and faithfully comply with its international obligations. The sooner Yerevan realizes the lack of any prospects for its destructive political agenda, the sooner all peoples of the region will be able to benefit from peace, stability and cooperation and the better the chances for Armenia to overcome the serious political, economic and social burdens it is facing due to its aggressive and hostile policies in the region.


I greet with great respect everyone meeting in this Hall, which is sacred for public international law. I come on behalf of the one Venezuela, which is worthy, brave and does not kneel before any imperial Power. I convey the greetings of President Nicolas Maduro Moros and the Venezuelan people, as well as the Bolivarian tidings of the spirit of our Commander, Hugo Chavez Frias.
We have come here with the purpose of announcing some very good news about the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The first item is that Venezuela is at peace, as witnessed firsthand by the 120 delegations that recently participated in the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Venezuela — very much despite the media war that powerful media corporations have unleashed to tarnish the reputation of Bolivarian Venezuela and despite the attempted coups d’état by extremist Venezuelan political factions, including even assassination attempts against the Head of State, the entire military and political command and the Venezuelan State authorities, as well as Ambassadors accredited in the country.
The world media says nothing, which is why I commend this space in which peoples can speak to one another, as they are unable to access that same apparatus, which is exclusively at the service of the world hegemonic Power and its satellites. The world media says nothing about the social-protection system in Venezuela, which covers almost 19 million Venezuelan women and men without distinction. This model of inclusion, justice and social protection has been designated as a target for destruction by the Government of the United States of America, and is the true threat posed to its model of capitalist supremacism The Bolivarian model runs intrinsically contrary to the project set in motion by the Monroe Doctrine, which seeks to show that the rest of the Americas is the United States backyard.
Within the framework of extraordinary social programmes, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stands out as a joint commitment of the General Assembly and as the way forward for this Organization. Here, in this home of the international community, we encourage the development of shared cooperation mechanisms to address the urgent need to preserve our environment, which has been gravely impacted by the devastating capitalist model. We express our solidarity with the brotherly Caribbean people of the Bahamas, recently fallen victim to the ravages of climate change. Moreover, as a country of the Amazon, we raise our voices against the barbaric commercialization of our Amazon, led by the President of Brazil, Mr. Jair Bolsonaro, who has used his extremist ideology to attack the natural lungs of the world. We therefore proclaim that nature is an inalienable right of all peoples.
We also come to this Organization to effectively tackle the urgent issues of poverty and inequality, in a world where 26 individuals possess the same amount of wealth as the 3.8 billion poorest people in the world. We agree with the Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, in his call to States to come here with concrete actions, not florid speeches. I would add that they should also not come here with falsehoods and lies as they address the General Assembly. The point is precisely how to achieve these noble and commendable commitments as an international community that has seen grave damage done to its multilateral and legal structure.
I wish to spend some time exposing the coercive unilateral and therefore illegal measures to which millions of people throughout the world are subjected. These measures constitute the use of force that is prohibited by the Charter of the United Nations and international law, which is an attack on peace and security and a massive violation of human rights. Between 2015 and 2019, the Government of the United States has adopted more than 350 unilateral coercive measures against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, including the illegal and undue appropriation of all our resources and assets abroad and a comprehensive financial and commercial blockade that affects health, education and food and which is aimed primarily at suffocating the Venezuelan economy and bringing our people to their knees.
I wish to share some terrifying data with the General Assembly on the dimensions that unilateral coercive measures represent in comparison to conventional wars. It is well known that the use of armed force by the United States military-industrial complex means big business. The past three Presidents of the United States have increased the number of illegal bombings, thereby violating the Charter of the United Nations and without any authorization whatsoever from the Security Council.
Between 2001 and 2009, President George W. Bush launched 70,000 bombs in total, or an average of 24 bombs per day. In the period between 2009 and 2017, under the leadership of President Barack Obama, the United States Government launched 100,000 bombs, raising the daily average to 34 bombs. More recently, with Mr. Donald Trump as President, 44,096 bombs have been launched, breaking the record, with an average of 121 bombs per day. These bombs have caused the entire civilian population to suffer, indiscriminately affecting boys and girls and the elderly.
However, there is a new type of State terrorism being imposed upon our citizens — one that does not involve the use of bombs: in this digital era, banks and insurance companies are able to do damage with the touch of a button. These are precisely the measures being taken by the United States as it exploits the dominance of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The United States Department of the Treasury is the economic Pentagon militarizing international relations and punishing millions of innocent people by enforcing doctrines of regime change and blatantly stealing the resources of other nations.
The fact that these measures even exist is proof of the collapse of the international legal order. In this regard, Venezuela has become the greatest evil experiment against multilateralism. Economic terrorism against Venezuela has caused its income to drop by more than a factor of nine. It is estimated that, between 2015 and 2018, the total losses for the Venezuelan economy reached $130 billion owing to the brutal financial blockade imposed by the United States Government, which can only be characterized as a shameless robbery and plundering of our resources.
But Venezuela is not alone. Donald Trump’s supremacist hatred has hooked its imperial claws into the revolution in our sister nation of Cuba, savagely intensifying the extent of these coercive measures in the form of illicit sanctions. It appears that five decades is not long enough for the United States to realize that Cuba will never surrender. Fidel Castro’s Cuba will never submit to any imperialist design after having spent over five decades resisting the economic blockade. What will make them realize that they will never be able to defeat the revolution led by Jose Marti?
Our sisterly nation of Nicaragua was also destined for a similar fate. These three revolutions on our continent — the Sandinista revolution, the revolution led by Jose Marti and the Bolivarian revolution — served as the basis for the project motivated by the Monroe Doctrine. Indeed, the United States Government judges us, promulgating indicators of democracy that it does not even adhere to itself. They judge us when there are 400 people in that country holding more wealth than 240 million others, thereby forming an oligarchy that controls the political life of the majority. A society whose political system is dominated by plutocratic minorities is not a democracy, let alone one with the authority to impose its model on other nations. We call on the United States to be less arrogant and more tolerant in its coexistence with the free nations of the world.
Along the same lines, I want to highlight the special relationship that exists between the primary cocaine producer in the world and the primary consumer of this drug on the planet — I am referring to the narcotic relationship that exists between Colombia and the United States. It has been broadly documented that Colombia produces 70 per cent of all cocaine being consumed in the world, having increased its production in the past year by more than 30 per cent, which is higher than ever before in its production history. I wish to recall that the United States contributed more than $10 billion to the Plan Colombia initiative in order to combat this scourge. United States citizens — the vast majority, not the oligarchy — must feel as though this is a waste of taxpayers’ money and wonder when this is going to stop.
Thanks to Commander Hugo Chavez and President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela was a supporter of peace agreements praised by this Organization and the global advertising machine. But today, in one fell swoop, President Ivan Duque Marquez is blatantly violating and tearing up those agreements.
Since the signing of those accords, the United Nations has confirmed the murder of 123 former combatants and 739 social leaders in our fellow country Colombia over the past year. Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced persons of any country, at almost 8 million. There are almost 6 million Colombian men and women living in Venezuela alone. The mass media, which serve the interests of the global hegemony, will never report those number.
I wish to dwell on this because two days ago the President of Colombia stood before the General Assembly spewing lies about Venezuela (see A/74/PV.5). He brought here several pieces of what he claimed was evidence that we in Venezuela are harbouring Colombian irregulars. Have we stooped to such a level of disrespect — to come lie to the Assembly?
A brief examination of those photographs — which all members will recognize because the scandal was covered by the media worldwide — reveals that they in fact depict Colombian territory, not that of Venezuela as Mr. Ivan Duque had claimed, in the cases of Cauca and Catatumbo. This violates all mutual assistance mechanisms existing between countries under conventions governing reciprocal cooperation between police and legal systems. The appropriate path is that of diplomacy. What is needed is for countries to establish respectful means of communication in accordance with international law.
I suggest that President Duque grab a pencil because he has forced us to come before the General Assembly to provide specific coordinates for the camps where terrorists are being trained to attack Venezuela. There are three sites in the north-east of President Duque’s country: Santa Marta, Riohacha and Maicao. Let me provide the coordinates for the camps, which will also be given the Secretary-General: Santa Marta, 11°14’19” N 79°6’15”W; Riohacha, 11°32’3” N 75°55’14” W; Maicao, 11°22’39” N 72°13’58” W. We will also provide photographs of the camps, where, again, mercenaries are being trained to attack Venezuela.
Venezuela, for its part, has taken appropriate actions. We turned to public international law and presented the evidence to the Government of Colombia. The Venezuelan public prosecutor also provided all evidence of the presence of persons in the process of committing serious crimes against the constitutional order in Venezuela — terrorism, the attempted assassination of Venezuelan State officials and of President Nicolas Maduro. The official response of the Government of Colombia was to shelter and grant safe harbour to those individuals being sought by the Venezuelan justice system, in flagrant violation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001).
With those lies, President Duque proved himself not only a bad comedian but also an awful liar. It took less than 24 hours for the truth to come out: that truth is that Venezuela’s robust rule of law guarantees that our inviolable territory has never been used to commit any abuses or crimes against a brotherly country. And I say that fully conscious of my responsibility. The United States and its regional satellites are preparing an act of aggression against Venezuela from Colombia, putting the security and stability of the continent at risk.
As far back as 2015, when President Barack Obama issued the infamous executive order labelling Venezuela as a threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, President Nicolas Maduro warned us what was on the horizon. That was the starting point of the most obstinate exercise ever carried out by the Organization of American States (OAS), of which Venezuela is no longer a member, when it adopted the provocative and obsolete Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, laying the groundwork to justify armed intervention in Venezuela led by the United States and carried out through other Governments. It is worth noting that all of the measures provided for by that Treaty have already been used against Venezuela except one: armed intervention. That is why we have come before the Assembly to issue a warning in the hope of preventing the conflict that they wish to sow in our region.
Action taken by several parties does not make it multilateralism; it is group unilateralism, intended to bypass the rule of international law. A glance at the history of the OAS is enough to realize that such group unilateralism is responsible for turning that organization into what it is today, that is, a mere spectre of what it once was.
Amid today’s global realities, our Organization, this shared home, is being called upon to play a more proactive role in tackling issues with a direct impact on international peace and security. One of the issues that stands out most — and shamefully so, I would say — is that of the question of Palestine. All of us owe a debt to the Palestinian people, now dating back more than 50 years. They have been denied their inalienable right to self-determination in a free, sovereign and independent State with East Jerusalem as its capital.
We also reject any form of trade war against China. We repudiate the illicit sanctions against Russia. These are two developing world Powers engaged in building a new multipolar and multicentred world with respect for international law.
We likewise reject the sanctions against Iran, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe. More than 30 countries have been targeted with such illegal criminal sanctions.
We welcome the election of our brotherly country Mexico to the presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the legacy of great men like Fidel Castro and Commander Hugo Chavez, who had a great vision of how to reclaim the deepest roots of the freedom and greatness of our lands. We welcome Mexico’s presidency and condemn any kind of offence against the dignity of its people and its name.
We also reaffirm our historic rights over Guayana Esequiba and recall that the Geneva Agreement of 1966, duly deposited with the United Nations, is the only valid and legally binding instrument providing for bilateral negotiations for the resolution of this territorial dispute.
The present massive anti-Venezuelan operation dates back to 2002, when the United States led a coup d’état against President Hugo Chavez, with the support of the very same actors today unfortunately attempting to overthrow our legitimate Government. Something occurred in Venezuela on 23 January that is without precedent in the world: a member of Congress elected with fewer than 90,000 votes stood in a public square and proclaimed himself president of Venezuela. That member of Congress is an imperial puppet. He has no political legitimacy in Venezuela; he is nothing more than an illegitimate and criminal tool, created to undermine stability and peace in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
His self-proclamation was recognized by a minority of Governments of this unequal world, in perhaps one of the worst mistakes in their diplomatic history. But while the unequal world that favours the few supported that illegal conspiracy, the legitimate Government headed by President Nicolas Maduro received the support of almost two thirds of the States Members of the United Nations allied as the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries.
Exactly eight months have passed since that vile, twisted turn in the history of our republic. The legitimate constitutional Government with effective territorial control and the institutional mechanisms of the rule of law continues, and will continue to be, that of President Nicolas Maduro, chosen by us Venezuelans through the exercise of our sacred right to self-determination.
Most of the world supports Venezuela and is well aware that this imperialist farce is tantamount to organized crime. Even graver still was the coordination among that puppet, Colombian paramilitary groups and the Government of Ivan Duque. I take this opportunity to show this photograph of the self-proclaimed president together with a leading member of the Rastrojos paramilitary group. I am showing this to the Assembly to illustrate what we are facing. We are facing the use of criminal gangs and drug-trafficking paramilitary groups to destabilize Venezuela.
This is familiar enough from history. Our sister Nicaragua recalls only too well when the Government of the United States used the Contras to overthrow the Sandinistas. The countries of the Middle East likewise endured terrorist organizations created, armed, financed and used to overthrow Governments that were not in the orbit of the hegemonic Power.
In that regard, I wish to inform the international community that on Wednesday our Ambassador to the International Criminal Court delivered a video containing the full confession of a leader of the Rastrojos paramilitary gang for consideration as part of the preliminary examination on Colombia and paramilitary activities.
Precisely with a view to achieving, guaranteeing and preserving peace and order in our republic, President Nicolas Maduro invited all segments of society to participate in a sovereign dialogue. Our commitment to a constitutional approach is unshakable.
We have brought this story to light in order to warn the world and the international community about these twisted machinations, on the edge of legality, which tomorrow could, without any justification, impact any other country the global hegemon might decide to openly rob of its resources or change the Government at any cost. Venezuela is and will continue to be united, unique and indivisible. We are the Venezuela that Bolivar and our liberators would never surrender to any empire.
The Government of the United States has supported this illegitimate enterprise by the brutal and criminal imposition of an all-out embargo. The United States had imposed 6,000 coercive measures against dozens of countries around the world by 2014. Today, in 2019, the number of illicit unilateral coercive measures has risen to 8,000. Such measures constitute the preferred weapon for domination in the twenty-first century, with least cost and greatest benefit in neocolonialist terms.
Thirty-two countries are today subject to such economic aggression by the United States Government and, according to the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures, one third of humankind is suffering the consequences of this form of collective punishment. The Non-Aligned Movement just yesterday approved a statement firmly rejecting the application of such illicit sanctions. This is a new form of economic terrorism that uses the suffering of innocent civilians to generate political benefits for the global hegemon. Moreover, in our digital age, it illegally yields billions of dollars at the touch of a button.
I brought with me to read out two statements made in 2018, the first from the United States Department of State: “The pressure campaign is working. The financial sanctions we have placed on the Venezuelan Government have forced it to begin becoming in default, both on sovereign and PDVSA, its oil company’s debt. And what we are seeing [...] is a total economic collapse in Venezuela. So our policy is working, our strategy is working and we’re going to keep it”.
There can be no doubt this criminal confession flagrantly violated the Charter of the United Nations.
The second statement was made by former Ambassador William Brownfield: “We must treat this like an agony, a tragedy that will continue until it comes to an end. If we can do something that will bring that end quicker, we probably should do it, but we should do it understanding that it’s going to have an impact on millions and millions of people who are already having great difficulty finding enough to eat, getting themselves cured when they get sick, or finding clothes to put on their children before they go off to school. We don’t get to do this and pretend as though it has no impact there. We have to make the hard decision — the desired outcome justifies this fairly severe punishment.”
And what outcome does the United States of America desire? It seeks to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution and maintain its hegemony in every corner of the world. It also attacks Iran, Russia and China — countries engaged in building a new world. It pursues nefarious policies to effect the illicit doctrine of regime change.
Given these grave claims, Venezuela calls for the investigation of all these blatant violations by the United States of the Charter of the United Nations. There can be no doubt they constitute crimes against humanity in respect of Venezuela and the world — the perpetrators have admitted as much.
What measures must we take to correct the abusive conduct of the Government of the United States, which causes such suffering even to its own people? I would say to President Trump that his people expects its leaders to be truly committed to democracy and to eradicating poverty and inequality. They expect not to be drawn into wars of any kind. The people of Walt Whitman has more in common with its poets than with the arrogant and supremacist prose its Government brandishes so recklessly. The world expects the United States to change course immediately, to subject itself, once and for all, to international law and to show respect for our common home.
Seventy-five years since the founding of the United Nations, we aspire to a robust Organization, free of unjust constraints and able to restrain the illegitimate exercise of power. Let us have less ostentatious rhetoric. As the Secretary-General has said, let us say yes to more concrete and effective action. Let us, in chorus, form a common front in defence of the Charter of the United Nations and its principles and purposes, which are the basis of international law and the raison d’être of the Organization. Only in this way will we guarantee the survival of the human species and the harmonious and lawful coexistence of the community of nations.
I conclude my statement by reaffirming that Venezuela is and will remain at peace, cared for by a dignified, courageous people that steadfastly rejects submission. We are an infinite legacy of the sword that we inherited from our liberator and father Simon Bolivar. By his spirit we entered the world so as to never give space to the Santander and oligarchic betrayal of the free peoples of the great homeland. Let us build a common front to defend the United Nations Charter and the happiness of our peoples. In the words of the poet Benedetti, happiness should be defended as a trench, as a principle, as a flag, as a right. With our Bolivar, let us shed our fear and save our homeland. Today we say, let us shed our fear and save the world from capitalist violence.


On behalf of the Government of the Republic of San Marino, and on my own behalf, I would like to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande on his election as
President of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. We wish you, Mr. President, a productive session ahead. The Republic of San Marino supports the priorities outlined in the programme of work for this session, as mentioned in your inaugural address (see A/74/PV.1), and we assure you, Sir, of our full cooperation in all of the General Assembly’s work.
I would also like to express my country’s gratitude to the outgoing President, Her Excellency Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, for the important work carried out during the seventy-third session. I should also like to extend my special thanks to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his energy and determination in leading the United Nations and for his efforts aimed at reforming the Organization.
I welcome the theme chosen for this session — “Galvanizing multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion” — which is a broad and cross-cutting approach, as it deals with human rights, the fight against climate change and sustainable development, to which the Republic of San Marino attaches great importance. It also gives States Members of the United Nations the opportunity to constructively contribute to the work of the General Assembly. It is clear that there is a link between multilateralism — that is to say, the orientation towards common and coordinated policies — and global challenges, the scope of which goes beyond the capacities of each individual State — even the most powerful or technologically advanced — to confront them on its own.
Recent developments in the global political landscape have created obstacles to the development of multilateralism, thereby putting it at risk. However, the increasingly evident interrelationships among various global challenges have highlighted the need, today more than ever, for Member States to work together in order to overcome these difficulties. These difficulties also require that we strengthen international cooperation and our Organization as a whole. My country welcomes the outcome of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate and promote the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace, which took place on 24 April (see A/73/PV.78). Preserving the values of multilateralism and international cooperation, which underpin the Charter of the United Nations and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is of fundamental importance in promoting and supporting peace and security, development and human rights. The challenges of protectionism and isolationism facing our world today must and can be countered by the rules of international law, which have guided Member States for decades.
The Republic of San Marino believes it is essential to continue to reaffirm the collective commitment to multilateralism, in particular in the framework of the General Assembly, which is the most representative body of the United Nations owing to its deeply democratic nature, universal participation and undisputed legitimacy. San Marino has decided to cooperate within the framework of international structures and mechanisms — the most important of which is the United Nations itself— because we believe in the effectiveness of dialogue, democracy and respect for others. The peaceful coexistence of peoples relies on such values. However, multilateralism cannot be a mere statement of collective intentions. Rather, it must translate into concrete actions to improve people’s lives and leave no one behind.
Four years ago, Member States adopted a very ambitious plan to end poverty and create shared prosperity on a peaceful and healthy planet — the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In recent days, in New York, world leaders have gathered to take stock of the implementation of sustainable-development commitments and to reaffirm our collective ambition for a better world. As the Secretary-General stated in his latest special-edition report (E/2019/68) on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress is being made in the implementation of the SDGs. Extreme poverty and child mortality rates continue to fall, albeit not yet at the desired rate; progress is being made in fighting certain diseases, such as hepatitis; important developments are being made with regard to targets on gender equality; electricity access in the poorest countries is improving; labour productivity has increased; and global unemployment has returned to pre-financial-crisis levels. This progress illustrates the great work carried out by Member States and their partners since 2015.
San Marino believes that sustainability is a major issue that must be addressed at the global level in order to ensure the future of the planet and that of young and future generations. The Republic of San Marino therefore recently joined the 25+5 SDG Cities initiative — managed by the United Nations Global Sustainability Index Institute, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Project Services — which will be a fundamental tool in transforming our country into a reference hub for various projects, such as sustainable agriculture. However, despite the positive trends and the many initiatives undertaken at the local, regional and national levels, which continue to be inspired by the 2030 Agenda, an acceleration in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is needed if the required level of transformation is to be achieved by 2030.
The Secretary-General’s special-edition report also reveals that hunger and malnutrition are far from being resolved, greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to increase, biological diversity is rapidly diminishing, the level of financing for sustainable development is not sufficient and, even at the institutional level, there is a lack of efficiency and strength to respond to the challenges. There is also evidence that the most vulnerable groups of the population remain largely excluded from political, economic and social processes. Overall, young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults; one in five children lives in poverty; people with disabilities continue to face multiple disadvantages, often to the detriment of the full enjoyment of their human rights; and gender inequalities persist.
The divergences in the implementation of the SDGs exist not only between but also within countries. A major cause for concern is that the most vulnerable countries and those lagging behind in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda are precisely those in which there are major obstacles to successfully implementing the SDGs. These are also the countries in which situations of armed conflict, political or economic instability and economic losses from natural disasters have jeopardized the implementation of the SDGs or even reversed the progress that had been achieved. Without effective action to contain it, global warming will further inhibit our ability to adapt and increase the sense of vulnerability among large sectors of the world’s population.
My country welcomes the convening of the Climate Action Summit in recent days and the ambitious initiatives that were put forward there. Since 2008, the Republic of San Marino has intensified its commitment to environmental sustainability, particularly in the production of electricity from renewable resources. This commitment has resulted in San Marino ranking among the world’s leading countries in the production of photovoltaic energy per capita. We are also committed to improving our strategies and practices in the fields of waste management, sustainable mobility and the raising of public awareness, particularly among the younger generations, with regard to a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle.
The effects of climate change represent the greatest challenge of our time, owing to their unprecedented impact on our lives. Cyclone Idai this year caused devastation in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. No country or community is immune to the destructive effects of global warming, but the poorest and most vulnerable groups already are already suffering the greatest damage. This is a global problem requiring solutions coordinated at the global level. It is essential to strengthen international cooperation in order to accelerate our collective action.
The special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicated that we had 11 years left to change course for future generations and to get global warming under control. The interlinkages between the climate and the 2030 Agenda must be seen as an opportunity to unleash synergies to drive collective action. Indeed, while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will help limit warming to 1.5°C, climate action will likewise support the attainment of the economic and social targets of the Agenda through job creation. It also promotes better health and well-being for the world’s population.
The eradication of poverty in all its forms and manifestations, in particular extreme poverty, is perhaps the most difficult and important challenge we face in achieving the objective of sustainable development. While the global reduction in extreme poverty continues, as the Secretary-General’s report shows, it is not falling fast enough for us to attain the 3 per cent objective by 2030. Those living in extreme poverty suffer deprivation, often exacerbated by violent conflict or vulnerability due to natural disasters. The principle whereby no one should be left behind requires the adoption of targeted measures to support people in vulnerable situations. It is indispensable to take into account the needs of children, young people, persons with disabilities, the elderly, indigenous people, refugees, the displaced, migrants, and people living in areas affected by humanitarian emergencies or in situations of armed conflict.
Universal respect for human rights and human dignity is at the core of the 2030 Agenda. Peace, justice, equality and non-discrimination are fundamental rights that must be fully realized if we are to succeed in building inclusive societies.
It is essential to protect children and young people. We must promote actions to support them to ensure they can grow up free from all forms of abuse and exploitation. Unfortunately, children pay a very high price in areas of armed conflict; many lose their lives, are kidnapped or raped, used as shields or recruited as soldiers.
My country believes that respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law is essential in conflict situations. The Republic of San Marino is part of the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict, has ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, and supports the Paris Principles. Moreover, San Marino is among the countries that support the Safe Schools Declaration, an important tool to protect educational facilities from military use during conflicts. San Marino also took part in the launch on 2 April of the ACT to Protect Children affected by Conflict initiative of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.
If we want to build sustainable, resilient and inclusive societies, we need to promote the full and effective participation of women in decision-making processes. The Republic of San Marino commits to fighting all forms of gender-based violence, sexual abuse and exploitation. We attach great important to the aims of gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and the full realization of their human rights. Gender equality must also be translated into equal educational opportunities. In this regard, I would like to underline the importance of scientific subjects because technology, science and innovation in general play a vital role in tackling global challenges and thus in the pursuit of sustainable development.
This year San Marino signed, together with other countries, a document entitled “Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth”, which recognizes the fundamental role science, technology and innovation play in socioeconomic development and the need to boost investment in these sectors. But, above all, the document affirms the importance of investing in programmes that promote equality and gender parity in science.
My country firmly believes that, today more than ever, particular attention must be paid to emerging technologies, science and innovation, which should facilitate sustainable development through means of communication that do not distort the truth and thereby undermine the very concept of freedom. This year, having hosted the inaugural High-level Conference on the Dangers of Disinformation, on 10 May, the Republic of San Marino made a concrete and determined contribution to the international discourse around objective information, in contrast to the ever more dangerous, deceptive and out of control phenomenon of fake news, capable of inciting hatred and nurturing prejudice.
Aware that disinformation represents a global threat and a genuine risk to the stability of our democratic systems, my country is committed to becoming a veritable observatory for the study of and scientific research on a dangerous phenomenon that is harmful to democracy and freedom. San Marino’s efforts to protect quality information aim to identify new operational strategies and synergies to promote the exchange of best practices on combating misinformation, including at the international level.
The international community must protect and support the most vulnerable groups, ensuring that none are excluded from decision-making process. My country attaches great importance to disability issues and has frequently contributed over recent years to United Nations discussions on this important topic, sharing our experiences and the achievements attained in this regard in our Republic. People with disabilities must be guaranteed full participation in social, economic and cultural life. To this end, it is necessary to fully implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
When we talk about multilateralism and the United Nations, we must also inevitably reflect on the process of reforming our Organization. The United Nations is able to translate objectives into action with a real and measurable impact on the lives of citizens only if it is equipped with structures necessary to implement action on a global scale. In this regard, the Republic of San Marino last year expressed its support for the reform agenda launched by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres covering peace and security, management and the United Nations development system, based on our belief that it will enhance the capacity of the United Nations to attain more concrete and visible results.
My country is also closely following the process of Security Council reform. We believe that intergovernmental negotiations are the right way to reach an agreement that reflects the interests and positions of all. San Marino favours reforming the Security Council to make it more democratic, transparent and effective. However, it is necessary to take a step forward and overcome the opening positions in order to negotiate an agreement that reaches the broadest possible consensus.
San Marino expresses its concern at the growing number of conflicts around the world, fuelled by threats of religious radicalism, terrorism, transnational organized crime, trafficking in drugs and human beings, weapons of mass destruction, violent extremism, marginalization and exclusion. Over recent years, the United Nations has suffered a loss of credibility, partly due to the failure of the Security Council to fulfil its mandate effectively. With a view to supporting the Security Council to act swiftly and decisively, I recall that my country has adhered to the Code of Conduct regarding Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, drawn up by the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency group, and the joint declaration by France and Mexico on the voluntary suspension of the veto by the permanent members of the Security Council.
The international community has, without a doubt, faced major challenges over recent years due to increasing migration flows, driven in part by the effects of climate change, which have forced millions of people to seek refuge in other countries, and in part by persecution and armed conflict, as well as by socioeconomic hardship in the form of lack of food, water, education and health services. No country can face migration alone given the transnational nature of the phenomenon. My country intends to renew its support to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, adopted last December in Marrakech, Morocco. The Compact aims to manage migration flows through enhanced international cooperation. Moreover, it reaffirms migrants’ human rights and dignity in order to ensure the protection of their fundamental rights.
Over recent years, perhaps because of certain difficulties multilateralism has encountered in tackling global challenges, we have seen the unfortunate growth in some parts of the world of protectionist, isolationist or, worse yet, openly xenophobic ideologies, which go against the principle of international cooperation. I believe that the general debate is an important opportunity to renew our commitment to a stronger United Nations, capable of coordinating economic, social and environmental policies and translating them into effective action at all levels. Trust, inclusiveness and dialogue are essential elements in supporting multilateralism and its capacity to produce concrete results at the global level. San Marino will never fail to do its part.


I would first like to congratulate Ambassador Tijjani Muhammad-Bande of Nigeria on his commendable election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. I also congratulate the members of his Office and wish his entire team success in fulfilling their important mission. I would also like to pay tribute to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his tireless efforts to support our Organization and strengthen its role in finding solutions to problems that threaten peace, security and prosperity in the world.
The theme of the current session, “Galvanizing multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion”, has been well chosen at a particularly difficult time for multilateralism, when humankind has engaged itself with unprecedented momentum towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. That theme encompasses the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development and the achievement of the objectives set out in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Inequality and feelings of exclusion are at the root of the main threats to peace, stability and harmonious development. They fuel the uncontrolled migration flows of entire peoples in search of a better future. In both northern and southern countries, they have amplified xenophobic reflexes, the rise of populism and the radicalization of those that get left behind.
The tragic recent events in South Africa are the worst illustration of that. Such movements of popular frustration, which in some regions even go on to fuel terrorism, hold political debate hostage and prevent us from providing concerted responses to the problems that affect us all. I would like to tell the General Assembly that no country in the world can face those challenges alone. Unity, solidarity, tolerance and international cooperation are essential values, as reflected by our founding Members in the Charter of the United Nations.
More than ever, economic and social development and the well-being of the peoples of the world are fundamental and inalienable rights. As leaders, we have an obligation to work hard to guarantee those rights. For decades, our Organization has been striving to adapt to the new realities of our constantly changing world.
In order to be better able to meet the challenges of development in a globalized world in a sustainable way, we call for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations system, in particular the Security Council and the agencies of the United Nations. The Security Council reform process must be brought to completion and take into account the common African position, as set out in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.
It is not fair for Africa to remain the only region in the world without permanent representation on the Security Council, while most of the world’s demographic, social and environmental challenges are intrinsically linked to our continent. We want a fair and equitable configuration of the Security Council that is more representative of the diversity of the world’s peoples and is accountable for its actions.
Despite the high-level commitments that we have made to creating the world we want by 2030, nearly 1 billion people in the world are still living in hunger, malnutrition and extreme poverty, while 118 million people in extreme poverty will be exposed to drought, floods and heat in Africa by 2030. We cannot accept the mere suggestion of the possible failure to meet the 2030 commitments, especially after the very mixed outcome of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in Africa.
The eradication of poverty and hunger is urgent. The Democratic Republic of Congo can be part of the solution, with its 80 million hectares of arable land and abundant water resources, capable of feeding more than 2 billion people.
The challenge of access to quality education for all, the second element of this session’s theme, is of particular concern to us because the development experience in the decades since our independence has strengthened our conviction that there is no wealth but human beings. That is why since 2011, we had already embraced the key principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind through our commitment, well known to my compatriots, to put the people first. As a result, the main social priorities of my tenure are the following.
The first priority is to make primary education free as part of public education, as required by my country’s Constitution. That commitment has been effective throughout the country since the beginning of this month. In one year, it will increase the share of education expenditure from 8 per cent to nearly 20 per cent of the State budget, that is, a level close to the standards recommended by UNESCO.
The second priority is to promote a better match between education and employment through an ambitious vocational and technical training approach, developed and implemented in partnership with the private sector.
The third priority is to advance the work on universal health coverage. We therefore hope that by the end of next year, more than 8 million more Congolese will have access to an effective health coverage system.
In addition, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has just set out its national digital plan, whose implementation will have an impact on all sectors of public life. Moreover, the digitization of the economy will enable the country to make rapid progress in the fight against corruption and various economic crimes.
As our democracies have become particularly demanding and impatient, we must find innovative ways to implement our ambitions. I have therefore initiated an extensive emergency community development programme, which will serve as a driver to accelerate the reduction in socioeconomic and spatial inequalities within cities and territories. It will be a special multisectoral and integrated programme, which I personally will lead with a view to making up for some of the country’s delayed progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The programme will be supported structurally and financially by all our partners and assisted by the United Nations Development Programme. It seeks to increase people’s access to basic social services, in particular by promoting rural micro-hydroelectric power plants, for which more than 700 sites have already been identified. The programme also seeks to develop human capital and to improve land connectivity through rural roads.
The socioeconomic development of humankind by 2030 must be sustainable or it will not be. In that regard, the fate of us all, rich or poor, is more closely linked than ever. With its natural resources and demographic strength, Africa has become key to that sustainability.
In such an Africa, nature has made my country the custodian of 47 per cent of the continent’s forests, placing in it a major responsibility in addressing the challenges of our planet’s survival.
I have already had to reiterate this on several occasions: it is vital and urgent to make available to our continent new sources of energy and new modes of production that are compatible with protecting the environment and affirming our inalienable right to development.
We are firmly committed to protecting our forests. However, the preservation of our natural heritage must not be at the expense of our development.
It is incomprehensible that the forests of the Congo Basin, which are the best preserved in the world, receive only 1 per cent of the available funding. It is essential that the entire international financial architecture, including the International Monetary Fund in its catalytic role in development financing, further integrate environmental considerations into its analysis of the macroeconomic criteria and challenges associated with its interventions in the different countries.
For our part, aware of the major role of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in that regard, our Government has relaunched dialogue with its main partners on environmental issues, in particular those within the Central Africa World Heritage Forest Initiative. In response to the Secretary-General’s appeal, our Government has committed, through me, to increasing the level of its commitments under its nationally determined contribution and to continuing close cooperation among the countries of the subregion in order to speak with a single voice on all major issues related to forest conservation.
My Government has made the production of clean and renewable energy its foremost/top economic priorities for the five-year term.
Through aggressive investments and an attractive policy of protecting those investments, we can go from less than 10 per cent electrification at present to 60 per cent in the next 10 years, significantly reducing the consumption of firewood. Also, as part of the realization of our input energy mix, in order to strengthen the fight against deforestation, my Government encourages the development of domestic gas use in urban, peri-urban and rural areas.
In the long term, we want to be the place on the planet where the electric kilowatt hour will be the cheapest thanks to harnessing/exploiting our capacity of more than 100,000 megawatts in hydroelectricity.
We are willing to further regulate logging and expand national reserves and parks to increase our biomass and protect our biodiversity. On the other hand, that can be achieved only with the effective implementation of an environmentally responsible industrialization strategy that focuses on production and consumption centres and generating jobs for our youth. Our population, with an average age of 17.5 years, is only slightly older than young Greta Thunberg, and they share some of her concerns and interests. But how will our young people engage in the same struggle when they have neither water nor light?
I have also decided to gradually transition my country out of an outdated agricultural system that has low productivity and is destroying our forest heritage. To that end, we will promote agroforestry that maximizes our comparative advantage for certain crops, with a focus on savannah areas. I intend to make the environmental issue a pervasive and cross-cutting concern in all our development policies, strategies, programmes and projects.
As I address the world from this rostrum for the first time, I must recall the special relationship between the Organization and my country. Above all, the relationship evokes in me a sense of gratitude. Indeed, the Democratic Republic of Congo has often been at the centre of the Organization’s concerns owing to the many crises it has experienced since its independence.
From the tragic death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold and the many peacekeepers killed in action to the recent heinous assassination of United Nations experts Zaida Catalan and Michael Sharp, the United Nations, more than any other international organization, has itself experienced the realities faced by millions of my compatriots. The United Nations and its various agencies have also deployed significant financial resources to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I would therefore like to reiterate to the United Nations the gratitude of the Congolese people, who will never forget its support.
Nonetheless, I cannot help but regret that the history of my country is so painfully linked to the United Nations, which has deployed a peace mission there for 24 of the 59 years of our independence. Why, despite that long presence, have most hopes for peace and development been dashed? Beyond internal choices and responsibilities, my country and Africa cannot be seen in isolation from the rest of the world and the interests of others.
What would the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s trajectory have been without the assassination of Patrice Emery Lumumba? What would have become of my country if it had been allowed to continue its peaceful post-Cold War democratic apprenticeship without being derailed by a war from without? I need not go so far back in time — every day we experience clashes of interests that explain, more often than not, the ongoing fragility of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The greatest challenge facing my country today is how to ensure peace, security and stability. Since our inauguration, convinced of the absolute necessity for peace, we have unreservedly committed to achieving that goal, taking into account its full regional and international dimension. With that in mind, last July at the thirty-ninth summit of the Southern African Development Community, held in Dar es Salaam, I proposed the creation of a regional coalition, modelled on the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, to eradicate the scourge of insecurity created by armed groups of internal and external origin.
In the east of my country, with the support of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), our security forces are fighting back on a daily basis, determined to eradicate the negative forces that are spreading death and desolation among our population. Some of those rebel movements, including the Allied Democratic Forces, conduct terrorist activities that are consistent with their allegiance to Da’esh, thereby posing a new threat to both my country and the subregion.
As if conflict and instability were not enough, for the past year the eastern Central African Republic has been suffering from an outbreak of the Ebola virus. Owing to the seriousness of the situation, last May I set up a technical unit under my supervision, composed of internationally renowned experts and led by my compatriot, Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, who identified the Ebola virus and whose research led to the discovery of mAb 114, a molecule used to treat that disease.
The new response strategy is beginning to have an impact, particularly in the city of Goma, which is now immune to the virus. Although much has been done, the epidemic has not yet been eradicated. In addition to the Ebola vaccine, the strategy will be bolstered by the introduction of five new approved drugs that will help to completely eliminate the scourge.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the outpouring of solidarity from our bilateral and multilateral partners, including the World Health Organization, the African Union, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, MONUSCO and many others. With particular regard to MONUSCO, at the present pivotal time for its future in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been marked by the conduct of a strategic review, I would like first of all to reiterate the gratitude of the Congolese people to the contributing countries for the human and material sacrifices they have made for my country to date.
I note a convergence of views with the Secretary-General on the urgent need to readjust the configuration of MONUSCO to the changing situation on the ground by focusing more on the operational response capabilities of United Nations forces alongside the Forces armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo. In other words, the Democratic Republic of the Congo still needs MONUSCO, but a streamlined, well-equipped, robust MONUSCO, with an appropriate mandate, like the Rapid Intervention Brigade that once helped rout the Mouvement du 23 mars.
Like other developing countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo wishes to advance. We are convinced that, given its geostrategic position at the crossroads of the economic groupings of Central, South and East Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo should opt for African integration as an engine of development and a vector of peace among nations.
That is why we have supported the project for an African continental free trade area, even as we are aware that it will be implemented in stages. That process will inevitably require the streamlining and dismantling of customs barriers. It is with that in mind that the Democratic Republic of the Congo intends to accelerate the implementation of an infrastructure development programme for its immense area of 2,345,000 square kilometres in order to link the country from east to west and north to south, facilitate the movement of goods and people and unlock the agricultural potential of our provinces.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo today holds about 70 per cent of the world’s reserves of strategic metals, which are essential to achieving the energy and digital transition that humankind needs. Rather than using those natural mineral reserves as a source of monopolistic income, my country intends to open itself up to the world by allowing the regulated exploitation of its subsoil in exchange for support for industrialization and the production of batteries and higher value-added components. While the world has a thirst for cobalt, coltan and lithium, we in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have a need for industrial jobs, training and development.
My country also has 53 per cent of Africa’s freshwater reserves. The sustainable management of that potential will one day help to quench the thirst of one quarter of the planet’s inhabitants.
We are currently experiencing a profound crisis of the international liberal order. Rule by force serves only to engender frustration and violence, as illustrated by the recent attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia, raising fears of a conflagration in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz that would paralyse the world economy. We have a duty to denounce any form of violent reaction to political problems that could be resolved through dialogue and consultation.
Are we ready to define a new world order in which Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo play a role bestowed on us by the changes that have taken place? I believe that a new path is possible — undoubtedly a very difficult, complex and demanding path that will require us to think outside the box.
My country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo — which recently held democratic and peaceful elections for the third time — has been fortunate enough to experience a peaceful and democratic transfer of power for the first time in its history, despite many outside observers painting a rather gloomy and pessimistic picture of the outcome of those elections. That historic victory is above all one of the Congolese people, whose heavy sacrifices in recent years have been rewarded by the successful holding of elections under high-risk circumstances.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank the international community, in particular the Southern African Development Community countries, as well as Kenya, Egypt and the United States, which did not hesitate to encourage the giant step taken by my country in the process of building a State governed by the rule of law. Since my inauguration as President, I have been working to consolidate democratic progress by guaranteeing all rights and freedoms. No one is harassed for their opinions. The Democratic Republic of the Congo no longer has prisoners of conscience. None of our people feel the need to emigrate in order to save their lives or safeguard their security because of their individual political convictions or associations.
As far as gender mainstreaming is concerned, although we have yet to achieve full gender parity, I am pleased to say that progress has been made in that area across all sectors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By increasing the rate of participation of women from 6 per cent to 18 per cent, the current Government has achieved the highest level of female participation in my country’s history. I have committed to making the issue of gender one of my political priorities.
At the regional level, I have engaged in intense diplomatic activities with a view to reaffirming my country’s continued commitment to ensuring good-neighbourly relations and peaceful coexistence, with full respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other nations. In that regard, we African leaders must endow our continent with a voice of consensus and harmony, based on policies that are truly African.
Allow me to express my deep concern about what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea, where many people who are seeking to emigrate are dying every day in inhumane conditions. The waves of refugees and the shocking images we have seen over the past few years on the coast of Europe should challenge our consciences as leaders. More than 500,000 migrants have tried to reach Europe via the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2015, and more than 5,000 of them have died during the crossing.
The seriousness of that disaster requires that we find urgent and effective solutions. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, adopted in Marrakech in 2018, is our response to the migration crisis. We have a duty to draw up ambitious national initiatives as soon as possible with a view to implementing that agreement, but our best weapon is to strive for development, equity and stability around the world.
I issue a call from this rostrum for the full lifting of sanctions that have been affecting the Republic of Zimbabwe since 2002. Those sanctions are no longer justifiable at a time when that country has started a new chapter in its history and shown itself to be open to cooperating with the rest of the world. Upholding those sanctions is unfair — it hampers the country’s attractiveness to foreign investment and affects not only Zimbabwe but also the entire region.
The absolute top priority of my work is to offer a perspective of dignity to our population, promote job creation — especially for young people — and combat insecurity and exclusion. The General Assembly, which wishes to reduce inequalities and build a more inclusive world, can be the advocate for those who have been left out. The challenge ahead of us is enormous, but what makes us human is our ability to find solutions — even those that seem most improbable — when necessary.


It will surprise no one that climate change and its catastrophic consequences are foremost in my mind. As the leader of a small island State, which, two years later, is still suffering the damaging consequences of Hurricane Irma, we know and live the terrible reality of climate change. Those who continue to deny its existence cannot gainsay the massive destruction to property and loss of life that so glaringly stare them in the face year after year. No one can repudiate the awful scenes flashed globally across television screens and through social media of the decimation of the Abaco islands and Grand Bahama in the Bahamas island chain. The lament of the people of the Bahamas, as that entire nation suffered in hopelessness, should echo in the ears of all who feel any compassion for their fellow human beings.
The consequences of climate change have become our annual Hiroshima. The effects are as horrific as any battleground and as devastating and long-lasting as the detonation of an atomic bomb. But, in this war that we did not start, that we do not wage and that we do not want, the peoples of small island States have no means to defend themselves and little means to recover. We are simply the hapless victims of those Governments whose destructive climate policies are killing small island States, with brutal storm after brutal storm, each more destructive than the last.
The economies of Caribbean small island States are rooted in tourism and agriculture, which are sectors that are very dependent on stable climate conditions. Already, these activities are being persistently disrupted, causing our countries to lose revenue and incur large recurring debt to finance both reconstruction and resilience-building. With few exceptions, pledges of assistance, when they have been made, are inadequate and slow to be delivered, if they are delivered at all.
Despite all the targets set by climate-change conferences to limit global warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels, every nation on this earth, and all the people within them, should understand that, even if that small level of ambition is achieved, these climate effects will continue for at least a thousand years. That is correct: a thousand years. The Assembly should take urgent and special note of the special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the impacts of global warming, entitled Global Warming of 1.5°C, and the recent Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
In small island States, we have come to the painful conclusion that 30 or more generations of our people will, year after year, suffer from conditions already created by the harmful greenhouse-gas emissions of a handful of countries. We also know that, if this profligate behaviour does not stop, many of our island States will not last another thousand years. We also fear that the necessary action to halt greenhouse-gas emissions might only come when a few countries and coastal communities are entirely washed away and eliminated from the face of the global map. Even then, after a ritual wringing of hands and pledges to act to stop the obliteration of small island States, business may well continue as usual.
That is the sad reality. And it is not, of course, a prospect that the Governments and peoples of small States will contemplate for a second, which is why this is pre-eminently a time to speak the truth — the whole truth — frankly and boldly in this Assembly, without fear or favour. The very existence of our small island States and our civilization are imperilled. However, we will not sit idly by in silence. Action is imperative, and we certainly will act now.
This year, we mark the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, the activities of a handful of nations are making a mockery of the Convention, which asserts that improving the living conditions of children in every community is crucial, especially in developing countries. The prospects for the world’s children are impaired, and they are being robbed of a bright and prosperous future. That is correct — we are robbing our youth of a bright and prosperous future. I congratulate Ms. Greta Thunberg and all the children she motivated globally, including those in my own country. In fact, I congratulate all those who acted in solidarity on 20 September to warn our Governments to take bold action against climate change. I remind the Assembly that young people are watching and that Governments choosing to turn a deaf ear to them will surely pay a price.
The protection of fossil-fuel economic interests at the expense of climate justice is unfair, unjust and unconscionable. If Governments have lost their moral compass in a world where multilateralism and common interests are being discarded, we must hope that Governments realize nonetheless that global cooperation is still required to preserve national interests. We should remind ourselves of the wisdom of the poet John Donne’s Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and several steps in my Sickness: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
Whether they like it or not, refugees from the countries that are decimated by hurricanes will wash up on their shores. It is inescapable. The internally displaced persons forced to leave their homes due to hurricanes in 2017, and also in 2019, were cared for mostly within their own national boundaries. But there were others who had to seek refuge elsewhere — refuge that was not provided within a legal and predictable framework but was offered by other nations in a spirit of generosity and compassion. This is not an acceptable basis for going forward. With the best will in the world, generosity is constrained by capacity, and compassion is tempered by reality.
This Assembly should recognize that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which operates under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, contemplates refugees only in the context of conflict and/or political upheaval. However, the number of refugees already created by climate change and the potential for greater numbers in future demand that the legal recognition of a refugee includes persons forced to seek refuge outside of their national borders. In this regard, my Government proposes that Member States agree at this Assembly that the matter of climate refugees be taken up in all the appropriate committees to secure an agreed definition of the term “climate refugee”, which could be adopted in international law where it does not now exist.
My Government is perfectly aware that this proposal will be resisted by those Governments that deny climate change and are fearful of acknowledging its consequences. Nonetheless, we will put it forward, seeking support from countries that are similarly threatened and from States that recognize the potential threats. We will act to protect lives and safeguard order. But if this matter is left unaddressed by the United Nations, then it will certainly carry the indelible stain of guilt for the catastrophe that will befall us because we failed to act to establish a global framework to manage cross-border climate refugees.
In this Hall, in the presence of high representatives of the world’s peoples, I invoke the words of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said, at a time of crisis, in 1933: “In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbour, the neighbour who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others, the neighbour who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbours.”
There is only one common homeland and one human race. There is no Planet B, or any viable alternative planet on which to live. The worst and immediate victims of climate change are small island States, where a history of human exploitation and neglect has left significant numbers of our population poor and without resources to build climate-resilient infrastructure and homes. That is our inheritance but, eventually, climate change will make victims of people who live in the large land masses too, and not only their coastal areas but their hinterlands as well. That process has started already, on every continent and across every border. The only solution to the harmful effects of climate change is to stop the greenhouse-gas emissions. There is no other choice. And that is what the heavy users of fossil fuels must do. They must lead by example to achieve a carbon-neutral world.
President Roosevelt’s summons to every nation to be a good neighbour is more relevant now than it was 86 years ago. In Antigua and Barbuda, we are playing our part. My Government has banned the importation of single-use plastics and is actively transforming our marine environment into a plastic-free one. We are also actively making the transition into alternate energy with intended nationally determined contributions that will make our country carbon neutral by 2040.
Earlier this year, we were pleased to host an international concert, the Play it Out concert, in collaboration with the Government of Norway and the former President of the General Assembly, Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, to heighten global awareness of the harmful effects of plastics on our oceans. Antigua and Barbuda is standing up to be counted among those countries that are doing — and will continue to do — all in their power to curb pollution in all its aspects.
There is a notion abroad that developing countries, especially small ones, operate on a premise that rich and powerful nations are to be blamed for their problems of underdevelopment and lack of capacity to produce and compete, and that, consequently, we the developing countries live in a state of paralysis, waiting for aid. That notion is extremely flawed; it is very different from reality. Our small nations are not beggars; we are not mendicants. But, where there is injustice, we must fight for justice. Where there is inequity, we must fight for equity. Whereas most countries have access to cheap funding on the capital markets, needy small island States have had to borrow at commercial rates to fund their development. Where is the justice in that? That is why we have to fight for change. That is why we have to fight for equity. What we want is access to financing on fair and concessionary terms, commensurate with our size and vulnerabilities. That is not too much to ask.
We have a proud history of seizing the reins of our independence and sovereignty against all odds. We have done so to develop our countries rapidly after centuries of colonial or hegemonistic exploitation. But we know that our underdevelopment and financial vulnerability were created by centuries of exploitation in slavery and bonded labour for which no compensation was paid. That is why Caribbean countries, in all sectors driven by non-governmental organizations, have urged the relevant European Governments to repair the debilitating socioeconomic conditions, the destruction of resources and the dehumanization and genocide of Caribbean people resulting from the slave trade, slavery and the ravages of colonialism. That is why I take the opportunity of the Assembly to do so again.
The relevant European nations should provide reparations, not only because, at last, it would compensate for their development on the backs of our people, but because it is the morally correct thing to do to restore equity and justice. And we should be clear: reparation is not aid and it is not a gift. It is compensation to correct the injustices of the past and restore equity. That is what we want. We want equity. Similarly, the provision of finance to support mitigation, adaptation and resilience in small States, such as Antigua and Barbuda, is not aid. It is compensation for the damage done to our countries, for the reversals in our economic gains and for the additional money we must spend to counter the further injurious effects of climate change, in which we play little part.
My country and others in the Caribbean are intent on promoting economic growth, social development and resilience by internal action. We will do so even as we expect developed countries to meet their obligations. We do not depend on them exclusively. But it seems that every time we achieve a high level of competitiveness with rich regions of the world, they impose arbitrary measures to undermine and shackle us. Indeed, in the financial services sector, anti-competitive actions have been forced on us by the European Union in the area of taxation, despite the fact that our countries have been compliant with standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Further, despite our vulnerabilities as remote islands, confronted with high interest and insurance costs, unsustainable debt and frequent disasters arising from climate change, we are disqualified from access to concessional financing based on a single criterion — per capita income. That cannot be fair. That cannot be just.
Today, we reiterate our call for the removal of the per capita income criterion, which precludes vulnerable small island States from accessing much-needed concessional funding. In addition, climate funding to adapt, mitigate and build resilience should not be subject to any conditionality, but be based exclusively on vulnerability and need. That is what is equitable.
Another injustice the Caribbean is confronting is the phenomenon of the withdrawal of correspondent banking relations — in essence, the financial abandonment of our region by banks in the United States and some parts of Europe. That is based primarily on profit motives and the false allegations that our countries are major money-launderers and tax havens, which is simply not so. Both the Financial Action Task Force and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have assessed and found most of our countries to be fully compliant with rigorous international standards. Yet the process of withdrawing correspondent banking relations continues unabated, thereby threatening to exclude Caribbean countries from the international payment system and de-banking our nations, with the potential to plunge all of them into poverty. Again, that is an inequitable approach. Let me make the point here that correspondent banking is a public global good and a fundamental human right that must be available to all countries and regions.
Unless that process is stopped and reversed, it is not only Caribbean countries that will suffer, but so too will the developed countries in which the global banks are located. For the Caribbean’s exclusion from the world’s trading system and the resultant economic collapse will create poverty, unemployment, crime, including drug trafficking, underground money-laundering and refugees — all of which will challenge the security of wealthy neighbouring States in this hemisphere. If those countries will not act in our interest, they certainly should act in their own interests. The fire in our house, which we did not start, will inevitably spread to theirs. The time to extinguish it is now.
Our small island States could be forgiven for their belief that the cards are being deliberately stacked against them. No evidence is available to contend otherwise. In this connection, my Government is obliged once again to draw to the attention of the Assembly the fact that 15 years ago my country won an arbitration against the United States, the most powerful country in the world, at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The matter was appealed twice, and twice the arbitral award was given in Antigua and Barbuda’s favour. The final award was made 12 years ago, imagine that — 12 years ago.
The World Trade Organization gave my country the right to sell United States copyright material on an annual basis, and it did so in order to help us recover the full costs of our trade losses. However, we decided not to do so but to negotiate with the United States Government, since the former option would have deprived United States copyright holders of deserved income from their intellectual property, through no fault of their own. We thought that we were doing the sensible thing. But advantage has been taken of our forbearance and our magnanimity. Despite the ruling of the WTO, my small country has not been able to bring the representatives of the United States to the table to settle this arbitration award. This is a typical example of might is right, and of “to whom much is given, much is expected”. The arbitral award due to us has been ignored, while the perennial trade surplus that the United States enjoys with my little country has exceeded $3.53 billion during the past 12 years. This, too, is unfair, it is unjust and it is unconscionable. How many times do we have to come here to the United Nations and ask the United States to settle? We want justice.
Once again, we urge the United States to respect the decision of the WTO and settle its obligations as soon as possible. Twelve years is too long. Let me make it abundantly clear that our country cannot forgo legally awarded recompense for the trade losses we have suffered as a result of United States action — and we will not. We are not afraid of its might. We are standing on principle. In fact, let me make it clear that we, too, have a duty of care to our people. So, just as how it is protecting its interests, we must also protect our national interests. The last time I checked, we live in a democratic world, so those who want to take punitive action against us for speaking out for what is right can do so. But we will stand in any forum and defend the interests of Antigua and Barbuda.
My Government is deeply concerned about the trade contention between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Trade wars invariably push up the cost of living for peoples across the world, especially the poor and vulnerable, and, ultimately, they cause the entire global economy to suffer. There are no winners in this. We are already in that spiral. Confrontation instead of dialogue and cooperation is exacerbating risks, eroding confidence and weakening the prospects of global economic growth. There will be no winners if this continues, only losers. Unfortunately, among the hardest hit will be small island developing States, with their open and vulnerable economies. So there we go again, suffering from the injustices of the mighty. The international system, which has never been perfect, is now being dangerously weakened. A handful of powerful nations are seeking to violate international norms and the rule of law to advance narrow political agendas — concerned more with getting rid of Governments that they dislike than with advancing human rights, under whose guise they seek cover. We are not stupid; we know exactly what they are doing, and we are watching them.
Only this week, 16 countries, a few of them perhaps coerced into participation, maybe by threats or promises, invoked the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance as a weapon against the sovereign nation of Venezuela. The Treaty is a 72-year-old anachronism that encourages the use of force against a sovereign State, contrary to international law and not within the concept of the legitimate defence set out in Article 51 of our United Nations Charter. Without producing a shred of evidence to support their allegations, those 16 nations have arbitrarily decided to impose sanctions against Venezuela, with the sole intention of regime change. They are doing so against all international standards. We all know that United Nations standards call for non-interference and non-intervention in the affairs of other States. In fact, significantly, we should note that the International Contact Group on Venezuela, at a meeting on the same day, reaffirmed that the only sustainable solution to the Venezuelan crisis was a political, peaceful and democratic one, excluding the use of force and through credible and transparent presidential elections. Now that position is sensible and in keeping with international law.
My Government protests the arrogance inherent in the belief of 16 countries that they have the right to decide for the rest of the world. How can they believe that they can ignore the United Nations, be contemptuous of the Security Council and act to harm a country on a spurious charge of drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime? That action follows the same formula that has destabilized Cuba, robbing that country of the possibility of fulfilling its considerable potential to contribute fully to global advancement, peace and security. Why can we not live in peace and harmony? Why can we not resolve our conflicts through diplomacy and dialogue? My Government once again calls on the United States to lift the debilitating sanctions against Cuba and those against Venezuela. It is killing innocent people.
We are also troubled by events in the Middle East and the overall heightening of tensions in the world, in which multilateral solutions are being discarded in favour of unilateral action, and even the contemplation of war. The world is not the O.K. Corral, and a gunfight should not decide who wins and who loses. My Government calls on all Governments to return to the rules-based system of international relations, which was meticulously established to settle disputes and resolve conflicts. The rules are there to protect all of us. A world of prosperity will not be sustained without global cooperation, global peace and global justice.
In this context, I recall the words of Nelson Mandela, who knew much about working with the enemy — real, perceived or created. He said: “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner”.
The world needs partners, not enemies. Our planet and all our peoples depend on it.