One year ago, we came to the General Assembly for the first time to lay out the road map that we had chosen to build a Colombia based on legality, entrepreneurship and equity (see A/73/PV.8). My country, which will celebrate its 200 years of independence this year, is today on a path towards a future imbued with fairness, in which the only thing that separates men and women from realizing their dreams is the honesty and sacrifice that they invest in their work.
We are living at a time that demands that none of us lose sight of our most urgent challenges — ending extreme poverty, defending democracy, protecting the environment, fostering entrepreneurship, promoting innovation and upholding the rule of law. Those are the ethical, social and political beacons guiding our commitment to Colombia and contribution to an international order based on multilateralism, solidarity and independence. We sincerely believe in legality, entrepreneurship and equity.
The greatest challenge facing all of us is climate change and, naturally, what it entails for our oceans, high-altitude ecosystems, known as paramos, snow-capped mountains, glaciers and coasts. As I have said repeatedly throughout this week, Colombia produces only 0.4 per cent of all global greenhouse-gas emissions. We possess the sixth cleanest energy grid in the world. Our country accounts for 50 per cent of the planet’s paramos, and 40 per cent of our territory is considered rainforest, much of which is found in our region of Amazonia.
Colombia is also one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. All of us must therefore think globally but act locally. A few days ago, we saw the young people of the world demand that we take our own action. The time has therefore come to shift from making speeches to taking action, and I can say that Colombia is indeed taking action.
We have declared our biodiversity as a strategic asset, including its protection within our national security policy. It is clear to us, in our case, that deforestation in Amazonia, and in all our forested areas, is directly related to illegal activities, with armed groups acting outside the law, seeking space for their illicit activities fuelled by drug trafficking. In just one year, we have committed ourselves and reduced deforestation by approximately 17 per cent and remain more committed than ever. Furthermore, our goal is to plant 180 million trees by 2022 so that together we can protect our shared home.
I can proudly inform the Assembly that, earlier this month, together with Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana and Suriname, all of which are Amazon countries, we signed the Leticia Pact, which is an international commitment to protecting the Amazon and which provides us with the means to measure risks and progress related to the actions we take. The Pact strengthens our ability to manage, protect and prevent damages to this important heritage, which is vital to our existence. We will protect the Amazon without compromising our sovereignty, as that is how we must manage shared problems.
In protecting nature, combating drug trafficking, criminality and transnational crimes, defending democracy and liberty, strengthening free trade and managing migration, we must unite in order to develop and strengthen multilateral responses involving governance that allow us to come together, recognize problems and develop road maps to move forward in resolving them. We must work to build a society more aware of the fact that our time on this the planet is fleeting but that the damage we cause can be irreversible.
Our ability to conceive of new development alternatives must be complemented by our creativity to reduce their negative impact. One year ago, when our Government first came to power, barely 0.1 per cent of our energy grid was based on non-conventional renewable-energy sources, such as solar and wind power. We proposed making the leap from less than 60 megawatts that we began with at the beginning of our Government’s mandate to more than 1,500 megawatts by the year 2020. That is a genuine energy revolution, and, at the same time, a major environmental commitment.
We know that the challenge is great. Further action is required of everyone — the international community, entrepreneurs and civil society leaders — but we remain convinced that together we can successfully arrive at the same end. We believe in the combination of the rule of law, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the search for equity. That is how we will succeed in closing social and economic gaps.
Today, I am able to inform the Assembly that we have made steady progress towards the transformation of our model of production. Now, as never before, Colombia is advancing on an economic path paved with inspiration, creativity, technology and value-added services. We therefore proudly support the establishment of micro, small, medium-sized and large businesses, the “orange economy”, new technological innovations and every endeavour responsible for delivering the products resulting from the ingenuity, effort and optimism of the people of Colombia to every corner of the Earth.
In that regard, in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals and our development plan for the coming years — “Pact for Colombia, Pact for Equity” — and a legislative package for economic revitalization, we succeeded in reducing the tax burden on companies and create incentives so that our country can compete without hindrance in international markets. As a result of these initiatives, in times of turbulence for the regional and perhaps the global economy, our growth has surpassed the average growth of the countries of the region, which has merited the major recognition of the world’s investors.
We are, without a doubt, the resilient Colombia that is enterprising and growing with equity. In facing obstacles today, Colombia therefore persists in building a culture of legality in which we recognize our differences and choose coexistence, and the rule of law is forged as the indissoluble marriage of security and justice.
One year ago, I stated in this Hall that my Government would work to successfully advance the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration process. Today, I come again to this Hall to assert that peace with legality is being built with firm steps, with more than 29 productive collective projects, linking more than 1,400 people, who have taken a gamble for a new life, and, in total, more than 13,000 Colombians remain in the reintegration process.
With the calm that has come from our tireless efforts, I can say that, today, before this Assembly, a single nation speaks, convinced that violence has been eradicated on the basis of legality. I repeat how valuable the support and work of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia has been. The support and validation of the international community has been invaluable in this process of stabilization, and we truly hope that it will continue to witness the path that we are building, the path of peace with legality.
Just as we have discharged our duty towards those who chose the path of legality, we also warn those who persist in the path of crime of the consequences of that choice. A few weeks ago, a group of criminals, under ideological guise, tried to frighten Colombia. The reality is that for them there never was reintegration or a laying down of arms because they simply never stopped committing crimes. They lied to Colombia and, moreover, allied themselves with the dictatorship oppressing the people of Venezuela. Their threatening intentions ran afoul of a Government that does not give in to threats and, above all, of a people which will not be intimidated and does not suffer the mafia camouflaged as ideology. On that score, there is no doubt that I, as President of all Colombians, will do everything in my power to guarantee for Colombia peace based on legality. On this conviction, we shall not yield even an inch.
Violence finds support in the illegal economies based mainly on drug trafficking. Our Government has appropriated more than 200,000 hectares of coca plantations and, with great pains, we have managed, for the first time in more than seven years, to stop their exponential growth. To date, my Government has eradicated coca from and replaced more than 90,000 hectares, and we will not stop there. Drug trafficking is a predator for the environment and human society; it is a nest for corruption and fuels terrorism. The more coca there is, the less peace. That is why the fight against drug trafficking and illicit economies is a battle that requires the engagement of all nations against the lure of drug production, distribution and consumption. No country is exempt from this threat. Drug trafficking is a global problem, and we must tackle it as such.
I can say with conviction that some of the worst effects of drug trafficking are that it feeds corruption, weakens institutions and infects the social fabric. The fight against corruption unites us of all in this Hall today and unites us all Colombians, and we are one in the fight against this scourge. There is no political, social or cultural system that does not face the abyss when its institutions are eroded by corruption. All institutions are doomed to fail if they let corruption knock on their doors. In Colombia today, such effective transparency measures as the Statutory Law on Accountability, which binds all public servants, are already a reality. We are not alone in that struggle either. Together with friendly nations, we are promoting a project to create an international anti-corruption court because, like drug trafficking, the scourge of transnational corruption transcends and ignores borders and the international community needs a strong tool to confront it.
Colombia believes in multilateralism not only as a means of integrating economies, ideas and politics, but also, above all, as the stage for solutions — solutions that are built on such inalienable principles as solidarity, fraternity, love for freedom, utmost respect for the decisions of peoples and the unrestricted defence of democracy, on the rejection of all forms of tyranny and on the economic pillars of free enterprise, workers’ rights and free trade.
At least 4.2 million people have left Venezuela since 2015 on account of the brutal dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. They are fleeing from a nation that was once rich and today is starved, that was once a democracy and today is an authoritarian regime without means or freedoms, where there are no institutions because they have shut down or been completely co-opted by the dictator. Venezuela is a country that once lived in peace and today suffers oppression, that was once an economic power and today has seen the destruction of all private initiative.
Colombia has received approximately 1.4 million Venezuelans migrants who have fled hunger and despair and has done so with open arms, guided by the ethical principles of solidarity and fraternity. It is precisely because we understand the difference between the brotherly people of Venezuela and the regime that oppresses them that we reach out to our brothers who continue to cross the border. We are aware that solidarity and fraternity must translate into tangible actions and policies. We have set up various instruments to help Venezuelans. We have welcomed the 25,000 children born on Colombian soil to Venezuelan parents since 2017 who were at risk of statelessness. All child in the world have the right to a nationality and, in this case, Colombia has given them one with affection and commitment.
The migrant crisis that we warned of a year ago, in this very Hall, is a reality and is made increasingly worse the longer the dictator remains in power. The Venezuelan tragedy has a name and surname, and we all know what they are. Colombia’s position vis-a-vis the dictatorship is not about geopolitical disputes, but about the need of the Venezuelan people to see their democracy completely restored.
Colombia is not alone in clamouring for freedom in Venezuela. The Lima Group and more than 50 nations around the world recognize the legitimate presidency of Juan Guaido and actively participate in denouncing all the crimes committed under the dictator’s leadership. As President of Colombia, I respectfully call for us, together, within the framework of international law and the instruments of multilateralism, to return Venezuela’s democracy and freedom to it.
It is time to call a spade a spade. The Venezuelan dictatorship is one more link in the chain of transnational terrorism. Its corrupt structures serve the drug cartels. Its minions work for the mafia and feed the violence in Colombia. They shelter murderers, child rapists and the completely lawless. Of course, those who claim to be unaware of all these facts end up becoming accomplices of the dictatorship.
My Government has strong and convincing evidence corroborating the dictatorship’s support for criminal groups and narcoterrorists operating in Venezuela to attack Colombia. As President of Colombia, I will proffer to the President of the Assembly and the Secretary-General evidence that supports these allegations. This 128-page file contains the body of evidence demonstrating the complicity of Nicolas Maduro’s regime with the terrorist cartels that attack the Colombian people. Before the international community, we present the list of a gang of less than 20 criminals who betrayed the generosity of the Colombians, and today reside in Venezuela, taking full advantage of the logistical capabilities provided by the dictatorship.
In this report, we also reveal the location of more than 1,400 men in arms belonging to the most dangerous blocks of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and 207 locations controlled by this criminal organization in Venezuelan territory. We also include the testimonies of Venezuelan citizens who complain about the presence of the ELN in their territory, the brazen presence of criminals in training camps, as well as the existence of 20 landing strips at the service of drug trafficking. This unequivocal evidence shows the sponsorship and support of Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship for the aforementioned criminal structures.
Venezuela has become fertile ground for criminal structures allied with the ELN, which knows no borders. Those ringleaders who today enjoy Maduro’s protection are the same ringleaders who for years claimed responsibility for attacks on oil pipelines, causing irreparable environmental damage and turning them into the greatest ecocides that humankind has ever known. This is an unacceptable conduct, which as Head of State I must denounce before the international community. Let us not kid ourselves: Colombia is not and will never be an aggressor country, nor will it allow itself to be provoked by warmongering insinuations. But it will always — always — raise its voice to denounce tyranny.
Venezuela needs an end to usurpation, the installation of a transitional Government, a Government that allows for economic and social recovery. And it urgently needs to hold truly free elections and to fully recover the rule of law. Nicolas Maduro’s crimes against his people can be compared only to those of Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia.
We cannot be idle witnesses of so much pain in our Latin America. That is why, last Monday, 23 September, the Thirtieth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States, acting as the consultative body under the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, adopted a historic resolution, which states that the participation of authorities and entities linked to Nicolas Maduro’s regime in illegal activities, in particular drug trafficking, asset laundering, terrorism and its financing, corruption and the violation of human rights, is a regional threat. For 16 Latin American countries, it is evident that the dictatorship is violating the obligations established in Security Council resolution 1373 (2001). We therefore strongly affirm that all these criminal activities, associated with the humanitarian crisis generated by the deterioration of the political, economic and social situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, represent a threat to the maintenance of peace and security on the continent.
I would like to reiterate that this challenge requires constant collective action that develops the principle of global solidarity under the ever-present primacy of multilateralism. We are a strong voice in the region asking the Maduro regime to cease its support for narcoterrorist groups. We ask the international community to adopt all appropriate sanctions to safeguard the rights and freedoms of present and future generations of Colombians and, of course, of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters.
For all of these reasons, here, on this world stage, I courageously express to the international community that Colombia will continue to be committed to the defence of democracy in Venezuela, but, my fellow representatives, without the support of this community, without the true support of the States Members of the United Nations, those who left their homes with the desire to return will not easily find their way back. We will continue to work, with all love and passion, for the construction of a Colombia based on the rule of law, entrepreneurship, the promotion of individual initiative and the closing of all social gaps. All — absolutely all — of our efforts are oriented towards fairness.
Today Colombia is telling the world that now is the time for us to find the determination needed to transform our societies. It is the time for us to firmly confront tyranny. It is the time for us to show our greatness, so that all of us, citizens of the world, can live our lives with dignity.


I congratulate His Excellency Mr. Muhammad-Bande on his assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. I assure him that the delegation of the Kingdom of Tonga will fully support his able leadership. I also express our gratitude to his predecessor, Her Excellency Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, for her successful presidency of the Assembly at its seventy-third session, under the theme “Making the United Nations relevant to all people through global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies”. I also commend His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres for his inaugural visit to the Pacific Islands region in May and his continued stewardship of the Secretariat. Tonga fully supports the ongoing work he is undertaking on reform of the United Nations to ensure its relevance and utility for all Member States.
My delegation and I congratulate the President on his four priorities to guide our work during this session, namely, promoting international peace and security, in particular conflict prevention; strengthening global action to tackle climate change, which is integral to the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); accentuating inclusion, human rights and the empowerment of youth and women; and promoting partnerships for advancing the achievement of the SDGs, which are interlinked, very timely and relevant to addressing, during his tenure, the challenges of our time, which we fully support.
We welcome the President’s recognition of the challenges faced by small island delegations, such as ours, to ensure we are able to contribute equitably and effectively to the many important high-level meetings to be convened during this session. With five summits this week alone in addition to our general debate, we are grateful for his particular attention to enabling smaller delegations to participate fully.
Tonga continues its commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs, including the small island developing States (SIDS) Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway. We are pleased to participate at the high-level midterm review of the SAMOA Pathway tomorrow to ensure its goals are being met at the halfway point of its implementation. The Government’s sustainable development priorities remain aligned with 13 of the 17 SDGs, namely, Goals 1 to 4, 6 to 9 and 13 to 17.
Tonga’s first voluntary national review report, presented at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on sustainable development, held in July, spoke to the localization of the SDGs and the SAMOA Pathway through Tonga’s strategic development framework. A whole-of-government approach for coordinated and coherent service delivery continues to be a priority. We once again recognize the important contribution to our efforts by the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. We are also grateful for the enhanced engagement in Tonga by the United Nations Office for Project Services through our recently concluded host country agreement.
Tonga welcomed the convening of the Climate Action Summit earlier this week. My country engaged fully in that seminal gathering of leaders to again give prominence to the threats posed by climate change, with its direct links to international peace and security, and thereby to our sustainable development aspirations, in support of SDG 13 and its targets. The 1.5°C limit is the heart of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and, although my country, along with our Pacific small island developing States neighbours as a whole, contributes not even close to 1 per cent of global warming, we remain committed to the Agreement. Securing climate financing is the main priority for Tonga, as without it no action on our nationally determined contributions is possible. We welcome the announcement by the United Kingdom of its intention to double its contribution to the Green Climate Fund.
Pacific leaders in Tuvalu last month endorsed the strongest statement to date on climate change. The Kainaki II Declaration declared a climate-change crisis in the Pacific Islands region and called for urgent action to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions and prevent catastrophic global warming and disasters. Extreme events like cyclones and typhoons, flooding, drought and king tides are increasingly more intense, inflicting damage and destruction on our communities and ecosystems and putting the health of our peoples at risk. At this time, we are thinking of our fellow islanders in the Bahamas, as they work to recover after the devastating impacts and destruction in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.
Climate change is not only a political issue for us, but also one of survival. The fact that climate change is an existential threat and a matter of international peace and security was again endorsed by Pacific leaders through their decision to develop the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. We continue to support the work of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security. We continue to recognize the important nexus between the climate and the ocean, and furthermore continue to note with concern the devastating impacts of climate change on our marine environment. We look forward to deliberations on this link in Chile, at the twenty-fifth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, later this year.
Important issues of baselines that determine our maritime boundaries, once established under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, should not be affected and should remain unchanged, despite the effects of sea-level rise. Our sovereignty must not be compromised by the effects of climate change, and we continue to welcome and support the work of the International Law Commission on this critically important and timely issue for consideration of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly.
Tonga has continued its engagement in this year’s second and third sessions of Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). We look forward to the next revision of the draft instrument, with the hope that the ongoing convergence of understandings by Member States engaging in the process will find completion at the fourth, and final, session of the Conference early next year. We also welcome the establishment of the Friends of BBNJ Capacity Development, which is the cross-cutting issue tying together all elements of the Convention.
Tonga also continues its engagement at the International Seabed Authority. Together with other members of the Authority, Tonga remains committed, including in its capacity as an elected member of its Council, to continuing to work towards the finalization of the important draft exploitation regulations to ensure an appropriate balance between the need to conserve and protect the marine environment and the sustainable use of deep-sea mineral resources. Importantly, we must ensure our work is appropriately informed and properly concluded in support of Sustainable Development Goal 14. The presidency of the Council of the Authority will rotate to the Asia-Pacific Group in 2020 for the twenty-sixth session, and Tonga has presented its candidature for election to that important position.
As Tonga was also privileged to host the first International Seabed Authority regional workshop for the Pacific in February, it also remained engaged with the Authority’s Abyssal Initiative for Blue Growth and attended related workshops for sponsoring States in Nauru and Kiribati last month. We look forward to continuing our collective work in the Cook Islands and in Tonga in the coming months, before the second Ocean Conference in mid-2020.
Tonga commends the work of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. We are grateful for the Commission’s recommendations on our first partial submission last month. We look forward to its eventual consideration of our second partial submission in good time. We would like to acknowledge Italy’s ongoing partnership with Tonga through the joint committee in strengthening our capacity in the field of the environment and the ocean. We also acknowledge the work of the secretariat of the Pacific Community, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Pew Charitable Trust on the regional deep-sea minerals treaty.
Tonga’s priority nationally determined contribution is to achieve 50 per cent renewable energy by 2020. We have been able to negotiate the funding required to achieve this goal and would like to thank our partners that assist Tonga through public and public-private financing to accelerate my country’s transition to renewable energy and resilient infrastructure in support of Sustainable Development Goal 7 and its associated targets. Tonga is also pleased to continue in its capacity as an elected Vice-President of the Assembly of the Small Island Developing States Sustainable Energy and Climate Resilience Initiative, on behalf of Pacific SIDS members.
Finally, sustainable development, whether it be through good health and well-being, climate action, life below water or affordable and clean energy, inter alia, can be realized only through the achievement and maintenance of international peace and security.
We continue to look to the Security Council to protect the innocent from threats to international peace and security in all their forms, be they traditional threats such as armed conflict or newer threats such as climate change, rising sea levels and health epidemics, to ensure that no one is left behind.
May Almighty God guide and bless the President of the General Assembly, all the States Members of the United Nations and their respective Governments and peoples.


Every generation faces its own challenges but no generation has faced a challenge as urgent and formidable as that confronting us in climate change and global warming. This is the mother of all battles, because it is the battle for our very survival. The human being is the most intelligent creature living on planet earth. However, it is also the only creature capable of destroying — and, at times, it seems, ready to destroy — its own planet.
Recent months have seen many prestigious magazines publish photos of planet earth captioned “Let’s save the planet”. I believe they are mistaken: it is not planet earth that is at risk; what is truly at risk is the survival of the human being on planet earth.
Our planet is over 4.5 billion years old, and during this long history, it has suffered and endured all kinds of phenomena — such as hurricanes, glaciations, warming, flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods, asteroid strikes — and it survived them all. However, more than 99 out of every 100 species that once existed no longer exist today, and we do not want human beings to join that list of the extinct.
The scientific evidence is categorical and conclusive: the situation is now critical. In fact, the latest scientific report, United in Science, published just today, shows that the concentration of greenhouse gases and global temperature are the highest they have been in the past 800,000 years. The last five years have been the hottest in recorded human history. The report states that, even if we implemented the commitments made under the Paris Agreement, temperature would still significantly exceed the limit agreed, reaching an increase of almost 3.4 degrees, which is almost tantamount to disaster. We need to multiple comprises by five to meet the target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The consequences are not theoretical; they are plain for everyone to see. We are enduring heatwaves, major storms and floods, severe droughts, devastating hurricanes, and ice calving and melting, among other things. Sea levels continue to rise by the day, as do the acidification and deoxygenation of their waters. In fact, over the past 30 years, humankind has destroyed 50 per cent of corals, which are the backbone of all marine life. We have burned or deforested large areas of forests crucial to the life and health of our planet. The most serious aspect is that such changes, which once occurred over the course of centuries or millennia, now take place in less than a decade. Nature has long been screaming in alarm and anguish, pleading for the simplest of things — that we take care of her so that she in turn may take care of us.
The 2015 session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), held in Paris, set the goal of limiting maximum temperature increase to 2°C, later stepped up to 1.5°C by the end of the century. But the commitments countries made at that Conference did not, as has just been mentioned, go far enough. They are not even being honoured!
We must urgently rise to the challenge. This means that we must prevent climate change and global warming from becoming truly catastrophic. This is not a matter of scepticism, faith, politics or ideology; it is a problem founded in science. And the overwhelming science is telling us loud and clear that we have less than a decade left to radically change the course of history and the way in which we treat our planet. We know too much to remain sceptical.
This challenge is not just environmental; it is also a moral challenge, affecting our children and grandchildren, and the generations to come. They too have the right to live on planet Earth. From this same rostrum yesterday, we listened to children and young people raise their voices, urging us to shoulder responsibilities and account not only for what we have done but above all for what we have not done. Those future generations will also want to live on a healthy planet and they will, of course, judge us, and judge us harshly, for the way in which we responded to the monumental challenge of climate change.
Therefore, if we are to avoid catastrophe, it is now imperative that we recognize that we are on the wrong track, time has run out and we must change course. Facing this scenario, we have heard two options. There are those who say, “Let us wait and see what happens” and accept the consequences; and those who believe that the time has come to tackle this challenge and change the course of history. The good news is that science and technology give us tools and instruments and that we still have time to change course in how we as humankind treat our planet.
Chile has chosen this second path, deciding to tackle the challenge. That is why we agreed to host the COP in December. What are the objectives of the COP to be held in Chile?
First, it is aimed to get countries to make much more ambitious and enforceable commitments than they have to date to combat climate change. There is good news on this front, too. Today, 66 countries, or one in three, have already committed to becoming carbon neutral, which means cutting net emissions of carbon and greenhouse gases to zero. This seemed impossible only weeks ago. We note and welcome this change in attitude, heightened awareness and the stronger commitment to tackling the problem.
The Secretary-General tasked us some months ago with leading the coalition for climate mitigation so as to ensure that more countries, business and cities commit to carbon neutrality. As I said at the Group of 20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, where six countries, including Chile, made this commitment, the movement is fast gaining momentum, with 66 countries, more than 100 cities and more than 100 major companies having committed to becoming carbon neutral.
Secondly, we also need to incorporate the protection and conservation of rainforests and their magnificent biodiversity and, of course, the incorporation not only of rain forests but where they grow, because when rainforests grow, they capture carbon and produce oxygen. This is why, together with the Presidents of France and Colombia, we created the Alliance for Rainforests, which will take the second step of its work at the December COP in Chile.
At the same time, we must also incorporate care for the oceans. Oceans capture 50 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and absorb more than 90 per cent of the temperature increases generated by us human beings. However, they are suffering serious impacts. The United in Science report details the degree of acidification and deoxygenation affecting our oceans and killing marine life. This is why the Chile COP will be the blue COP, because without blue there is no green, and without green there is no life.
Thirdly, it will fully involve regional, municipal and city Governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, civil society and communities at large in the cause of fighting climate change.
Fourthly, it will put into practice some instruments that were agreed in Paris but are yet to be activated, such as carbon bond markets, to generate more resources for and improve the efficiency of the struggle to reduce carbon emissions.
This is why Chile is today announcing the launch of the Alliance for Climate Ambition, which will bring together States and cities, business and civil society on all these fronts. Indeed, Chile committed a few months ago to becoming a carbon-neutral country. We are taking that commitment very seriously. We are implementing a plan to achieve that goal, based on four pillars: the complete decarbonization of our energy grid; the modernization of our public transport system, replacing fossil fuels entirely with electricity; energy efficiency in every sector; and an ambitious protection, conservation and reforestation programme for our forests.
We are pursuing all of this through a framework law on climate change, which identifies clear strategies, tools and timelines for upholding our commitment to carbon neutrality. In this great task, we will have to use all the tools that our great allies of science and technology put at our disposal. We must leave behind the culture of the disposable and embrace the culture of the recyclable. We must shift from the concept of a linear economy to one that is circular, repurposing its own waste.
Change will not be easy; it will require ambition. Ambition requires funding, but it is also true that funding always follows ambition. This is why I call on world leaders and all men and women of good faith to recognize that we have run out of time and must now go from diagnosis and debate to action, pure and simple. We must leave aside the false dichotomy between economic growth and sustainability. If development is not sustainable, there can be no development. The two concepts are not in competition, but complement one another.
Of course, we will have to significantly increase investment in innovation and technology to better tackle these challenges. Innovation and technology are the tools that will allow us to make crucially needed development compatible with urgently needed care for nature. We will also have to mobilize far more resources than those mobilized or pledged to date if we are to help the most vulnerable countries to join this noble struggle. From the edges of the Earth, the southern reaches of the world, we invite all Governments and all sectors of society to participate in COP Chile and commit to tackling the great challenge of our generation. This battle still depends on us, and we cannot therefore just continue to ignore it. This is the great challenge of our generation: to correct a decades-long course and treat our planet differently in order to guarantee the survival of humankind.
Last year, in this same Hall (see A/73/PV.10), I acknowledged certain errors and problems in my country and referred to what was happening in so-called sacrificial zones and the serious harm to thousands of people there (see A/73/PV.10). But acknowledgement is not enough; we must also take action. That is why I committed to address the pollution and poisoning endured by so many in the communities of Quintero and Puchuncavi decisively and with determination and urgency. I am pleased to say that a revamped and strict plan is now in place to decontaminate those communities. The plan includes emission standards as exacting as those in the European Union and provides for strengthening the health-care system and State oversight of a modernized monitoring network. In addition, we have obtained the collaboration of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, which is specialized in that area and has conducted an in-depth analysis and made a series of useful recommendations to correct the situation.
The same applies to our planet. If we do not do anything very soon, the whole planet might become a sacrificial zone. And that we cannot allow. Just a few days ago, the headline of The New York Times read that a quarter of humankind faces looming water crises. Chile, Mexico, India, North Africa and California are among the most vulnerable places. I want to mention the acute and extensive drought in our country, which has lasted more than 10 years and is reflected in sharp decreases in river flows, water levels in reservoirs and snow accumulation in the mountains, as well as across all other indicators. That is why we are tackling the issue with a sense of urgency, but also one of efficiency. We have issued water scarcity and agricultural emergency decrees with a view to ensuring the population’s water supply and assisting small- and medium-scale farmers, who are so adversely affected by the drought. We are incorporating modern technologies for better use of water in all sectors of our economy, including irrigation technology in the agricultural sector. We have adopted a construction plan that prioritizes 26 reservoirs and are moving forward with a plan to recharge the natural aquifers under our country’s soil. And, of course, we are improving the reuse of water through the treatment of grey water and sewage. However, it goes without saying, that it takes time to resolve those problems.
I would also like to refer today to a problem that affects the world economy as a whole. We are witnessing a worrisome weakening of the world economy. International trade and investment are stagnating. The trade and tariff war, which has gone on for too long, between the world’s two greatest Powers, the weakening of free trade, areas of long-term protectionism, the growing inefficiency and deadlock at the World Trade Organization, which is unable to prevent or sanction protectionist actions that harm the entire economy — these impede job creation and limit the quality of life of our peoples.
Today, at a time of enormous technological progress, we should more than ever advance on the road to integration. We need to rebuild a respected multilateral economic order that is based on rules known and respected by all and promotes free trade, integration and investment flows, combats protectionism, eliminates barriers to trade, harmonizes regulations and establishes universal rules to prevent and sanction unilateral acts that threaten the international order. To that end, it is necessary to modernize the World Trade Organization as soon as possible and to strengthen international collaboration.
In November, Chile will host the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, which brings together economies that represent two thirds of the world’s gross domestic product. We hope to achieve great advances on that occasion in the areas of free trade and anti-protectionism. But allow me to make a remark. Today, when the world is most in need of leadership on issues such as climate change, global warming, free trade and integration, it seems unreasonable that the two great Powers, instead of uniting to lead us in effectively addressing those issues, should be fighting each other, resulting in a grave and dangerous leadership vacuum. I would like to comment that there is no incompatibility or conflict between thinking about a global world and being a patriot. There is no conflict there; these are merely two sides of the same coin that enable the balance we want to achieve between integration and national identity.
Before turning to the topic of my own country, I would like to refer to a vital point for our continent, Latin America. We must put an end to the ignominious, cruel dictatorship imposed on the Venezuelan people. It is a corrupt and incompetent dictatorship that flouts human rights and freedoms and has undeniable links with drug trafficking. Under the dictatorship, Venezuela, which had been the richest country in Latin America, with the world’s largest oil reserves and a model of democracy for our continent, has become a country mired in a profound political, economic, social and moral crisis, where the very lives of its inhabitants, owing to a lack of food and medicine, are in jeopardy. The only avenue open to the people has been mass migration. More than 4.5 million Venezuelans have left their country because of a lack of prospects in order to seek better development opportunities. Without a doubt, this is a cause that engages all of Latin America.
I would like to end with remarks concerning Chile. Each generation has a mission to fulfil. Our country’s fathers achieved freedom and independence and bequeathed us a free homeland. The generation that preceded us was able to recover freedom and restore democracy in a very exemplary way. Our generation has a new challenge, that of defeating poverty and achieving development. That should be done in peace and unity, so that all my compatriots may have the opportunity to develop their abundant talents and be secure in their ability to live in dignity. In short, the goal is a homeland where everyone may pursue happiness and seek a fuller, happier life, together with their families and loved ones. That is our mission, and we are committed to it. It will be the yardstick against which the generations to come will judge us. Those generations, who are our children and grandchildren, we cannot and will not fail them.
I ask God to enlighten our paths and to bless Chileans and all the peoples of the world.


It is a great privilege for me to address this great institution for the first time on behalf of the Republic of Lithuania. I have come with the message that my country is deeply committed to the core values and principles of the United Nations. The responsibility to seek peace, protect human rights and work for the general welfare is our main goal, rooted in our difficult history. Lithuania suffered painful losses during the two World Wars. It experienced two brutal totalitarian regimes, Nazism and Stalinism. After regaining independence almost 30 years ago, we rebuilt our democratic State institutions, created an effective market economy and joined the world’s major political, economic and cultural organizations.
History is a great teacher. It teaches us not to repeat the mistakes of the past and it inspires us to move on to new heights. One month ago, we commemorated the eightieth anniversary of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. That criminal conspiracy led to the Second World War and the occupation of the three Baltic States. Every year on that same day we also celebrate a moment of great triumph. Thirty years ago, the people of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined hands in a 650- kilometre- long Baltic Way, strongly condemning the Pact. That was an important step in our struggle for freedom, and we will never forget it.
Lithuania has always strongly supported and promoted multilateral cooperation. Effective, rule-based multilateralism upholds the world order and contributes to international peace and security. A determination to adhere to international law is often the last barrier separating our countries from unpredictable, and therefore dangerous, disorder. In this world of many uncertainties, we need multilateral mechanisms more than ever before.
Against this background, the Charter of the United Nations plays an exceptional role, as it commits all nations to working together towards a better world for all. We therefore fully support the steps taken by the Secretary-General to reform the United Nations in order to make the Organization more resilient and more capable of addressing difficult global challenges.
We need a stronger United Nations to respond more effectively to protracted conflicts and humanitarian crises in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. We also need active engagement on the part of all States Members of the United Nations to eliminate and prevent large-scale crimes against humanity and to find long-term political solutions.
Unfortunately, in this world rife with crises, Europe is no longer an exception. The illegitimate use of force and serious violations of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity have become part of everyday life in Europe. Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, encouraged by the feeble international response to its 2008 aggression against Georgia, is attempting to further destabilize countries in its environs. Russia’s appalling military actions against Ukraine have been continuing for five years now.
Lithuania strongly condemns that prolonged violation of international law and urges the aggressor to respect the Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and its bilateral agreements with Ukraine. We will continue to support Georgian and Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea or the occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We hold that the implementation of the Minsk agreements is an absolute precondition for normalizing relations with Russia.
Some political leaders are floating the idea of creating a new geopolitical space from the Atlantic Ocean to Vladivostok, drawing Russia in. It may sound interesting, but do we have common ground for it? Do we have shared values? The answer, unfortunately, is no. We have to remember the hard lessons of history. There was a time when left-leaning intellectuals welcomed Vladimir Lenin’s ascent to power during the Russian Revolution. There was a time when the independence-seeking Baltic States were being instructed not to rush so as not to harm Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika. Both times it all ended with innocent blood being shed.
As a matter of principle, we should not endorse unions in which some States become the subjects of history and others just objects. As of today, Russia has done nothing to inspire our confidence. Could this change? Yes, it could. We would be the first to welcome this turn of events, with a democratic Russia respecting international law and the sovereignty of other countries.
Today we need to realize that open disrespect for international law endangers global security. It is often accompanied by drastic violations of human rights and undermines our efforts to build prosperous societies. We know that there can be no peace or security without responsibility. We have repeatedly seen that impunity breeds fresh violence. Those who have committed crimes against humanity must know that they will not go unpunished.
Lithuania is one of the countries that are still waiting for justice. During the brutal events of January 1991, Soviet military tanks attacked peaceful protesters in newly independent Lithuania. Fourteen civilians were killed and more than 800 injured. Twenty-eight years later, the Lithuanian court convicted 67 former Soviet officers and military personnel for war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, Russia continues to shield the perpetrators from justice and has even initiated criminal proceedings against the Lithuanian judges and prosecutors who investigated the case. We see this as impermissible interference in a sovereign State’s delivery of justice.
Knowing the true significance of justice, we will continue working to ensure the universality and indivisibility of human rights. Lithuania’s key priorities as a candidate for the Human Rights Council for the period from 2022 to 2024 will be women’s and children’s rights, as well as the protection of freedom of expression. We hold that every nation, small or large, has a right and a duty to strive for a better world for all. During Lithuania’s presidency of the Security Council in 2015, we reinforced our commitments regarding the use of small arms and light weapons as well as the protection of journalists in zones of conflict. Responding to violations of international law, we kept the Council’s attention on the ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
Lithuania will continue its active participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations as well as its contribution to military training and humanitarian actions in Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia. We actively support all efforts to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping forces, including Action for Peacekeeping and the Secretary-General’s initiative to fight sexual exploitation in military conflicts. Recognizing the irreplaceable role played by women in building and maintaining peace, we will work to expand women’s engagement in peacekeeping operations.
Our common efforts to seek security and justice create the preconditions for fighting poverty, income inequality, social exclusion and the climate crisis. Only lasting stability across societies and nations as well as greater democratic inclusion of all citizens will ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. That is why I launched the idea of a welfare State in Lithuania as a strategic concept for the next five years of my presidency. That initiative is built on the core principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. The most difficult challenge is to translate it into reality. Only specific and streamlined action can bring us closer to success.
At the international level, I call on everyone to identify the greatest threats to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and to come up with adequate solutions. In Lithuania’s view, violations of a rules-based global order, the transformation of cyberspace into a new arena for an arms race and disrespect for international environmental and nuclear safety standards, as well as neglect of climate change, should be considered the most serious risks.
Our commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change remains critical to Lithuania’s long-term strategy. Our climate change mitigation policy is based on the sustainable use of renewables and increased energy efficiency.
Along with developing wind and solar energy, we are also determined to switch from fossil fuels to biomass in the heating sector. In only five years, Lithuania has built an effective network of small biomass boilers, demonstrating that cities and towns can easily transform their district heating, and that the local energy potential can be exploited in a sustainable way and green jobs rapidly created. We presented the sustainable heating initiative, supported by a number of countries, at the Climate Action Summit 2019 and we are ready to share our experience with all interested parties.
In the upcoming United Nations discussions on environmental issues, we will speak in favour of enhancing climate and security elements. We speak out loudly against the threats and negative environmental effects posed by chemical weapons dumped at sea. Technological development makes it possible to reach the seabed more easily, and that entails new risks. Lithuania will not remain silent and for the fourth time will submit a draft resolution aimed at assessing those risks. We hope that our efforts will encourage the international community to become more engaged in creating a safer, cleaner and more sustainable environment both on land and at sea.
We build a better future only by acting together. Our shared spirit of humanity commits us to treating each other with integrity and to treasuring and protecting our planet. I believe that inventiveness and international collaboration will enable us to turn the emerging challenges into new opportunities and to contribute to universal prosperity.
I would like to conclude my address by quoting former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “We will not enjoy development without security, or security without development; ... we will not enjoy either without universal respect for human rights.”


I take this opportunity to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Muhammad-Bande, a distinguished son of our sisterly country, Nigeria, on his election to preside over the General Assembly at this session.
This session of the General Assembly sits on the cusp of the seventy-fifth year of the foundation of our Organization, which was forged from the ashes of a devastating world war. Our forebears sought to build a more just and equitable world order, based on the rule of law and guaranteeing fundamental freedoms. The United Nations was charged with upholding the idea that, as a collective, our differences could be resolved through dialogue and international diplomacy.
Over the past decades, we have maintained the longest period of prosperity in our collective memory. However, as we approach our seventy-fifth year, we also need to be conscious that many of our people have been left behind. Because of our shortcomings and inaction, humankind is today threatened by conflict, economic hardship and climate change. We cannot afford to have disillusioned people who have lost sight of the visions of hope and security that were promised when our Organization was founded.
Equality is for everyone, regardless of gender or race. In Seychelles, my Government believes in placing people at the centre of development. We continue to invest in them so that they can live in dignity, realize their full potential and contribute to our vibrant democracy. Inclusivity is the key that will drive our nations further towards the goal of a secure and sustainable future. I believe in the human spirit and its unyielding capacity for good. I believe in the founding principles of the United Nations — that multilateralism is key in bringing nations and people together and ensuring mutual prosperity and lasting peace.
More than most, island nations must have faith in the multilateral international order. We are by nature isolated and, by design, our livelihoods are tied to the rest of the world. We rely heavily on that premise, as well as on the actions or inactions of others for our very survival. Climate change has become an existential threat, not only to the lives of people in island States but to the world as a whole. It is clear that we are no longer in a position to indiscriminately plunder the environment under the guise of development for the sake of short-term profits. I am aware that development has lifted our people out of poverty, but through overexploitation we are dooming future generations to a planet beyond their ability to repair.
Fortunately, young people around the world have taken a stand to secure their future. In Seychelles, we are seeing youth-led non-governmental organizations partnering with the Government to prioritize the fight against climate change, pollution and other threats to the environment. Youth-led grass-roots movements led to a ban on many single-use plastics and continue to advocate for ocean protection.
To us islanders, the ocean represents not only our livelihood but also a way of life. The Seychellois people are bound to the sea and are cognizant of the untapped opportunities that it represents. Our pioneering development of the blue economy has the potential to unlock multiplier effects that will increase economic opportunities while at the same time protecting the ocean for generations to come. In our view, the ocean is the last frontier. If used responsibly, it will lead to shared prosperity, food security and innovation.
In part, we are harnessing the potential of the oceans through the blue economy to meet our sustainable development goals and climate obligations, as dictated by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Samoa Pathway and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Seychelles is also championing the development of the blue economy in Africa and we are working with willing partners towards the international deployment of the blue economy. Seychelles will remain at the forefront of the discourse on climate change. We will fight — with a passionate sense of urgency — against inequalities that directly impact us. It is unacceptable that 50 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by 10 per cent of the planet’s wealthiest inhabitants living in the richest nations.
We will continue to voice our concerns as our people demand it. The Seychellois people do not have the luxury of “what if”, they require action now. We islanders can no longer afford to see ourselves as dots lost in a sea of blue — we are sentinels, guardians of two thirds of our common blue planet. The deep ocean is the beating heart of the planet, yet we have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor. That needs to change, as we gather the information available to identify priority areas for protection. That information should be used to take concrete action to preserve our oceans, extending beyond national jurisdictions. It is a global issue and it therefore needs a global approach.
We must translate the political will of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement into decisive action. Bringing law and good governance to the ocean is the only way we can ensure our collective survival. Seychelles is 100 per cent committed to the ongoing work of the United Nations to develop a legally binding framework to conserve our oceans in areas outside national borders. If we want to survive, that is the only way forward.
We anticipate a transparent and inclusive instrument that offers due recognition of our special circumstances as a small island developing State and an adjacent coastal State, which implies the inclusion of appropriate mechanisms for benefit-sharing, capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology.
Seychelles has challenged the established model of a donor-recipient relationship through innovative financing that promotes ocean conservation and climate action. Through the use of that type of financing, we have pioneered the world’s first debt-for-adaptation swap, established the world’s first sovereign blue bonds and protected ocean space in our exclusive economic zone, which is approximately the size of Germany. My country, Seychelles, is on track to conserve 30 per cent of its 1.4 million-square-kilometre maritime territory by 2020, thereby achieving the 30-by-30 target a decade early.
Suffice to say that today, big ideas come from small islands. For too long, we have been relegated to the sidelines of international discourse. We seek to change that dynamic by highlighting what is most important. Earlier this year, Seychelles partnered with the Nekton mission and the Oxford University to conduct research in a bid to conserve our maritime spaces and the Indian Ocean. In April of this year, I was proud to deliver a speech, broadcast live from 407 feet below the ocean’s surface, calling for greater worldwide effort to protect the beating blue heart of our planet — our oceans. But the novelty of the event should not overshadow the message. Safeguarding the oceans and marine life from climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution and other threats is an urgent global responsibility.
Today, here at the United Nations, I say that we are the guardians of two-thirds of this blue planet’s surface. We must act accordingly. The issue is bigger than all of us and we cannot wait for the next generation to solve it. We are running out of excuses to not take action and we are running out of time.


Four generations of our people have been waiting with hope. Beware, beware and beware of making them lose that hope. I trust that the General Assembly will not make them lose their hope.
A week prior to the recent Israeli elections, Israel’s Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, arrogantly announced that, should he prevail in the elections, he would annex and apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and Israel’s colonial settlements, despite the fact that all of those areas are occupied Palestinian territory. We categorically reject that announcement. If any Israeli Government were to proceed with the announced plan, our response would be that all signed agreements with the Government of the occupation and any obligations therein will be terminated, in line with previous decisions we have taken in that regard.
We have the right to defend our rights by all possible means, regardless of the consequences, while remaining committed to international law and to combating terrorism. Our hand will remain extended for achieving peace through negotiations. However, anything else will be null and void if Israel or any Israeli Government — that of Mr. Netanyahu or of any other person — implements the plan announced a few days ago. In that regard, I thank all leaders, countries and international organizations that condemned or rejected that announcement and the settlement activities as a whole, which are serious violations of United Nations resolutions and international law. We thank them all. They have reaffirmed that the Palestinian question remains the first central issue for the entire world, despite desperate attempts to divert attention away from the question.
I ask members of the Assembly: what would they do if someone attempted to take their countries’ land and erase their presence on it? How would they react? It is time for the international community to shoulder its responsibilities in order to bring an end to the Israeli aggression and arrogance. It is time to implement at least one resolution adopted by the United Nations on this issue. Otherwise, all of those resolutions are useless.
I had hoped to come to the Assembly this year to proclaim together the end of the Israeli occupation of my country, Palestine. But, regrettably, I stand before the Assembly today bearing the same concerns and pain that have been endured for so long by my people, who, despite all the injustice, oppression and occupation they have suffered, continue hoping to achieve their freedom and independence, as all other nations of the world. I ask the Assembly once again: has the time not come to save the Palestinian people and emancipate them from injustice, oppression and occupation? Has the time not come? I hope that Assembly members would ask themselves that question.
The General Assembly granted the State of Palestine observer State status in 2012. We are grateful for that legal and moral stance. We thank the United Nations for standing by our just requests to end the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine and for the State of Palestine to achieve its full independence, based on the 4 June 1967 borders, along with a just and comprehensive solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees, whose plight has been prolonged. We thank the United Nations for its stance and hope that it is implemented and translated into action on the ground.
We also convey our greeting and appreciation to all the countries and the peoples that continue to provide support and assistance to our people and our country, politically and economically, with a view to ending the occupation and building our national institutions. We also thank them for their continued support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), pending a just and comprehensive solution to the plight of our refugees, in line with international law. UNRWA was established in 1949 to help Palestinians address their problems, despite the fact that regrettably some have halted their assistance to UNRWA while its mission has not ended.
We are proud that the State of Palestine, despite all obstacles and policies of the Israeli occupation and its supporters, has become a full-fledged member of more than 110 organizations and international treaties. It has received the recognition of 140 States from around the world. The State of Palestine chaired the Group of 77 and China this year. It continues to competently assume its responsibilities at the regional and international levels as a resilient and constructive member of the international family. It deserves to be a full-fledged Member of the United Nations and all of its agencies. I believe that after all this we deserve to be a full-fledged Member. I do not know a single reason why we do not deserve it.
We have accepted international legitimacy and international law for resolving our question. We have sought and continue to seek, just and comprehensive peace. But the international law we have accepted and adhered to and the peace for which we strive are now in severe jeopardy, as a result of Israel’s policies and practices in our occupied land and the fact that it has reneged on agreements it has signed, since the Oslo Accords in 1993 to date. The responsibility for defending peace and international law is incumbent upon the members of the Assembly. Israel has not implemented any of the agreements. We hope that the Assembly compels Israel to respect international legitimacy.
The occupying Power is waging a reckless racist war in Jerusalem against everything that is Palestinian: from the confiscation and demolition of homes to assaults on clergymen; to the eviction of our citizens from their homes; to attempts to violate the sanctity of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; to the adoption of racist laws, such as the Jewish nation-State law. We all thought that those laws ended with apartheid in the former South Africa. Apartheid and racial discrimination are gone. Today we can see that similar laws still exist. One such law in Israel discriminates against people based on their religion and race, while the world remains silent. Israel also denies worshippers access to the holy sites. I caution against those policies and reckless measures, which lead to dangerous consequences. The result will be a religious war. We want to avoid such a war, but Israel is making every effort to wage one.
A few months ago, Israel has started to arbitrarily confiscate a portion of our funds, leading to additional suffering of our people. We therefore have not been able to meet our financial obligations towards our citizens. That exacerbates the economic crisis in our country due to a lack of resources and the decision of some parties and countries to not fulfil their commitments towards us. Nevertheless, the Palestinian people will not surrender to the Israeli occupation, regardless of the circumstances and no matter the pain we endure. We will remain steadfast on our land, resisting occupation by all available peaceful means. That is our legitimate right and our national and moral obligation. Let everyone know that occupation cannot bring about peace, security or stability for anyone. Israel must not think that it can achieve peace through occupation. That will not happen.
What is unfortunate and shocking is that the United States of America — a permanent member of the Security Council — is supporting the Israeli aggression against us, reneging on its international legal, political and moral obligations instead of maintaining international peace and security and upholding United Nations resolutions. The United States has even undertaken extremely aggressive and illegal measures, declaring Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel and moving its Embassy there, in blatant provocation of the sentiments of hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians, for whom Jerusalem is a central part of their religious faith. Despite all of those measures, Jerusalem will remain the eternal capital of Palestine, whether they like it or not.
The United States Administration did not stop there. It also decided to close the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington, D.C., for no reason. Some of its officials — in particular its Ambassador in Tel Aviv — have claimed that the Israeli settlements on our occupied territory are legitimate. They have decided that it is no longer an occupied territory, but an Israeli territory where Israel can build whatever facility it wishes. That was stated by the American Ambassador to Israel. Must we adhere to that statement? No. We will not follow the words of the United States and its Ambassadors. They do not shape our destiny.
Moreover, the United States has immorally and inhumanely terminated all of its contributions to UNRWA, then speaks about the so-called deal of the century, suggesting deceptive and elusive economic solutions after having destroyed, through its own policies and measures, all possibilities of achieving peace. I challenge the United States to show us anything but the deal of the century that it announced and which we totally reject.
The policy of the United States has emboldened the Government of the Israeli occupation to renege all signed agreements with us and all its commitments to peace, depriving the peace process of any credibility and causing many Palestinians to lose faith in achieving the desired peace. It has jeopardized the two-State solution, and now many are wondering if the two-State solution has become impossible. Many people ask: can there be a one-State solution where everyone may live with the other equally? Some are starting to wonder. They are witnessing Israel seizing lands and destroying the two-State solution, and are therefore asking whether it is possible to have a one-State solution. Let me reaffirm that I am in favour of a two-State solution, which is the only solution. That is in line with international legitimacy and international resolutions. Even the United States adopted resolution 2334 (2016). That is the resolution I want to be implemented. I will not accept a one-State solution. I will not accept apartheid. We want a two-State solution based on international legitimacy.
On our part, we have never missed an opportunity to hold serious negotiations with the Israeli side. We have constructively engaged in all initiatives. However, Mr. Netanyahu has never agreed to or accepted negotiations behind closed doors on a bilateral or multilateral basis. We have both received several invitations from several countries to meet on their land and start the negotiation process. He has rejected them all — including the latest invitation from the Russian Federation, of which there have been three — claiming that Palestine does not want peace or negotiations. We say that we will always be ready to welcome peace with open arms, and we are convinced that peace will be achieved only through negotiations.
Despite all of this, I renew our call for convening an international peace conference in line with the initiative I presented before the Security Council in February 2018 (see S/PV.8183) with the participation of the Arab countries, States members of the European Union and the Middle East Quartet. They can all participate in the conference to reach a solution, as can the permanent members of the Security Council, so that we reach a plan based on international consensus and the relevant United Nations resolutions, with a defined time frame so as to end the occupation, achieve the independence of our State and end the conflict. That is what we are asking for.
To be frank, we categorically reject any negotiations shepherded by any one country, whether it be the United States or any other country. We reject negotiations led by a single country. Such negotiations must be held under the auspices of the United Nations. We would consider the United States, or any other country wishing to hold their own negotiations, as biased. However, including the Quartet or other countries would be acceptable. I am not solely referring to the United States; the same applies to any one country. We will not accept mediation by the United States alone.
From the outset, we have believed in democracy, which is enshrined in our Constitution, as a foundation for building our State and society. We have demonstrated that on the ground by holding elections in 1996, 2005 and 2006. However, they came to a halt in 2007 due to the Hamas coup. Since then, we have called for reconciliation and the holding of elections. Nevertheless, when I return to the homeland, I will call for general elections in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Anyone opposing those elections will be held accountable before God, the international community and history.
Our steadfast position is to fight terrorism, and we always say that we can relinquish anything but will never give up in our fight against terrorism. We have adopted 83 protocols with 83 countries, including the United States, to combat international terrorism. We would like to take this occasion, in the aftermath of the recent attacks on the city of Dhahran and oil facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to condemn them and express our solidarity with that country, while supporting its position.
In conclusion, I pay tribute to, and express my pride in, our Palestinian people — in Palestine, the refugee camps, the diaspora and throughout the world. I say to them that we are confident that this occupation, like every other occupation before it, will inevitably end. Many countries have been occupied, including the United States, which was occupied by a number of countries. However, the occupation came to end in Europe, Africa and Latin America. We say that our occupation will come to an end as other occupations have ended.
We will continue to call for our rights. A right is never lost as long as someone strives to claim it. We pay tribute to our honourable martyrs, courageous prisoners and their resilient and patient families, whose rights we will protect regardless of the cost. I will not submit to Israel’s demands. Even if I had only one penny left, I would give it to the families of the martyrs, prisoners and wounded. I will not prevent them from getting it.


First of all, I would like to express my best wishes for the success of the presidency of this session of the General Assembly and to assure the Assembly of Peru’s support for, and commitment to, the work of the United Nations.
I firmly believe that the future is built with the actions we take today. For that reason, I call for concerted efforts to ensure peace, promote sustainable development and care for and protect the planet on the basis of dialogue and respect among our peoples, while always thinking of future generations when making decisions. Increasing social and economic inequality and high levels of corruption and impunity in a number of countries pose a latent risk to the future of democracy and governance and a source of discontent and apathy among citizens. The economic uncertainty that has persisted since the global financial crisis of 2008 has been exacerbated by trade tensions among the major players of the world economy.
That is why today, as never before, we must redouble our efforts at dialogue and constructive participation in order to find multilateral solutions to global problems. To that end, we must take into account the lessons drawn from the negotiation processes that, in 2015, led to historic milestones such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Peru, a country with a pacifist and integrationist outlook, reaffirms its commitment to those agreements.
Together with Colombia, we have coordinated efforts in that context with various Member States to agree a United Nations mandate for holding a special session of the General Assembly, in the first half of 2021, to address the fight against corruption. One challenge for that initiative will be to adopt a political declaration on the issue. I am confident that we will have everyone’s support and constructive participation. We hope that the head-on fight against corruption and impunity will become a global crusade.
Here at Headquarters one year ago (see A/73/PV.6), I noted that I had been given the honour of leading Peru during a serious political and institutional crisis. I also emphasized how corruption had become a cancer that was preventing us from taking advantage of all the potential that we have to achieve greater levels of progress and development, in the face of which my
Government could not stand by idly. That is why we undertook a number of judicial and political reforms, which are now under way, in an effort to restore the effectiveness, prestige and legitimacy of our institutions.
I would like to inform the Assembly today that a few weeks ago, we established four key norms of political reform, culminating from the debate, dialogue and consensus reached within the framework of the constitutional bodies and legal channels that govern the democratic life of my country. Those reforms will strengthen the Peruvian democratic system through rules on the registration and financing of political parties, on the exercise of internal party democracy, on parity and on alternation in the lists of candidates for the Congress of the Republic.
In the 18 months of my Government, we have managed to guide an orderly transition out of that crisis and to directly combat the corruption entrenched in all branches of the State. I lead a democratic Government that fully respects the separation and independence of powers. All our decisions have been, and continue to be, made within the framework of the political Constitution and the legal system. The rule of law, freedom of the press and freedom of expression are unrestricted in my country, as are the autonomy and independence of the judiciary and the Public Ministry to administer justice.
My country is currently undergoing a process of change that will allow us to embark on a new phase of growth and development. I must underline that those changes are being made exclusively by democratic means. That is why, to confront a situation of political entrapment that has lasted for three years, we have submitted to the Congress of the Republic a bill on constitutional reform that would advance the general elections in order to shorten the mandate of the executive and legislative branches by one year. That requires an act of detachment on the part of all. I am confident that we will achieve that for the good of the country.
After decades of sustained growth, the Peruvian economy continues to show resilience despite the challenges of the international climate. For that reason, my Government has undertaken participatory and inclusive efforts to address the challenges to development, leading to significant results as reflected in two legal instruments that will be key to Peru’s development — the national competitiveness and productivity plan and the national infrastructure plan for competitiveness.
Those instruments include measures to underpin the country’s medium- and long-term growth and constitute a transparent and consensus-based development agenda to bridge key gaps for Peru’s economic and social development. Similarly, they demonstrate the important efforts made by the public and private sectors and the capacity of Peruvians to overcome our differences in order to work for the future of the country and achieve higher levels of well-being.
Those objectives seek, inter alia, to provide the country with quality infrastructure, strengthen human capital, develop innovation capacities, stimulate a dynamic and competitive labour market, promote foreign trade in goods and services and achieve environmental sustainability.
I once again reaffirm Peru’s conviction and commitment to democracy and human rights. That commitment has led us to promote and support actions to re-establish the democratic order where it has been broken. I recall in that regard the International Conference for Democracy on Venezuela, which we organized and held in August in our capital city of Lima. The presence of 60 delegations from the five continents illustrated the global concern about a crisis whose impact spills over the national borders of the region.
There is no doubt that the rupture of the constitutional order and the entrenchment in power of an illegitimate regime in Venezuela are at the root of the political, institutional and humanitarian crisis that has generated an exodus of more than 4 million people, 900,000 of whom are in Peru. Faced with that crisis, Peru will continue to promote international initiatives and efforts to re-establish democracy in that fraternal country, within the framework of a peaceful process led by Venezuelans, and will continue to condemn serious human rights violations.
That International Conference underscored the urgent need to effectively address the humanitarian situation in Venezuela, in particular the enormous resources required to address the Venezuelan exodus, the full extent of which the international community still does not understand. I therefore encourage them to make every effort to reverse that situation.
Peru aspires to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, as an appropriate universal framework for the promotion of peace, development and human rights. We have initiated national efforts to make them a reality with determination and political courage, especially by engaging women and young people.
Peru is committed to strengthening the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national gender equality policies, as well as to incorporating that approach at all levels of public administration. Peru is also a leader in the fight against sexual violence at all levels. In that context, I would like to reiterate our commitment to Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which calls on us to join efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls.
We are committed to building a peaceful and inclusive country, with transparent and accountable institutions, based on good governance, the head-on fight against corruption and the strengthening of the rule of law, especially in line with Sustainable Development Goal 16. We know from our own experience in Peru that it is possible to transform a country in one generation.
The growth of the Peruvian economy in the past 20 years has allowed us to markedly reduce poverty. Today our development policies and their financing are oriented primarily towards education, health and the infrastructure that Peruvians need in order to integrate and compete in global markets under equal conditions. We also promote greater formalization of our economy and the creation of decent employment for all. To that end, we reiterate the importance of promoting the policies of economic and commercial openness and the promotion of the green economy required to involve the private sector in financing sustainable development. In that context, Peru reaffirms its commitment to a rules-based multilateral trading system, as reflected in the World Trade Organization, and encourages everyone to work towards strengthening and improving that organization in order to guarantee the stability, predictability and transparency of the multilateral trading system, for the benefit of all.
Peru is a country that is particularly vulnerable to climate change and the risk of natural disasters. That is why we have made an ambitious commitment to comply with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We have elaborated a realistic work plan for the next two years, based on technical evidence, with the expectation of being able to improve Peru’s nationally determined contributions by 2020. We have drawn up a road map with 91 adaptation measures and 62 climate-change mitigation measures that incorporate cross-cutting approaches to gender and interculturality, which will allow Peru to reach its nationally determined contributions by 2030.
As one of the world’s 10 megadiverse countries, Peru witnesses the serious impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems, particularly in the Amazon. For that reason, the President of Colombia and I, in my capacity as President of Peru, decided to convene a summit on 6 September with six countries of the region to address the challenges of the fires that have affected the Amazon. The outcome of that meeting was the Leticia Amazon Pact, through which we reaffirm our commitment to conserving the Amazon forests and their sustainable development, while promoting full respect for the rights of the indigenous peoples who inhabit them. We also established an Amazon network to enhance cooperation in the face of natural disasters. I invite other Governments and interested actors, with full respect for the sovereignty of the Amazonian countries, to support us in the implementation of the Pact.
Likewise, at the national level, we attach special importance to the establishment of priority areas for fighting deforestation, aimed at reducing deforestation in priority areas by 20 per cent by 2021 and by 30 per cent by 2030. We are working on a national adaptation plan that aims to improve the resilience of the population, particularly those most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
Peru supports any initiative that would help limit the increase in global temperature. That is why we accept with enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility the invitation extended by the Secretary-General to co-lead the Social and Political Drivers of Climate Action Coalition. Peru is also organizing the first high-level conference on the illegal wildlife trade in the Americas, to be held in Lima on 3 and 4 October, in order to generate commitments and implement actions to combat that illicit trade among the countries of the Americas, while promoting the involvement of key transit and destination countries.
All of those actions undoubtedly serve to reaffirm our conviction of the need to create an ambitious global framework for biodiversity beyond 2020, in whose preparatory process Peru has been actively participating.
Peru’s commitment to international peace and security and multilateralism is reflected both in our work in the Security Council and in our active participation in United Nations peace operations since 1958. We currently have Blue Helmets deployed in six peace operations and aspire to increase that participation in order to continue to offer a source of hope and humanitarian support to thousands of people around the world, particularly the most vulnerable.
We therefore welcome the reforms that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been promoting to strengthen the Organization’s work in the area of peace and security so as to increase the effectiveness and added value of peace operations. As a non-permanent member of the Security Council, Peru has promoted realistic and flexible mandates for peace operations, and we reaffirm our commitment to provide duly trained and disciplined troops who are respectful of host populations, with a progressive increase in the participation of Peruvian women.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women who have given their lives in the cause of peace over the past year. In particular, I would like to pay tribute to the memory of the Peruvian non-commissioned officer Edwin Augusto Chira Reyes, who died serving in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.
In the Security Council, Peru has constantly sought the unity of its members in order to contribute to the solution of the serious conflicts that are currently taking place in various regions that, in some cases, such as the Middle East, threaten to escalate and seriously jeopardize world peace. We have also prioritized initiatives that seek to limit the serious consequences of those conflicts for the most vulnerable populations, especially women and children, while ensuring respect for international humanitarian law and addressing the root causes of those conflicts. That has been complemented by the priority given to the involvement of women and young people in national processes of preventing and resolving conflict and of peacebuilding.
In its capacity as Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, Peru has promoted various efforts to address the scourge of terrorism. We have also fostered a deeper understanding of the nature and scope of the links between international terrorism and organized crime, with a view to identifying and dismantling them, in particular through Security Council resolution 2482 (2019), adopted unanimously during our presidency last July (see S/PV.8582).
Finally, on behalf of the people and the Government of Peru, I reiterate our firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as our conviction that multilateralism is a means of addressing such global problems as climate change, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons, corruption and illicit drug trafficking, among others.
I assure the General Assembly that Peru will continue to participate constructively and coordinate its efforts with States Members of the United Nations in order to achieve the objectives that motivated the creation of the Organization.