Discurso do SENEC João Gomes Cravinho,
no Debate Geral da 64.ª sessão da Assembleia Geral da ONU.
Arquive-se.
28 de Septiembre de 2009
I wish you all the best for this General Assembly. Along with the Secretary-General Ban Kimoon, you can count on the firm support of Portugal in your work.
Allow me to start by endorsing fully Sweden's intervention, as Presidency of the European Union.
Mr. President, Fighting climate change is a moral imperative and a matter of survival. This is no longer a longterm issue. Its consequences are evident everywhere - from the Small Island States to Portugal, we can all witness it. The time to act is now.
I congratulate the Secretary-General for the timely high-level meeting on climate change. The objective of mobilizing political will and vision for the climate negotiations has been fulfilled.
The process of political consciousness is done. Governments are now better prepared to take the decisions necessary for an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen.
In December's summit, all States must assume bold commitments, within the measure of their respective responsibilities and capacities, so that the post-2012 regime is up to the challenge. If, on the contrary, we leave Copenhagen with a limited result, with small and insignificant reforms, we would be failing in our historic responsibilities.
As I said, we are all affected by climate change. But it is obvious that the consequences are unequal. Least Advanced Countries and Small Island States, not withstanding being the ones that pollute the least, are the ones that suffer the most with the impact of climate change.
Their increased vulnerabilities impose a larger responsibility to the international community.
Belonging to a community means responsibilities towards the other members of the community; and when we talk about the international community we are, therefore, automatically saying that it is our duty to support these countries in their adaptation and mitigation efforts.
The General Assembly Resolution on the international security impact of climate change is a good step forward. But this step must have follow up. The United Nations should promote an in-depth debate on this matter in all relevant instances in the session we are now starting.
Portugal is a country that has built its history by way of an extraordinary relationship with the sea. It is, therefore, natural that we promote the sustainable development of oceans and their resources through a coherent and effective approach. We see this as a strategic issue for the whole world. In this regard, Portugal has contributed in multiple contexts, namely to the Maritime Policy of the European Union and to the Ocean Strategy of the Portuguese Speaking Countries.
The Preservation of the environment must also take into account the energy question. Climate change brings us challenges but also great opportunities. Fully conscious of this, Portugal is strongly committed to renewable energies - solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and wave energy.
In 2010 we plan to produce 45% of our energy from renewable sources. In 2020 we will reach 60%. Furthermore, we have one of the lowest carbon emission rates per capita of the European Union. We are available to share our experience in this area with all interested member States.
A year ago, when we gathered in this room for the opening of the 63rd General Assembly, the world was awakening to an economic and financial crisis that we still face today. Recent positive signs witness the results of international coordination in dealing with this common threat, but we have full consciousness that the effects of this crisis continue to be felt in the life of millions of people throughout the world, and that the most vulnerable are again the main victims.
We are convinced of the need of the international financial system to be guided by principles of responsibility and transparency, and to strengthen regulation and supervision. We can and should make sure that the international market is based on the values, principles and patterns of conduct we share.
We should also assure that the benefits of the economic globalization have a more universal impact. The United Nations Global Compact is an important contribution in this sense.
The solution was not, is not, and will not be protectionism. Closing the door to our neighbors and partners means leaving people in poverty and letting medium-long term problems to solve at home. Therefore, it is crucial to rapidly conclude the Doha Round, in a way that fully corresponds to the global sustainable development objectives that have been charted.
At the same time, we renew our firm commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. We cannot allow the impact of the crisis to affect the gains we have achieved in this process. A State that forgets the common good, sooner or later, will have instability, poverty and insecurity knocking at its door.
Portugal, with sense of collective responsibility and international cohesion, will continue to contribute in the limit of its possibilities. We concentrate a large part of our action on development aid in Africa, where poverty is most striking.
In this regard, I would like to mention that Portugal currently holds one of the co-presidencies of the Africa Partnership Forum and, in this quality, in coordination with our African partners, we have transmitted to the G20 Presidency the specific preoccupations and interests of that continent, in areas such as the response to the economic and financial crisis and climate change.
Also regarding Africa, we continue strongly committed to the implementation of the first Action Plan and Common Strategy, adopted in Lisbon, in the second European Union and Africa summit, in December 2007.
Allow me to salute the people of Guinea-Bissau for the way the recent elections took place in their country. It is now up to the Guinean institutions the task of maintaining and consolidating peace and stability, and it is up to the international community to strengthen its assistance, strengthening institutional building and security sector reform. Portugal will continue strongly committed to this process, bearing in mind the interests expressed by the democratically elected institutions of Guinea-Bissau.
We celebrate this month the 10th anniversary of the self-determination referendum, and we take this occasion to pay a heartfelt tribute to the East-Timorese people. This was the corollary of the affirmation Timor-Leste's identity and of its admirable will of peace and development in a sovereign nation.
Guinea-Bissau and Timor-Leste are two countries that show the growing activity of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) in the promotion of peace, democracy, human rights, political stability, and social and economic development.
This Organization, which Portugal currently presides, has as one of its fundamental pillars the promotion of the Portuguese Language - one of the five most spoken languages in the world, vehicle of communication of over 250 million people, connecting States and peoples in all corners of the world. Therefore, it is ever more pressing and fair that Portuguese becomes an official language or a working language in international organizations.
Portugal also assumes the pro tempore Presidency of the Ibero-American Conference, and its summit will take place this year in Estoril, under the theme of innovation and knowledge.
In this regard, I underline that, as Presidency of CPLP and the Ibero-American Conference, Portugal has supported the participation and the involvement of emerging economies and developing countries, though regional institutions, in the debate over the reform of the international financial system.
Regarding the situation in Honduras, we call on the reestablishment of the democratic and constitutional legality and we recall the inviolability of the diplomatic mission of Brazil, in the light of the principles of the Viena Convention.
CPLP and the Ibero-American Conference are true paradigms of intercontinental cooperation, based in a communion of cultures and values. We also consider this to be the spirit that is in the essence of the Alliance of Civilizations. Thus, it is with great satisfaction that we witness the the enormous progress in the work of the Alliance, and thatin 2010 we shall participate in the II Forum of the Alliance, in Brazil - an event in which CPLP will have a special role. I take this occasion to congratulate the High-Representative of the Secretary-General for its valuable work.
Portugal is proud to have been within the first signatories of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, which has just opened for signature. We call on all United Nations member States to do so as well, so that this new international instrument of human rights may enter into force and speed up the implementation of all human rights for every human being.
Equally fundamental in the defense and promotion of human dignity is the continuous action of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as well as the recent nomination of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children. In both cases I would like to highlight the committed and effective way in which they have assumed their responsibilities.
Mr. President, Terrorism and proliferation of nuclear weapons are the biggest challenges to international peace and security. In combating these threats it is essential to implement the respective international regimes and to continue to invest in international cooperation, in particular in the framework of the United Nations. All States that signed the Non-proliferation Nuclear Treaty must honor their obligations, without reservations.
Regarding the maintenance of international peace and security, we have never demanded so much from the United Nations. If peacekeeping operations are to have the deserved outcome, clear, credible and achievable mandates are absolutely necessary. It is also necessary the engagement of all member States through personnel contribution.
Portugal assumed its share, with both financial and operational contributions. More than twenty thousand members of Portuguese Armed Forces and three thousand from the Portuguese Police forces participated so far in peacekeeping operations. Today we have peacekeepers in Timor-Leste, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Chad.
One of the main challenges to peace and security is the Middle East Peace Process. Portugal reiterates its support to a two state solution, with the creation of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian State, living side-by-side in peace and security with the State of Israel.
But to attain this objective it is paramount that Palestine disposes of a territory that enables its existence as a state.
In this context, Portugal will continue to support all efforts, namely those of Egypt and USA, having in mind the return to the negotiation process in accordance with the Security Council Resolution 1860 and in accordance with the principles contained in the various peace initiatives, namely the Arab Peace Initiative. We live days of opportunity, and it is fundamental that the - every day more united - opinion of the international community be fully listened by the parties.
In Iraq and in Afghanistan, we welcome the progress achieved in the last years, but we recognize the need for a continuous commitment of the international community. I express here the guaranty that Portugal will continue to assume its share.
Mr. President, Climate change, financial and economic crisis, sustainable development, human rights, threats to the international peace and security... To face such a vast array of global challenges, there is no more appropriate strategic agent than United Nations to transmit our collective response.
Today, more than ever, the collective concern reflects the national concern of each of us.
Today, more than ever, I underwrite Dag Hammarskjorld's vision of a United Nations as "a dynamic instrument to develop means of executive action" not solely limited to being "a machinery of static conferences for the resolution of conflicts of interests and ideologies".
To assure that the multilateralism we hereby profess be truly effective; To assure that the primacy of the United Nations in international politics and the respect for International Law is not merely rhetoric; To assure that this Organization is, increasingly more, the dynamic instrument Dag Hammarskjold glimmered; We must go further ahead in the reform of the United Nations. We must seek in this General Assembly a broad consensus that will allow what we all know to be necessary: reform the Security Council.
In doing so we should ask ourselves:
- Is a Security Council without Brazil and India as permanent members, and where Africa is not represented with that status, a truly representative Council?
- Is it coherent to defend a more efficient and transparent Organization and to have a Security Council without a reform of its working methods? Let us not rest with a discussion of a better Organization. Let us build together a more efficient, transparent and representative United Nations.
- - Portugal is, since 2000, candidate as non-permanent member of the Security Council for the biennium 2011-12.
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