2022 Speech - Guatemala
| Session Number | 77 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2022 |
| Country | Guatemala |
| Country Code | GTM |
| Speech |
I congratulate you, Mr. President, on your excellent leadership and the important theme chosen for this session, which invites us to reflect at a critical time in history to address the various crises that are affecting the peaceful coexistence of humankind. We have come to think that wars lead to the society of nations that led to the establishment of the United Nations, that peace was going to be forever and that the achievements of social conquests that cost humankind so much would be forever. But, over the years, we woke up from that dream to find ourselves in a divided world, tainted and at odds. Today we need to come together to seek solutions, not cease to find them, to once again speak out and to once again discuss and debate.
But this time it cannot be once again, This time we need to look around us and take a decisive step forward. It is now or never. With the same will with which we addressed the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic less than two years ago, with that same momentum, we have worked to overcome its effects and the consequence of other global events that have shown how interdependent we are as human beings. The threat of COVID-19 remains, but not to the extent of the critical phase of the pandemic, when many countries faced serious problems by not having equitable access to the global vaccines market. Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved. However, in many cases, the hoarding of vaccines was a reality. COVID-19 showed us that there are situations and threats that do not recognize borders or groups, that all States in the world are vulnerable and that we are not prepared to deal with globally, and especially cooperatively. However, it is important to emphasize that we can succeed if we join forces. Striking a balance between the health of people and the economy in the midst of the pandemic and always seeking the common good is one of the great challenges we have taken on — with very good results. The Guatemalan Government adopted a countercyclical fiscal policy and a prudent monetary and credit policy that contributed to the early recovery of economic activity, with an 8 per cent growth in gross domestic product in 2021. That growth has been corroborated and highlighted by the three main credit rating agencies and other international organizations. We also face the constant threat of the effects of climate change, which are becoming more evident, dangerous and extensive every year. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, those have exceeded the damages in my country since 1998 by more than $6 billion. As we did last year, Guatemala and the rest of Central America and the Caribbean want to call attention to the ravages caused by climate change in our region. We continue to recover from the damage caused by natural disasters this year and in previous years without the industrialized world, which is the real culprit of this catastrophe, responding with solutions to what they have caused. In Guatemala we have made efforts to rehabilitate basic services, rebuild public infrastructure and recover agricultural and livestock production. We have assisted entire communities. My country is megadiverse, one of 20 countries that is home to more than 70 per cent of the planet’s biological diversity and constantly faces threats that endanger the natural heritage, not only of Guatemala but of humankind. My Government has given new impetus to forestry concessions in the department of north Peten. In January 2020, there were a total of 250,000 hectares under concession that form the Maya Biosphere Reserve, one of the main lungs of the continent and the world. Previous Administrations did not pay attention to the renewal of those forest concessions. In just two and a half years, my Administration doubled them, reaching approximately 550,000 hectares, which, in addition, benefit thousands of families, who do not pillage the forest, but rather protect it, even against fires and those who live off the forest with adequate forestry plans. The model of forest concessions in charge of communities really works. It enables local economic development and is a barrier against the impact of climate change. That has been recognized by nations and important environmental protection groups. Similarly, agricultural insurance was implemented in order to support small producers who, due to drought or flooding caused by climate change, are in danger of losing everything and must emigrate if they do. With that insurance, they recover their investment and can continue to grow their crops. More than 50,000 farmers have already been reached, and many thousands remain. With a view to meeting our climate change mitigation commitments, we are promoting the formulation of a national decarbonization policy. In addition, we updated our nationally determined contribution and are promoting important strategies that, in the medium term, will help mitigate the impact of emissions from vehicles that use fossil fuels. Proof of that is the recent approval, at the behest of the executive branch, of a law on incentives for electric mobility, which promotes the use and marketing of electric vehicles and cleaner energy. Guatemala continues to comply with its own energy policy. We estimate that, by the year 2032, more than 80 per cent of Guatemala’s electrical energy will be produced from renewable sources. In addition, the growing crisis of food and nutritional insecurity is leaving us more famine and more lives to mourn, with the indolence of countries that have more towards countries that have little or nothing. The irregular migration process is a multicausal phenomenon. People migrate in search of better opportunities and better services. The economic factor and the effects of climate change are some of the main causes. Our Government has worked on structural rather than short-term solutions, not short-term ones, which, looking to the future, is the only thing that can stop irregular migration. To that end, we enacted a series of laws that stimulate investment with the necessary legal certainty that enables job creation in order to meet the basic needs of the population, as well as a law that supports access to low-income housing. It is important to emphasize that only a comprehensive effort of that nature will prevent people from resorting to irregular migration, and thereby put their lives and scarce assets at risk. The smuggling of migrants has become a national and transnational security issue. In Guatemala we have stopped massive irregular flows of migrants, better known as caravans, coming from countries in and out of the region. That is always done in full respect for human rights. In that connection, at the initiative of the executive branch, the law against the smuggling of migrants, known as the “law of coyotaje”, was adopted. Smuggling is a transnational crime, so I once again call on parties in the region, and especially the Governments of the region — be they countries of origin, transit or destination — to work together and to adopt a common approach to irregular migration and the necessary legislation in that regard. We are facing a decisive moment. If we employ a shared approach, we will be able to reach transformative solutions to interconnected challenges, including those related to regional and transnational security. We continue with the all-out war against drug trafficking, and I call on the consumer countries, which — as I said in my statement last year (see A/76/ PV.6) — are the ones that launder the most money. Unless the financial structures of the organizations dedicated to this crime — the proceeds of drug consumption — are not weakened, it will continue to be a threat to the future of countries such as ours. State sovereignty is fundamental in bilateral and multilateral relations. No matter how big or small the countries, relations must be based on respectful treatment. Let us remember that no country, organization or multilateral entity can or should intervene in the internal affairs of other countries — but no, that is not always the case. Globally, we are facing new crises, and many of them, unfortunately, are caused willingly by humans by disrespecting the sovereignty of States. This Organization must be more active in addressing the possibility of a third confrontation of major proportions. However, the United Nations, as the guardian of international law and the centre for dialogue for the maintenance of peace and security among States, will not be able to solve the world’s problems without our commitment — the State representatives — to respect international law and resolve our differences peacefully, on the basis of dialogue and negotiation, respecting the sovereignty of each State. We are facing distressing levels of old hatreds, clear discriminatory rejection of nationalities, migrants and refugees, as well as other facts not seen since the end of the Second World War. Once again, we are witnessing scenarios of the use of force and violence of one State against another, nationalist ideological confrontations, the imposition of authoritarian views, with a clear rejection of democracy as a system, as well as massive human rights violations. In that sense, Guatemala emphatically joins the global clamour for the cessation of the war in Ukraine and the threats against the sovereignty of Taiwan and Israel. We cannot allow the conflict in Ukraine to continue. I went to Ukraine and I know it to be true — this conflict must stop now. We must not allow this situation to be repeated in any country. As President of Guatemala, I am the only Latin American Head of State to have visited Ukraine during this conflict. I saw the horrors of war, and I stand in solidarity and openly express my opposition to war — there or anywhere. During the official visit, we were able to witness on the ground the precarious situation of the families of the country under attack, whose defenceless civilian population suffers the onslaught of a military force, including constant bombardment. But peace is not the absence of war. A renewed United Nations Organization is called upon to generate conditions in the world that allow for the full development and well-being of populations. As I stated recently in my speech in the city of Kyiv, I would like to refer to and pay attention to the words of the Charter of the United Nations. This Organization was created in order to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war ... to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”. The Charter further states: “And for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security”. In view of the current world scenario, we urgently need to remember those purposes and principles that gave rise to this Organization and allow for the transformation of this organ in order to have more tools and resources to overcome global challenges. Profound changes in the Security Council are urgent in order to assure the world of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the self- determination of peoples, but, above all, to guarantee peace. As a country with a pacifist vocation, Guatemala reiterates its request that the Security Council honour its responsibility without ideological bias, but, above all, that no countries can veto draft resolutions if they do not seek the authentic maintenance of peace. The project of change cannot be postponed. The foundations of the United Nations must be modified so that it has the mechanisms that will enable it to respond to the main challenges of humankind, which so desperately needs peace and development. Guatemala calls on States to make rapid progress on a proposal, led by country experts, in order to define the fundamental reforms needed for the United Nations to return to the path it lost after its establishment in 1945. The founding Charter, which came into being at the end of the Second World War and was amended on three different occasions, requires new approaches in keeping with the current times, which are difficult, but also full of opportunities. The United Nations must secure the means to reform original commitments ranging from the sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations, including nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction. While reforms to the United Nations and the Security Council are being proposed, Guatemala urges nations to respect the founding Charter of the highest world Organization. In addition to the United Nations reform initiative, supported by the majority of pacifist and democratic countries, measures must be taken in order to achieve drastic changes in key institutions of multilateralism, leaving aside ideologies that divide us and addressing the interconnected challenges faced by the world’s population. Hunger and poverty have no ideology. We must focus on comprehensive development and provide transformative solutions to the great challenges. Guatemala, one of the founding countries of the United Nations, has demonstrated its support and is ready to collaborate with an open spirit in the efforts to transform this Organization and multilateralism related to the bastion of international cooperation so as to include within those reforms the right of Taiwan to belong to this Organization and to be recognized as a nation, because it has been denied that right by one of the permanent members on the Security Council. I want to state emphatically that peace is possible, and the commitment to its maintenance and international security is achievable. But we must voluntarily change our decisions and, as leaders, determine the direction and future of our societies. Let us seek peaceful coexistence among peoples and nations, set aside ethnic, cultural, social or religious differences and focus on what unites us. Let us be tolerant and respect different ways of thinking. Guatemala is a peaceful country. We promote respect for, and compliance with, human rights, of the right to life since conception to natural death. Today, before this Assembly, I once again reaffirm my country’s firm commitment to serve continuously in the maintenance of peace in the world. I want to reiterate that Guatemala, as a democratic country, is committed to permanently and definitively resolve before the International Court of Justice the territorial, insular and maritime dispute with Belize. We aspire to a privileged relationship with Belize for the peaceful settlement of common issues through dialogue, building diplomatic mechanisms on the basis of mutual trust in order to bring prosperity, calm and hope to our populations. Guatemala shares the same interests and challenges with its Caribbean brothers, with whom we unite in a single voice to fight against climate change and its effects. It is time to look beyond and remember the horrors of the two great wars that caused so much pain to the world. For the love of all that is sacred — it is now or never. No more fratricidal wars, no more unnecessary and unjustified conflicts, no more deaths. It is now or never. For the love of all that is sacred — let us bet on peace, let us bet on dialogue, let us bet on resolving problems as brothers do. It is now or never. Let us bet on peace. Succeeding generations and the preservation of the human race will thank us for it. Let us concern ourselves with the real battles — fighting hunger, malnutrition, confronting climate change and so many other issues that affect the human race. Instead of taking up arms, let us take action to make the world a better place to live in peace, progress, development and peaceful coexistence between human beings and nature. In these dark and difficult times, I raise my prayer for God to bless the entire world, but especially Guatemala. |