YouSaid · the spoken record

Albert Pintat

lines on the record: 38
first: 2006-09-24
most recent: 2008-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We have made the diagnosis, we are aware that the policies we have encouraged in recent decades have not fulfilled our expectations. But we still have time to rectify this and for this reason I would like to congratulate both the Secretary-General for his initiatives and the rest of the international bodies and civil society for the specific actions they are implementing around the world. Speeches, reports and fine words are necessary but we suffer from a serious inability to act. Let us not hide behind excuses. Let us take action based on the facts. The dignity of every human being obliges us to do so and humanity deserves it!”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Demographic growth on a planet that already has more than 6.7 billion inhabitants; chemical and industrial pollution; ill-adapted land use; desertification and water; the interaction of animal, vegetable and horticultural species; international trade and the movements of peoples are all destabilizing factors that are now upon us and very real. We have to address them with all the means available to us. Guaranteeing food for everyone on our planet is basic, essential and vital. Sixty-three years ago we thought that today, in the twenty-first century, this would be a fact, an outdated concept, a matter achieved, the success of our dreams. Sadly, we were wrong. Now, we need to be strong. To keep going and face up to the most pessimistic forecasts which warn us of the failure of the Millennium Development Goals.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“In the current context and in accordance with the call from world leaders, major international actors and international specialized and regional organizations, we have assisted the most affected countries through financial contributions to FAO and NGO initiatives. We also cooperate on support for agricultural trade and production in Burkina Faso, Colombia and Morocco through NGOs active in the field. For that reason, we endorse the future options being used to maintain biological diversity, sustainable forestry practices and the adaptation of new technology that can help to promote ecological balance and slow the effects of climate change.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Liberalization would also have to involve an increase in productivity and the development of human resources, basic infrastructures, access to technology and knowledge including respect for the environment. In other words, it would have to contribute to sustainable development, as indicated in the Doha Outcome Document of July 2008. The current crisis shows the vulnerability of the present system. In that regard, without ignoring hard realities, Andorra fully shares the approaches agreed in Rome in June during the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy. Since 2005, the Government of Andorra has worked on development cooperation with all of the major international bodies, vulnerable countries at their request, NGOs and civil society.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“At the same time and in order to correct the distortions that have been created in the markets, the liberalization of agricultural markets must be accompanied by measures of support for small local farmers so as to avoid the temptation of giving up production in favour of importing foreign food products. In fact, liberalization would have to be reinvented. Rather than serving as a common pattern for all countries, it would have to be applied according to the specific circumstances of each country, while the pros and cons are analysed with caution. On the other hand, the subject of agricultural subsidies has not been resolved definitively, nor has true freedom of trade, which would serve to help the 41 08-51851 countries that need it most, been established.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Consumer goods are scarce and demand exceeds supply. The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Jacques Diouf, forecasts an increase of 56 per cent in the cost of imports of cereals for the more disadvantaged countries, but he also forecasts an increase of 53 per cent for the European countries. The current crisis is closely related to the geographical distribution of productivity. Perhaps production should be increased in the places where people are suffering famine and less surplus sent from countries with more resources, since it contributes to increasing the dependency of the poor countries. In that respect, we agree with the decision of the World Bank to double its loans for agriculture to Africa, with a provision of $800 million for 2009.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“If we take into account that there are 1.4 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day, there are far too many people living in the world today in extremely precarious conditions, with no access to schools, potable water or basic health care and hygiene. Some experts say that the food crisis is the result of the failure of development policies that were adopted to encourage economic and social progress in countries classified as poor. Those countries often have substantial natural resources and could produce basic products, such as cereals, but reality is obstinate and the fact is that two thirds of developing countries are net importers of food products. Alfred Sauvy, the economist and sociologist, said that the milestone of the economy is not labour but consumption. That is the source of one of the principal current problems.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“However, reality in its crudest aspect has put us through disturbances in recent months caused by people who are suffering famine in various countries. On Tuesday, the President reminded us in his opening speech of the perils of our current situation. We face a global financial crisis, a global energy crisis, a global food crisis and climate change. Faced with this situation, it is inevitable that we ask ourselves the questions: What did we do wrong? What is it that does not work? The prices of basic food products have risen by 50 per cent in one year, and a group of United Nations experts has determined that the price of goods around the world has risen by 30 per cent since January 2008.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“In 2008, well into the twenty-first century, of the 2.5 billion poor people living in the countries of the South, 950 million live in conditions of extreme poverty. The forecasts of the International Fund for Agricultural Development indicate that, by 2025, the world will have 2 billion more people living in conditions of extreme poverty. In one year, the world has been confronted, as it was in the last century, by mass movements of populations driven by hunger. The Governments of the wealthiest countries, international agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) stand helpless before the worsening malnutrition and social tensions that have resulted. The Secretary-General declared in his 2007 report on the Millennium Development Goals that the world does not want more promises.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
““I am committed to truth, not to what is established,” said Gandhi. The Millennium Development Goals, which seek between now and 2015 to eradicate extreme poverty, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce infant mortality, fight the spread of such diseases as HIV/AIDS and malaria, and guarantee environmental sustainability, are a challenge to us all, individually and collectively. Each human being is unique and respect for others must be both universal and imperative. The world is paradoxical. We meet here during these weeks to speak of the food crisis and famine in the world, and we do so 63 years after having set in motion actions and structures within the framework of the United Nations to eradicate such phenomena.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“With our long and, at the same time, humble experience, we could even become a neutral area, impartial and isolated from partisan interests, in the case of any conflict in need of resolution. We must be realistic, but this must not stop us. We must advance with modest but continuous reforms, tangible and firm reforms that lead us to a better future.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The ideals of the fathers of the Charter of the United Nations were founded on a respect for individuals, on liberty and on access to knowledge and education to achieve welfare and peace around the world. Only through an energetic renewal of those ideals can we ensure that the balance on planet Earth improves perceptibly and continues to do so year by year. Only with the unity, understanding and cooperation of all nations can we obtain results. The small size of Andorra has not prevented us from maintaining good neighbourly relationships with France and Spain for more than seven centuries. We are fully concerned and involved with the objectives of the United Nations.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The second is that to avoid all the thoroughly unnecessary deaths caused by them will not affect the population explosion. The third is that poor countries, as has already been shown and in refutation of some voices deliberately ignorant of their prejudices, are capable of installing efficient public health programmes when they receive adequate aid. As a result of the terror and the material and moral misery suffered during the Second World War, countries, peoples and their representatives came to an agreement, saying “enough” and creating organizations such as the United Nations to regulate and mediate conflict. They did this with a sense of generosity, a breadth of purpose and a boldness that today must inspire our action even more.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“I call upon everyone to maintain the pace and to press the foot down a little harder on the accelerator. We all benefit from the progress that we have made. We know the enduring relationship that exists between poverty and nearly all the challenges we face: mortality rates, differences in life expectancy, ill health, injustice, intolerance, marginalization and armed conflict. Let us reject before the world and before all peoples some of the pernicious prejudices that prevent us from advancing. Permit me to recall three truths that have been defined a number of times by Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The first is that the illnesses ravaging poor countries are perfectly avoidable and can be prevented.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We praise the efforts of the General Assembly in setting up a Working Group on Security Council reform, as well as the proposals that are being studied. We fully support the model of society proposed by the United Nations — rooted in the principles of peace, solidarity, liberty, cooperation, social development and economic growth. With regard to goals, I applaud the initiative of the Millennium Development Goals. At the time of their introduction, the previous Secretary-General warned us that we needed to break with routine. He told us that we could not achieve results in a day because success would require sustained action over the 10 years envisaged for implementation. Today, before the entire Assembly, I add my full support to those words.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Nevertheless, if we are here today it is because we believe that we can improve the world — people and planet — because we are convinced that together we are able to react. Hope remains intact. Every country — whatever its size — and every director and every organization with the capacity for action has to fight to make law into the essence of vitality and to achieve open and sincere dialogue in the international arena. As Charles de Gaulle said, it takes several to deliberate, and one to act. As Al Gore told us on Monday, the world requires a global Marshall Plan, because our planet is in an emergency situation. We are delighted with the thrust and dynamism displayed by the new Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, since he took office.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“At the same time, trafficking in, and the abuse of, children and women continue despite the legal instruments with which we have equipped countries such as Andorra, where the defence of human rights and liberties is considered to be a fundamental inspiring principle. The world of the twenty-first century views armed conflicts, terrorism, violations of human rights and extremely precarious situations in many areas with something between resignation and impotence. I would refer, merely as an example, to the extreme situation that has affected the population of Darfur for many years. We should not be surprised that, faced with all those hard realities, international institutions like ours are suffering serious crises of discredit and significant erosion.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“On the contrary, we have had to add new ills, such as the radicalization of fundamentalism or the degradation of the environment, and increasingly frequent natural disasters. Earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, tornadoes and floods and the thawing of many of the glaciers at the two poles are vivid examples of the climatic disorder that we have to combat. To tell the truth, the planet is threatened; but I do not think that this is an accurate assertion. Those really threatened are the most vulnerable persons and countries. They are the ones who suffer from war, illness and underdevelopment. Climate change will affect all of us, but not all of us equally.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Indignation and rejection in the face of every unacceptable reality have made possible the finest achievements for the progress of humanity in a remarkable way at the United Nations and must now enable us to obtain more resources, to go faster, to have more ideas and to be even more effective. Mr. Beck (Palau), Vice-President, took the Chair. For more than six decades, the United Nations has sought to be the moral and legal force which ensures that dialogue, cooperation and solidarity take the place of oppression, weapons, famine, ignorance, misery and injustice. However, during the years of existence of the United Nations, wars, poverty and intolerance have not stopped.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The realities on which we have to concentrate are those of a world in which, according to the latest data published by UNICEF, 9.7 million children’s lives were lost in one year; a world in which human life expectancy can differ by more than 30 years; a world in which more than 39 million people are infected with the AIDS virus; and a world in which too many people are still without access to safe drinking water. That is not doomsaying on my part; it is a recognition that the advances made cannot conceal the profound shortcomings that still exist or hold back the achievement of results.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The development of global societies has become essential in the light of the positions affecting economic, social, cultural, military and political systems on a worldwide scale. There is an urgent need for conceptualization in the face of the evident poverty resulting from the sudden and profound transformations suffered by peoples, regions and countries. Successive waves of contributions of capital and human resources combine with pre-existing human substrata, creating superimposed layers that further accentuate differences. When those investments cease to be profitable, resources are redirected. That results in situations of change or crisis.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The latest data available to us on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) show a positive trend. We have made great progress in the reduction of child mortality and we have applied various measures of truly surprising simplicity that have demonstrated their effectiveness in eradicating many illnesses. And yet the inhabitants of the world — the people, flora and fauna of the planet — look at our organizations and all of us somewhat suspiciously. There is much concern. There is great uncertainty. With your permission, my words today will not be of self-complacency either for the results obtained or for the undeniable improvement in some of the ailments that undermine our dignity as people. Congratulations can give way to relaxation and can have a perversely soothing effect on our consciences.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“People and planet. They are our alpha and our omega. They are the foundation and objective of actions by bodies such as the United Nations. The Earth is blue like an orange, said the poet Paul Eluard. That is a logical statement, as our planet takes its blue colour from the sky and the oceans that protect us, and the orange colour from the fruit that nourishes us. The Earth is a sphere that moves and turns with infinite interdependence. The human attitude, nature and peoples are bound together to form a single scheme of debate, impossible to resolve separately. Every year in the General Assembly we are pleased to feel that our work is centred on the ideals of a better world in the environment of a democratic structure, dialogue, the brotherhood of cultures and financial and social interchange, supportive and prosperous between peoples.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Finally, I should like to express our gratitude to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his great work over the past 10 long and complicated years. We salute and congratulate him for all that he has done to maintain and apply the principles enshrined in the Charter. I speak for all Andorrans in expressing my esteem for him and his great efforts.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“But there is still immense hope, and this spurs us on. There is no definitive answer to the problems that our societies face, and it has been said that our lives as human beings cannot be perfected. We have a duty, however, to continually ask questions and to have the courage to overcome the problems of our age. Our ideas are the greatest advantage that we have; they are the motors of progress. For us, this means democracy, shared prosperity, tolerance, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the pursuit of freedom through the defence of fundamental human liberties. Those are the best weapons we have to fight absolutism and inequality. It is here at the United Nations that our voices should be heard and here that we should be able to defend those principles.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“In so doing we will better the lives of millions of people who, quite justifiably, feel cruelly disenfranchised from the human family. As the writer Juan Goytisolo put it, “The world provides a home for those who are homeless”. The United Nations should certainly be their refuge. In line with this, Andorra stands ready to underline its commitment to the United Nations system and to development as a whole. Two days ago here in New York, we signed an agreement with UNICEF to provide €1 million in financing over a five-year period to help children suffering from HIV/AIDS in Cameroon. Civil society in our small country is also playing its part; the Andorran National Committee for UNICEF will contribute €500,000 to this project over the same period. It is true that our world today is a dangerous place.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We are currently witnessing mass migration from the poorest parts of the world to the richer; all too often, the journey is tragically cut short 11 06-53005 on the high seas. This weighs heavily on our conscience. Erecting barriers to prevent this process will never work: their desperation is too great. Millions of human beings are orphaned from their homelands — we should have solutions to offer them. There is no place where this issue is more pressing than sub- Saharan Africa. The high risk of death does not impede people from attempting to reach the shores of Europe, simply because their lives at home have become unbearable. We require a concerted and global plan for migration. This can be achieved only if we act together through the United Nations to provide the human and material resources necessary to step-up to the challenge.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Multilateralism, which we as a group embody in this Hall, is the path that will lead to many of the solutions. The plight of the unfortunate should not fall on deaf ears. We should join together to solidify democratic institutions and processes, and in so doing fight against poverty, war, disease, illiteracy and corruption. That should be our common cause. It is only through this joint effort that we will be able to raise our approach to a collectively ethical and morally correct level. When people do not have enough to eat and when they are deprived of essential freedoms and justice, there is only one option left open to them: to seek a better life by whatever means they can, leaving behind their native lands.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Today’s world is heterogeneous, imperfect and lacking in a common vision; there are no easy solutions, and questions cannot be viewed in monochrome. The Millennium goals that we debated here with such hope are in danger of receding into distant memory. Is this the fault of the United Nations? Let us not turn our backs on the masses, who are tired of suffering, and who see the United Nations as being their only hope. We must allow their voices to be heard and welcome them into the global community. The time has come for us to act on our promises. We must recognize that collectively we are the United Nations. We represent humanity as a whole. We are betraying it if we do not seek to make the United Nations a more robust and efficient machine. If we continue blindly, caring only for our national self- interest, we betray its trust.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“In the Middle East, we recognize the need for Israel’s security, as we recognize the need for Palestine to become a viable State. Andorra is located in a part of the world which has always been a place where different cultures have met and lived in shared prosperity: the Mediterranean. Today, this has become a new frontier full of tension. As Europeans, we must seek to revitalize the area, recalling its ancient history as a home to many civilizations and their corresponding values — from Rome to Byzantium and from Athens to Tangiers. Andorra, like many small countries, long relied on its isolation for its survival. But in our global world, mountains can no longer protect us. International concerns press upon us.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The genius of tolerance lies in the ability to listen — to truly listen and attempt to understand. To listen and learn is not an act of weakness. Indeed, it is the extremist’s display of strength or desire for revenge that represents a fatal weakness. Again and again, in the course of history, we see that a mighty spirit precedes a fall. Recently we have stood by and witnessed in dismay the catastrophic results that ensue from the deployment of military might against determined guerrilla warfare. Most of today’s ills have their roots in old and unresolved problems, but the rhetoric of violence which surrounds us polarizes us even further, undermines the possibility of finding a lasting solution and widens the lines of fracture. We have to think of ourselves as a single global community where we are all interdependent.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“But our modern-day understanding of tolerance, in which people of all religions can live together, required centuries. Curiously, this version of history has been forgotten by those who see secularism as being opposed to belief. The notion of secularism has never been oppositional to religion but rather denotes a mentality willing to contemplate uncertainty and imperfect knowledge. It does not confuse questions of faith with scientific questions or seek to disarm the individual’s liberty of conscience. Secularism, therefore, recognizes the shared fallibility of the human race. Religious faith can be taught, but it cannot be imposed. It cannot lead to violence and has to coexist with the secular state. Our common humanity requires us to respect each other through our diversity.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“On the contrary, one might cite the twelfth- century expulsion of the Jews from England or recall 06-53005 10 the forced conversion of Muslims after the fall of Granada in 1492, the Inquisition, or the persecution of the Protestant Huguenots who fled France during the sixteenth century. Yet in the East — in Jerusalem or Tehran, for example — Muslims, Jews and Christians coexisted into the early twentieth century. Those great cosmopolitan centres flourished in an atmosphere of genuine religious tolerance. The original meaning of the term secular described those religious orders that looked outwards to the world at large. In the sixteenth century a new notion of tolerance signified a willingness to accept different Protestant sects in towns and cities in Northern Europe.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“It obfuscates the growing division between rich and poor that transcends countries, nations, and continents. It neglects the fact that most people on this planet seek only that which will permit them to live in a dignified manner and be happy in their lives. Indeed, many States, especially those whose boundaries reflect a legacy of colonialism, are constituted without regard to the religious or ethnic backgrounds of their inhabitants. The civil wars that are currently tearing apart some countries are but one example of the enormous difficulties presented by the artificial construction of such States. We must not forget that, historically, the West has never been a good example in terms of religious tolerance.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“As a forum for rational discourse committed to reaching global understanding, its work is absolutely necessary. This should be the forum in which we try to understand and correctly interpret the crossroads at which we find ourselves. The United Nations signifies the world’s moral conscience — the principle of equality and solidarity and the protection of human rights and human dignity. It marks the path to development. Violence and the rise of religious extremism have roiled the globe. We all are prey to the unease felt over the future of the secular State. In one sense, however, the very idea of the nation-State lies at the heart of many of our problems. It encourages us to believe in the rhetoric of “us” against “them”, in exclusive identities and in outdated ethnocentric discourse.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We survived the French Revolution, the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. History has taught us that power demands restraint. And our own experiences have taught us — and the past few weeks have reinforced this costly lesson — that displays of military might, intended to shock and awe, cannot, by themselves, bring about the desired result. Is it not paradoxical that at this moment, when the need for civilized discussion between people is greater than ever, this venerable institution is deemed inconsequential? We need, of course, to continue the process of its reform. As an idea, however, this place embodies all of our hopes. As a humanitarian agency with a host of vital social programmes, the United Nations does inestimable work.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The greatest achievements in the West were the result of a complex process of cultural exchange between East and West. The free trade of ideas fostered innovation and advances in understanding. We must therefore reject this notion of a mentality that conceives an essential clash between “us” and “them”. I believe that we are living through a turbulent and bloody struggle between, on the one hand, the forces of extremism, present in both the East and the West, and, on the other hand, secular tolerance, also fortunately manifested everywhere on Earth. Andorra is an old country whose borders have remained unchanged since 1278. Our history is one of survival. We were in existence when the Cathars fled the might of the first Crusade to seek refuge in our mountain pastures.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“A decade ago, it was said that with the end of the cold war we had reached the “end of history.” Over the years, this view has been largely discredited. Much of the world, especially the West, paid scant attention to the sense of injustice shared by many peoples and communities around the world. What we have witnessed, with a mixture of horror, sympathy and unease over the last 10 years, has been the return of history. The fall of the Twin Towers, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon and the terrorist attacks in London and Madrid have shaken the foundations of the secular State. These events have been said to represent a “clash of civilizations,” but I reject the reductive, indeed, misleading division between North and South, East and West, and Christians and Muslims.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)