YouSaid · the spoken record

Néstor Carlos Kirchner,

lines on the record: 66
first: 2003-09-24
most recent: 2007-09-24
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

“In this, my last message to the General Assembly as the President of the people of Argentina, I wish to reaffirm our profound conviction that it is only through democracy, accompanied by freedom, social justice and peace, that man can realize his full potential. This Assembly of the peoples has a bounden duty to help ensure that that will come to pass.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The time has come for the United Kingdom to shoulder its responsibility and put an end to an anachronism: the illegal occupation for clearly colonial purposes of territory belonging to another State. My Government vigorously rejects the British claim on the establishment of maritime areas surrounding the archipelagos. In particular, it rejects the recently divulged intention of the United Kingdom to make a submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf — established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — relative to the outer limits of the continental shelf of these Argentine territories.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It urged the two Governments to negotiate, as soon as possible, a peaceful, just and lasting solution to the dispute, taking into account the relevant resolutions of United Nations bodies and the interests of the people of the islands. The ongoing and unrenounceable objective of regaining the full exercise of Argentine sovereignty over this part of our territory and the permanent readiness of my country to resume negotiations aimed at finding a solution to the dispute have been reflected in our national Constitution. It is incomprehensible to us that the United Kingdom should be unwilling to negotiate this matter, thereby violating the provisions of General Assembly resolution 2065 (XX) and numerous similar resolutions.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We would also mention that 2007 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1982 conflict in the South Atlantic, a conflict unleashed by the military dictatorship without the backing of the Argentine people, who had always endeavoured to find a peaceful solution to its legitimate sovereignty claim. The General Assembly has dealt with this matter on many occasions, both prior to and since 1982. Starting in 1965, when the Assembly adopted resolution 2065 (XX), the Organization has recognized, year after year, the existence of a sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom relating to the question of the Malvinas Islands.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We trust that the ongoing process of consultations will be successful so that the Council can be adapted to today’s world. Before concluding I wish to raise a matter of continuing importance to the Argentine Republic: the question of the Malvinas Islands, which include South Georgia, South Sandwich and the maritime areas surrounding those islands. This year, 174 years will have passed since the British began to occupy this part of Argentine national territory. Ever since that act of force in 1833, my country has protested against this illegal occupation and has demanded that the full exercise of its sovereignty be restored.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It should come as no surprise, then, that, given the situation, there are those who question the legitimacy of pursuing unilateral advocacy for non-proliferation while solemn commitments in the area of disarmament are ignored. Conventional weapons are responsible for the deaths of millions of people around the world. Our country has given a high priority to initiatives associated with the conclusion of an arms trade treaty. Domestically, we have initiated programmes for the voluntary handover of firearms, the initial results of which have been encouraging. The reform of the Security Council is still pending. We are hoping for a reform that will make this central body more responsible, democratically representative and dynamic. It will not, however, achieve this objective by creating new privileged categories.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Argentina develops, consumes and exports nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in the framework of the strictest respect for the norms enshrined in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the non-proliferation regime in its broadest sense. Efforts to prevent proliferation are ethically and legally correlated to progress on disarmament. Indeed, the legal instruments on which the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction is based specifically on the firm commitment not to develop new weapons of terror and destruction in the understanding that those who possess such weapons will proceed to their gradual and effective elimination. In recent years, we have seen disarmament commitments permanently eroded. Nuclear arsenals remain disproportionately large and nuclear disarmament agreements are in stasis.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Respect for the memory of our 102 victims requires justice to be carried out. We request the Islamic Republic of Iran to cooperate in the implementation of the norms of international law to allow us to come to nothing more, but nothing less than the truth. Nations big and small, rich and poor, all throughout the world will be highly vulnerable if we fail to grasp that action against terrorism requires urgent multilateral, intelligent and sustained action firmly anchored in legitimacy, respect for individual rights, proportional response and respect for international public opinion. Efforts to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction can count on the firm support and full participation of the Argentine Republic. My country is known for the active role it plays in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“In that context, we hope that the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the context of applicable international law, will accept and respect Argentina’s legal jurisdiction and cooperate effectively with Argentine judges to bring to justice those involved in these events. In that respect, I wish to say here, at United Nations Headquarters and before all the countries of the world, that, unfortunately, the Islamic Republic of Iran has to date failed to offer the required cooperation with the Argentine justice system to resolve those issues. We call on the Secretary-General and on all the nations of the world to persuade the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow the judicial process to move forward. We do so with the sole aim of clarifying the facts and bringing those responsible to justice.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Despite the difficulties that have arisen through the passage of time, given that those attacks took place 13 and 15 years ago, respectively, and the subsequent cover-ups, our interest and the justice system continue to seek the truth, and we keep our memory of the horror alive so that it will not recur. In November last year, the Argentine justice system called for international cooperation in the apprehension of nine people suspected of having initiated and planned the 18 July 1994 attack on AMIA, and the Executive Committee of INTERPOL unanimously recommended the apprehension of six Iranian citizens and one Lebanese involved in the affair. We call here for that recommendation to be ratified during the November session of the INTERPOL General Assembly.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We cannot tolerate the actions of those responsible for terrorism or of those who defend, finance or protect terrorists, be they individuals or countries. Argentina has twice suffered terrorist attacks. The Israeli embassy was attacked in 1992 and the AMIA headquarters in 1994. Some 102 members of our community, some of whose relatives are here with us today, lost their lives. Those victims, united by terror to those of this city, those of Madrid, those of London, those of Bali, those of Istanbul and those of many other places, impose upon us the moral mandate to respect their memories and to commit all our energies to hunting down, finding and prosecuting those responsible.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The invasion of Iraq, which we rejected at the time it occurred, is the tragic and painful proof of the truth of our position. The Security Council and the nations of the Quartet have the heavy responsibility of accompanying and, if possible, guiding a peace process that can succeed with courage and great perseverance. The Argentine Republic continues, year after year, tirelessly to condemn the serious threat of terrorism throughout the world. We believe that all acts of terror are criminal and unjustifiable and that no argument can justify them. Just as no nation of the world is beyond their reach, the response must be a joint effort of all nations, and especially this Organization, to stop and eliminate this scourge.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The issue of climate change should be of concern to all Governments, because no corner of the planet is unaffected by changes that have been identified as due to human activity. The Secretary-General’s convening of yesterday’s High-level Meeting was a timely manifestation of the urgent need to strengthen international cooperation as an effective and adequate response to protect the environment and prevent the unacceptable exportation of pollutants to the developing countries. One after the other, various diplomatic efforts to halt the violence in the Middle East once and for all have failed, but we cannot merely throw up our hands. No military solution will lead to peace and the tranquillity that all the peoples of the region so desperately call for.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“My Government has endorsed instruments of great importance, including the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by this Assembly on 20 December 2006, which we signed in Paris on 6 February. That instrument, along with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, gives continuity and concrete form to a policy that ascribes a central role to the promotion of human rights. In our public policy, we now focus on environmental protection, but we know that there will be no viable solution without cooperation among all the countries of the world, the industrialized countries in particular, because the nature of the problem is of a global scale.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Argentina, the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in the monumental dignity of their struggle, and the Argentine people have personally suffered under the inefficiency of a broken multilateral human rights system. Their sole comfort were the very precious humanitarian gestures of individuals, organizations and countries. While people were being kidnapped, tortured and killed in my country, the mechanisms established precisely to condemn and prevent such horrors remained silent. It is in their memory, so that this will never happen again, that we support the new Human Rights Council and hope that it will live up to the expectations of the international community.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We have begun bringing to justice those guilty of serious human rights violators. Those who imagined themselves having escaped with impunity are fiercely resisting justice and, in an attempt to intimidate witnesses, have caused the disappearance of one witness, Julio Lopez. They have thereby sent a dark message to a society that is seeking the truth about the crimes against humanity which they committed, and that condemns such acts. Unconditional respect for human rights is our new national paradigm. In the past, we were known throughout the world for violations of those rights; today, as we strive to find the truth and to punish the guilty, we also seek to defend those rights worldwide.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We therefore participate actively in multilateral economic negotiations with the firm goal of achieving equity in the norms that govern world trade and of reversing the discrimination erected against our main products through tariff barriers and other trade-distorting instruments imposed by the developed countries. Argentina will be present in all multilateral forums, where we will participate to ensure more equitable and democratic rules. Multilateralism is the most effective instrument for winning the battle against hunger, poverty, exclusion and environmental degradation. Everything I have said here is both cause and consequence of institutional stability and respect for the rule of law. The three pillars of the Argentine State are making decisions to combat impunity and preserve memory, truth, and justice.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“In this context of steady recovery, Argentina’s foreign policy is being strengthened and expanded, with a clear and decisive commitment to the national interest. Regional integration is a priority. Over the past two decades, through the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), Argentina has strengthened its commercial ties with the countries of the region. But its trade relations go far beyond the region. In that sense, multilateral negotiations within the World Trade Organization are of particular importance because the liberalization of our agricultural sector — in which our country has clear competitive advantages — depends on them, as does the adequate flexibility we need to carry out our industrial policies. More equitable and fairer rules in international trade are of great importance to Argentina.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Of course, education is an essential element for renewing the social and moral fabric of the nation, even though the time horizon for its effects to be felt is longer than those of other public policies. In order to remedy the tragic situation that signalled the breakdown of society and the failure on the part of the State to protect those who were most vulnerable, a new law on national education was passed. It will again focus on ensuring equality of opportunity through guaranteed access to a quality education throughout the territory that is linked to the labour market and includes excellent training for teachers. Under the new law, a deadline of 2010 has been set, by which time 6 per cent of the gross national product will be used to finance education.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We do not regret those policies, and today we can state that the true solution to the serious social problems affecting our country, and many others around the world, lies in providing jobs, health care and education. In the area of health, Argentina has launched a national policy that includes prescriptions for generic drugs and the provision of essential medications free of charge. It also strengthens maternity and child programmes and everything that relates to primary health care, in line with the goals of equity and protection. This has enabled us to compensate in part for the disastrous state of the public health sector a short time ago.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The economic indicators posted by our country today would have been impossible were it not for the complementarity of action between the State and the private sector. Our sales to all destinations have doubled over the past four years, with a 16 per cent annual growth rate. Investments have improved substantially: gross domestic fixed investment has increased for the past 17 consecutive quarters; the ratio of investment to GDP is between 20 and 23 per cent — in stark contrast to the level of 2002 when it was hardly more than 11 per cent. When faced with that crisis almost five years ago, we felt compelled to maintain essential assistance policies for the most vulnerable segments of our population.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We are thinking, not of economic growth as defined by economic experts or historians, but of growth that has a strong social component and an emphasis on equity, where citizens are the focus of the results. Whereas one fourth of the labour force experienced the humiliation of being unemployed, unemployment has been reduced to 7.8 per cent since we have taken office. We are speaking, not about just any sort of work, but about appropriate and decent work of the kind we advocated at the most recent summit meeting of the Americas, which was held in our country. Thanks to a productive policy that generates added value and, in addition, appeals to private enterprises to show social responsibility, we are reindustrializing Argentina.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We serve as a reminder of the unreliability of models that claim to be universally valid and the revindication of the right of countries to choose their own path, benefiting from international experience while prioritizing their national interests and circumstances above any other interest. Our case provides proof that the international economic architecture must be reformed, in particular that of IMF. The Fund is an exponent of an old world order that is no longer valid. Our case demonstrates the need for change in the multilateral financial institutions so that they can cooperate in the development of the less-well-endowed nations and help to fight poverty and generate true options for progress.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Faced with the incredulous criticism of the promoters of orthodox prescriptions, Argentina, thanks to cautious monetary policies, disciplined public expenditures and a healthy budget surplus that enabled it to face or mitigate potential foreign crises, has reduced the debt and registered an annual growth rate of 9 per cent during the past five years. This was the strongest uninterrupted economic expansion of any in the past 100 years. Today we represent the empirical proof that there is life after the Fund and also the certitude that other paths can lead to development and integration.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“For the first time, Argentina sent off its own children into an unprecedented economic exile. Today the Argentine State has won its autonomy and itself administers the variables of its macroeconomy as best it can in the current international environment. It pursues a sound, disciplined and predictable economic policy within a stable and democratic framework. Our capacity for revitalization has allowed us, even without receiving funding, to begin cancelling our net debt with international organizations. We have even paid off in advance all of our debt with the IMF — an IMF that supported and promoted Governments that were self-supporting, adjusting and patching up their budgets, but at the cost of increasing the poverty of their people, promoting deindustrialization and irresponsibly plunging the country into debt.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Argentina — a developing country which once demonstrated that it is truly possible to climb the social ladder; a country of immigrants where workers once succeeded in sending their children to university; a country once without illiteracy and having almost banished child mortality — had been reduced to a country of workers demoralized by unemployment, children begging in the streets instead of going to school, and the elderly living off miniscule pensions and becoming dependent on their children and grandchildren. Our country’s coffers had been emptied owing to the rigid application of the rules of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As a corollary, there was violence in the streets, and Argentina experienced an institutional crisis, with presidents lasting only days.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“They help to focus the Government’s activities and are reflected in the decisions taken by the Argentine Republic at the international level. We firmly support the construction of more just and equitable societies that distribute more equitably the benefits of economic growth. We know that each country must have the right to seek out its own development model, without external pressure. The past few years have been very testing for us. Considerable efforts have been made to rescue a nation that barely five years ago was in the throes of an unprecedented social and economic crisis. At the time, many people thought that recovery might be impossible. But day by day, with a great deal of effort and humility, we revived production in a country burdened by a foreign debt that threatened our future with its conditions and constraints.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“For each individual country, and for the world as a whole, peace will be possible only if we promote equality and work to combat poverty and marginalization. The world cannot and must not be a place where violations of human rights are everywhere. Peaceful coexistence is strengthened and maintained through true solidarity between nations based upon a concept of humanity that goes beyond the purely military or the predominantly unilateral. Our international policy is based on the values of representative democracy, sovereignty of the people, respect for fundamental human rights, and the active upholding of international peace and security. Those principles are shared by the vast majority of the Argentine people.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Allow me at the outset to express my sincerest congratulations to Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty- second session. Argentina welcomes the new Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and expresses its support for his efforts at the head of the United Nations. As in previous years, we have come to the General Assembly with the aim of revitalizing this world body and with the firm belief that this will ensure the effectiveness of international law in settling disputes, thus successfully dealing with any threats to peace. The world is facing problems. The only hope we have of resolving them lies in respect for multilateralism, support for local customs, observance of international norms and conventions by all countries, and, of course, the full realization of human rights.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“In this context, the United Nations has a fundamental role to play in ensuring greater understanding among nations with a view to creating a safe, peaceful and fairer world in the years to come.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Nonetheless, I would like to reaffirm once again my country’s readiness to engage in constructive dialogue with the United Kingdom. We call upon the United Kingdom to promptly heed the request of the international community to resume negotiations. In conclusion, we are firmly convinced that the basis exists for international cooperation that can help the world move towards peace. The tensions and difficulties besetting humanity must not prevent us from understanding the extent to which the authoritarian notion that military might can provide unilateral solutions to conflicts and threats is starting to recede. That mistaken belief has led only to failure and great suffering. Only multilateral solutions, reached through the arduous process of negotiation, despite their limitations, can move us forward.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“In conclusion, I wish to recall that the question of the Malvinas Islands — which includes the Malvinas, the South Georgias, the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime area — has been under consideration by the United Nations since 1965. The General Assembly and its Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization have defined this as a special case that differs from traditional colonial situations in that it involves a sovereignty dispute that must be resolved through bilateral negotiations between my country and the United Kingdom, in accordance with the provisions of resolution 2065 (XX) and other relevant resolutions. We must stress that the Government of the United Kingdom persists in ignoring those General Assembly resolutions.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“In our view, beyond the progress achieved in the transition, the steady support and economic assistance of the international community will continue to be critical in the areas of security, the strengthening of institutions, the fostering of political dialogue, the protection of human rights, social inclusion, the promotion of the rule of law, the creation of administrative capacity and, above all, the promotion of economic and social development through concrete contributions. We reiterate here our will to achieve peaceful nuclear development under the verification of international organizations. Argentina’s commitment to disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, our adherence to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and our long- standing practice in the field are known to all.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Our countries wish to receive investments and present profitable opportunities in the energy, transportation and infrastructure fields, and even in sensitive sectors. Therein lies a strong foundation for international collaboration, but we do not want investors to undertake activities in our countries that are prohibited in the industrialized countries just so that they can improve the profits of shareholders by creating the illusion of an allegedly less expensive product by raising the costs of environmental pollution, deteriorating health conditions and lowered life expectancy. On a different subject, we attach high importance to our participation, together with other countries of the region, in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“In developing their industries, the more industrialized countries have profited from a true environmental subsidy from the rest of the countries which today compromise, in their relative backwardness, a true world environmental reserve. That is why we cannot accept that those countries that have achieved greater development — often at the expense of the degradation of the environment and by producing a severe global effect evident in climate change — should seek to transfer to us the more contaminating part of their industrial processes. There can be no reliable solutions without the concerted action of all countries of the world, insofar as the nature of the problem is of a global scale. It is unacceptable for the claims of the developing States to go unnoticed. It is imperative to take the path of solutions.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“It is imperative, within the current globalization process — from which developing countries must profit — to reach a successful and balanced result fully consistent with the mandate of the Doha Declaration. Thus, we reaffirm the need to reach a satisfactory result in agriculture in this WTO round, including a substantial reduction in domestic subsidies, the elimination of export subsidies and ample access to the markets of developed countries. We are increasingly concerned to see the deterioration of the global environment. We affirm that there can be no double standards. The environment must be protected in developed and in developing countries, in rich countries and in poor, in the countries 7 06-52885 of the North and of the South, in the central and in the peripheral countries.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“That is why we support, together with most countries, the reform of the international financial architecture to make it more effectual in assisting the progress of nations with fewer resources. In noting the reluctance of international financial organizations to effect any real change in their policies, we feel it necessary to endorse such change and to consider the creation of new international financial instruments that would allow us to fund development projects to fight poverty and hunger in the world and generate true options for progress. Argentina is distressed to note the stagnation in the negotiations of the Doha Round for the development of the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We cannot but point out that these achievements have not been supported by the International Monetary Fund, which has denied us any kind of aid, and, it must be said, that they are in many cases the result of ignoring or even contradicting its recommendations and conditionalities. We have sufficient empirical proof of the failure of international financial organizations in the promotion of development in less developed countries. In many cases, their conditionalities have actually had the opposite effect, hindering development. The world has changed and those organizations have not. They still insist on jeopardizing advancement with their misguided interference.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Decent work, social inclusion, national production, internal consumption and sustained growth have allowed us to fulfil the goals of the Millennium Declaration, although there is still a long way to go to recover from the hell into which we had fallen. We seek the integral sustainability of that process, not only in its macroeconomic aspects, but also guaranteeing social equity and a fairer distribution of income through the reduction of poverty and unemployment. In implementing a national education plan with a strong federal emphasis that highlights the challenge of improving the quality of education, ensures the growing funding of the public sector, and interacts with the private sector, we seek also to achieve its strategic sustainability.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“That includes uninterrupted growth at rates of between 8 and 9 per cent; the growing participation of investment in the gross domestic product; record local savings rates; the resurrection of local industry; a fiscal surplus at historic levels; a clear expansion of our industrial sales to the world; the systematic decrease of local and external public debt; the preventive accumulation of reserves; lesser external exposure; a marked drop in unemployment; a strengthening of the income of wage earners and retirees; and a significant fall of poverty and destitution levels. With a prudent monetary policy, an orderly fiscal policy, a fiscal and commercial surplus, and a responsible management of indebtedness, we are increasingly reducing the vulnerability and uncertainty that characterized the Argentine economy in the past.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We not only aspire to generate sustainable growth; we also want it to reach everyone. There must be harmonized growth that translates into a balanced income distribution, because we know that what is needed is not development for a mere few, but the development of the whole country. In the region and in the Common Market of the South, we want an efficient instrument to address poverty and exclusion; we want the common good to prevail over sectarian interests and to overcome stagnation and the technology gap; and we want to define a sustainable and productive development model that valorizes our competitive advantages and fosters our vast wealth in human and material resources. The economic situation of the Republic is very different from what it was when our Administration began. We are achieving true structural change.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We need to address the causes at the heart of the crisis, avoid the disproportionate use of force, and understand that only negotiated political solutions can hold in the long term. Argentina will continue to support a fair solution to the Middle East problems within the framework of resolution 1701 (2006). We must understand that the world will move closer to peace only insofar as it promotes equality and struggles to eradicate poverty and exclusion. That is true both for the global system and for each country nationally. 06-52885 6 Argentina supports the building of societies that are fairer, more equitable and with a better distribution of the benefits of economic growth. We also believe that each country has the right to search for its own development model with no external conditionalities.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Peace is built and maintained by understanding the true concept of solidarity among nations from a wider perspective than the purely military or the predominantly unilateral. Nations big and small, rich and poor, will be markedly vulnerable if we fail to grasp that the fight against terrorism demands sustained multilateral, intelligent action firmly based in legitimacy, respect for fundamental rights, proportionality of response and the support of international public opinion. We would like to express our concern regarding the hostilities on the border between Israel and Lebanon, resulting in hundreds of casualties, severe damage to the civilian infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. The violence must stop.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We are still struggling, in spite of the time that has elapsed, to fully clarify the facts and punish the culprits. We believe that, in order to face this criminal threat successfully, we must carry out a sustained multilateral and legitimate response. Respect for human rights, international humanitarian law and refugee law is essential, as are international cooperation and legal assistance to effectively enforce the norms against terrorism. If, in facing down global terrorism, we resort to a global violation of human rights, the only winner in this fight shall be terrorism. We will advance firmly in the fight against terrorism only if we frame it within respect for local laws and international norms and conventions. No complication can be an excuse for not combating terrorism within the law.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We have among us here today a representative of an organization that was extremely involved with that issue — one of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Mrs. Marta Vázquez, who is accompanying our delegation. We hope the General Assembly will adopt that very important instrument quickly, during this session. Five years after the attacks that shocked this city and the world, we would like to firmly condemn the serious threat of global terrorism. Argentina considers all acts of terrorism against innocent civilians to be criminal and unjustifiable, and accepts no argument to justify such methods. The Argentine people suffered two atrocious attacks in the 1990s against the Embassy of Israel and the headquarters of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“With that experience, we have, since the beginning of the reform of the United Nations system, strongly supported incorporating human rights into the hierarchy so as to raise the institutional level of their treatment to that already given to development and to the maintenance of international peace and security. That determination led us to establish the Human Rights Council, in whose creation Argentina participated actively. The first steps of that body have been positive, having approved the text of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. That is an instrument of great significance for our country, as it defines a crime against humanity from which Argentina suffered massively in the past, at a high cost to our society.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“In response to the mandates of the whole of society, the three powers of the State adopted, within their respective purviews, concurrent decisions against impunity, preserving memory, truth and justice and securing reparations. The annulment by Congress of the laws that accorded impunity for State-sponsored crimes of terrorism, the ruling that those laws and pardons granted by the courts in our country were unconstitutional, and the reopening of over a thousand court proceedings for crimes against humanity — some of which have resulted in the conviction of those responsible — constitute landmarks of that shift. It is our conviction that democracy is strengthened with the simultaneous fight against impunity and promotion of full respect for the rule of law, without calling for revenge.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We have come to the General Assembly in the firm belief that the revitalization of this forum of global representation is fundamental so that international law can be the instrument of rationality that will enable us to settle conflicts and combat the threats to peace. The international conduct of the Argentine Republic is inspired by the values of representative democracy, respect for fundamental human rights and active defence of international peace and security. Those principles, shared by the vast majority of the 5 06-52885 Argentine people, guide our administration and are the basis of our foreign policy decisions. In the field of human rights, in 2003, after more than two decades of sustained democratic rule in Argentina, we experienced a true paradigm shift.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“I would like to congratulate you, Ms. Al-Khalifa, on your election as President of the General Assembly at this session, since I believe it is very significant that a woman has assumed that role, to promote gender equality, which is a goal both of my Government and of the United Nations. On behalf of the Argentine Republic, we would also like to congratulate the President of the General Assembly at its sixtieth session, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for the work he carried out, and to renew our recognition of Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his role in action promoting peace, multilateralism and the fight against poverty.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“To combine different ideas and create practical means to put them into practice in the service of the people we represent is our duty.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)