YouSaid · the spoken record

Naranjo Villalobos

lines on the record: 45
first: 1995-09-24
most recent: 1996-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“This spirit, now more than ever before, is embodied in this Organization. The United Nations must remain united in its effort to make the present better and united in its goal to design a promising future. I should like to conclude by recalling a teaching of the Prophet Mohammed which continues to resonate today as a norm of conduct for all human beings and all nations on Earth: “Do not break the ties of friendship, do not feel bitterness towards your fellow men, do not feel loathing for them, do not envy them. Live as brothers, as God has ordered us to do.””
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The United Nations of the future should belong to all, and this conception logically involves the duty of all its Members to meet their commitments in accordance with the scale of assessments. In this respect, my delegation believes that the full reform of the United Nations system, if it ensures a more rational administration and more equitable distribution of the resources and programmes of the Organization, will put the Organization in a better position to insist that its Members States pay their assessments on time. Our world is approaching the third millennium. In the midst of so much darkness, so many challenges and so many overwhelming difficulties, the human race retains a spirit that, together with the use of language, distinguishes it from any other species: hope.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Similarly, we believe that there is a need to restructure the Secretariat to give it greater flexibility and effectiveness in the execution of its tasks. As a country that entrusts its security to international law, Costa Rica gives a place of honour to the International Court of Justice. In our opinion, the acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court could become a duty inherent in membership of this Organization. Finally, the restructuring of the United Nations is also directly linked to its financial capabilities. The new United Nations cannot be the property of the major Powers, nor can it become the sole responsibility of a small group of States.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“If the political conditions for a reform of this kind do not exist, we must then consider other possibilities, such as the proposal made by the Government of Italy. 25 We consider that there is a need to infuse the General Assembly with new vitality, as regards both the need to ensure the principle of universality and the modernization of its agenda and procedures. We believe that no people on Earth should be denied the right to be represented in our Organization. My delegation is also of the view that greater importance should be given to the work of the Council and the Secretariat in the area of preventive diplomacy. The actions of these bodies at the outset of a conflict can be decisive in achieving a solution, but they would be even more so if their powers were increased so that they could anticipate such situations.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The reform of the United Nations must reflect the realities of change, including the capacity of civil society to contribute to global governance. My delegation attaches fundamental importance to the restructuring of the Security Council. We cannot arrive at the year 2000 still using the calendar of 1945. The Council cannot continue to be held in a framework that has been fully overtaken by the reality of international politics. Costa Rica considers it a priority to take up this task, both in order to grant permanent membership to Germany and Japan and to a representative of each of the three developing regions — Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition, we must reorganize the powers of the Council and of its members.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Development must also have a moral and ethical dimension. We must accept the responsibility of ensuring that the world that we are going to leave to future generations is going to be more peaceful, healthier, more humane and more democratic than the one in which we have lived. This responsibility must be shared individually and collectively, nationally and internationally by all elements of society. Reflection on what we have done and what we have failed to do over the last 12 months leads us to the question of what must be done in the immediate future. In this connection, the revitalization and reform of the United Nations system is pivotal. In its analysis of this issue, the Government of Costa Rica has considered with deep interest some of the proposals contained in the report of the Commission on Global Governance.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Today we still believe that international solidarity is decisive in facing food challenges and that it constitutes a fundamental goal of contemporary international relations that should not be disregarded in the search for economic liberalization. Of greatest importance, and closely related to these issues, is the need to pay attention to the problems of desertification and water resources, which during the early years of the next millennium will gravely affect food production and the very existence of the human species. At the World Summit for Social Development, it was reaffirmed that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Among those rights is the global right to development, which, in Costa Rica’s opinion, right cannot be reduced to its mere economic dimension.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Accordingly, Costa Rica, in its capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77 and China, promoted and received unanimous support in the Economic and Social Council for a resolution designed to give coherence and provide follow-up to the agreements and programmes of action of the international conferences and summits of the United Nations. Costa Rica, as an agricultural country, attaches great importance to the food summit planned to be held at Rome at the end of this year. As early as 1954, through the initiative of then-President José Figueres Ferrer, Costa Rica proposed to this Organization the creation of a world food reserve that would enable us to confront the effects of natural disasters and famines.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In January 1997, at the conclusion of its term as Chairman of the Group of 77 and China, Costa Rica will convene — with the participation of the private sector and non-governmental organizations — a South-South conference on trade, finance and investment. We hope that new and constructive approaches to speed up the rate of economic and financial cooperation among developing countries will result from that conference. Directly related to the subject of the Agenda for Development is the need for an integrated follow-up to the agreements and programmes of action adopted at the summits and conferences held by the United Nations in the last decade. In them lies the real agenda of work for the United Nations in such essential fields as the environment, population, human rights, the rights of women and children, habitat and social development.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“For small countries in particular, the linkage between commerce, technology transfer and development are, in and of themselves, outside the framework of the World Trade Organization. In order to emphasize this firm conviction, the President of Costa Rica travelled to South Africa on the occasion of UNCTAD’s 9th meeting. At that forum he expressed our country’s support for the just and legitimate aspirations to development of the countries of the third world. International cooperation cannot be viewed solely in terms of the richest giving aid to the poorest. We strongly believe in the necessity and appropriateness of intensifying the efforts aimed at increasing horizontal cooperation between developing countries.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In this connection, I wish to reiterate the conviction expressed recently on the occasion of the adoption of the report of the Working Group on this matter — that that forum must remain open. A true United Nations system is inconceivable without an integrated and comprehensive plan of action for development. If the issues of development and international cooperation were to be reduced or diminished in this Organization, the very essence of the United Nations would be seriously affected. 24 In that same spirit of solidarity that holds sway in our Organization, we believe that the preservation and strengthening of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations International Development Organization (UNIDO) are essential.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The conviction that it is possible to consolidate peace only through development is not exclusive to Central America. This year my country has had the honour and the privilege to preside over the Group of 77 and China in New York. This has allowed us to represent and defend on numerous occasions the points of view of the countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. One fifth of humanity continues to live in conditions of extreme poverty; discrimination on the basis of gender continues to be the order of the day; millions of children continue to lack access to education, health services and nutrition. My delegation views these facts with deep regret and attaches the utmost importance to the Agenda for Development.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“This joint fraternal action aimed at reincorporating Central America into the international community has sought to institutionalize new links with other countries and regions that have supported our efforts to attain peace and democracy in the isthmus, and that are now cooperating in our struggle for sustainable development. Central America has thus established special mechanisms of dialogue and cooperation with Mexico, Chile, Canada, the United States of America, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Republic of China on Taiwan. We have also redefined our relations with the European Union, institutionalized since the start of the last decade in what is known as the San José dialogue. We hope that in the near future these activities will be extended to other countries and regions.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In addition to reconciling humankind with nature, this Alliance aspires to establish in our countries a society that will allow present generations to fully develop their capabilities in all areas and that will ensure future generations a prosperous future. Our Alliance is based on a common political project that combines economic growth, environmental balance and individual freedom. For the first time in its long history, Central America has a common developmental goal, and this in turn strengthens its dedication to regionalism. In the same line of action, Central America has set out on a quest for innovative approaches to the rest of the world that will help it realize its political, social, economic, cultural and environmental goals.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We, the Central American peoples, hope that other peoples will join in this experience, without having to pay so high a price. Nonetheless, precisely because all the countries in the region were affected, in one way or another, by this political and security crisis, all of us are now working determinedly to ensure that that chapter will not be reopened. We know, furthermore, that without development there will be no lasting peace. With this conviction, the Central American region has found a common goal in the endeavour to attain sustainable political, economic, social cultural and environmental development. Two years ago, the Central American nations decided to unite in an Alliance for Sustainable Development.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“National reconciliation is becoming a reality. The recent, definitive progress in the Guatemalan peace process augurs well for the definitive attainment of peace in the entire Central American area. In this regard, I am pleased to extend special congratulations to the Government of President Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen, to the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), to the Group of Friends, particularly the Government of Mexico and President Ernesto Zedillo, and to the Secretariat of the United Nations, for the progress recently achieved. The existence of peace and democracy in Central America, a region usually considered turbulent, proves that will and perseverance can overcome any of the negative legacies of history.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The delegation of Costa Rica would like to take this opportunity to recall the draft 23 international code of conduct on this issue, proposed by the former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, and other Nobel Prize laureates, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations and with the aspiration of maintaining world peace. Costa Rica is also pleased to say that Central America has continued its progress in consolidating peace and democracy. Although we still suffer serious problems and still face harsh social and economic realities, the bloody crisis of the 1980s belongs to the past. The Central American countries are firmly committed to consolidating peace and maintaining democracy. Honest and pluralistic electoral processes have become the norm where before they were the exception.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Since 1958, in the framework of the Organization of American States, my country has been proposing the limitation of conventional weapons and the prohibition of nuclear weapons within the inter- American system. In keeping with this civil and pacifist inclination, Costa Rica signed the Treaty at the General Assembly. My delegation further calls fraternally upon all Member States of the United Nations to do likewise as soon as possible. Similarly, my nation considers most favourably the draft resolution proposed by Malaysia regarding the follow-up to the Advisory Opinion and its call for the start of negotiations to conclude a treaty providing for global nuclear disarmament. We are also of the view that greater consideration needs to be given to the problems raised by international arms transfers and trade.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“I am pleased to inform the General Assembly that a plenipotentiary envoy from Costa Rica met recently with Chairman Arafat to convey to him Costa Rica’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and its steadfast determination to support and contribute to compliance with the Oslo agreements in order to achieve a stable and lasting peace in the Middle East. Costa Rica, which will soon celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the abolition of its armed forces, also welcomed the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice regarding the legality of the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, and it is deeply satisfied by the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Even within pluralistic democracies, situations of extreme poverty and social injustice in some instances, or of crime and drug trafficking in others, have unleashed varying degrees of violence. To all this we must add the recent events of recent weeks in the Middle East, which have given rise to deep concern and may have grave consequences for the maintenance of international peace and security. Nonetheless, there are grounds for optimism. We hope that the elections in Bosnia, which took place in a harmonious environment, will allow for the establishment of a durable multi-ethnic State, in the spirit of the peace agreements. In the same vein, my delegation welcomes the resumption of negotiations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed at achieving harmonious relations among the peoples inhabiting the Holy Land.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“What progress have we achieved in the reform of the United Nations? We are keenly aware that in this post-cold-war era the United Nations agenda has grown considerably. Nevertheless, the present situation does not seem very encouraging. The establishment of this Organization, as we were reminded during the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, was one of the most extraordinary consequences of the end of the Second World War. However, the so-called balance of terror between the super- Powers that prevailed in the cold-war years has been followed by a long series of conflicts that, despite their limited geographical scope, are nonetheless damaging and bloody. We have watched in anguish as, in several parts of the world, national, religious, tribal and racial hatreds have re-emerged.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Secretary-General, your work in favour of world peace and security and your efforts to renew the United Nations have granted you a place of honour in the pages of the history of this Organization and of the international community. My delegation wishes to convey the gratitude and respect Costa Rica feels for your commendable work. A session of the General Assembly is necessarily a time for meditation for all Member States. Each and every delegation asks itself the same questions: what progress has been made towards fulfilling the purposes and principles of the United Nations during the last 12 months? What has our country or region done to contribute to that task? Is the United Nations playing the role we would like it to? What can we do to ensure that this Organization lives up to the hopes placed in it?”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The delegation of Costa Rica is pleased to extend its warmest congratulations to the President of the General Assembly on his election. In addition to his distinguished personal and professional qualities, we are inspired by the respect and friendship that we share with Malaysia, a living example of many peoples joining their efforts without losing their identity, as is appropriately stated in the motto of Malaysia: Unity is strength. I am also pleased to convey Costa Rica’s respects to the former President of the General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, for his excellent work presiding over the deliberations of the Assembly. Mr.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“I would conclude with the inspiring words uttered by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in this Hall this morning, “The answer to the fear which darkens human existence at the end of the century is the common effort to build a civilization of love, founded on the universal values of peace, solidarity, justice and 7 General Assembly 21st plenary meeting liberty.” (Official Records of the General Assembly, Fiftieth Session, Plenary Meetings, 20th meeting, p. 6).”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Let us preserve this essence of youth in our Organization. In 1995, as in 1945, in spite of disappointments, bitter days and years, the United Nations represents the hope that there will be a future for our children. The United Nations is the most important demonstration that there will be a future because the words uttered in this Hall many years ago by the then Foreign Minister and later President of Costa Rica, Daniel Oduber, are still valid. He said that the United Nations had revealed itself to be the only entity capable of minimizing the sufferings which, alternating with the satisfaction of being alive and of performing our duties, were the common lot of mankind.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is urgent to take steps along the lines pointed out by the Secretary-General in his “An Agenda for Peace” and “An Agenda for Development”, and it is important that the international system should comply with the resolutions of the General Assembly and the mandates of the Security Council. It is also essential to provide a follow-up to, and implement, the commitments made at the Rio, Copenhagen and Beijing conferences. In celebrating the fifty years of its existence, the United Nations is still young. It remains young because its spirit is still generously irrigated with idealism and with faith in mankind. The Organization remains young because it still believes that the human being has a greater capacity to convince than to shoot, to love than to hate, to build than to destroy, to procreate than to kill.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“For some years now, it has been suggested that there is a need to redesign the United Nations in order to give the Organization a new look in keeping with a different world situation. Costa Rica, on various occasions, has expressed its support for initiatives in this area, including the suggestion that Germany and Japan should become permanent members of the Security Council, and that we should guarantee permanent representation for all regions in that body. Today, on the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary, we wish to reiterate Costa Rica’s firm commitment to the renovation of the United Nations.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The fight for this new international economic order has today become a priority because, even though the military-political blocs which divided the world in the recent past have now disappeared, the gap between North and South is becoming ever greater. In the circumstances, we consider that the presidency of the Group of 77 and China, to which Costa Rica was appointed a few days ago, is not only a great honour but also an important responsibility. Costa Rica is deeply grateful for the support it received in achieving this significant position and we hope that in the performance of our duties we will make a constructive contribution towards the launching of the Group of 77 into the new international realities.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“However, this has not dissipated the worrying trends towards protectionism that are increasingly being developed by industrialized nations. While the underdeveloped countries are applying programmes with a view to the adjustment and the opening up of trade, the richest countries are imposing burdensome limitations on trade. My delegation considers that the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to be held in South Africa in 1996, must become a fundamental forum for the discussion of these problems. Since the first meeting of UNCTAD, held in Geneva in 1964, 77 countries of the Third World have joined in demanding more equitable conditions in regard to world trade.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“However, we also believe that providing special treatment, such as cooperation for development and the transfer of technology for peaceful purposes, to countries which reduce military spending would be a great incentive, as has been suggested by Oscar Arias, a former President of Costa Rica and a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1987. In the spirit of building a new world, a world better than the one that existed 50 years ago, the international community has the duty to promote changes in the area of international economic relations. In recent years, there have been significant reformulations in international trade plans. A World Trade Organization has been created to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and there has been a proliferation of regional free-trade plans.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“In 1994, relying on an initiative of the Government of Romania, a group of 25 countries proposed to the General Assembly the adoption of a voluntary, global and non-discriminatory code of conduct for the international 6 General Assembly 21st plenary meeting transfer of weapons. My delegation believes that this subject must be reactivated without delay and also that concrete action must be taken to make the Register of Conventional Weapons within the United Nations effective. The reduction of military spending has an immediate repercussion on budget allocations for the promotion of development and well-being. In Costa Rica, we learned this lesson almost half a century ago and we have had no reason since then to regret our decision.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“However, the danger of a nuclear holocaust should not make us unconcerned about the problems caused by conventional weapons, the traffic in which has a tragic impact on the third world and keeps a series of very harmful conflicts alive. Many Governments of underdeveloped countries continue to waste resources on weapons, resources needed desperately by their own people for basic necessities. The democracies of the industrialized world continue providing those weapons in a business which undoubtedly, on a short-term basis, is financially more profitable than cooperation for development.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We cannot understand why at this time in history there are still countries which, with surprising levity, destroy the environment and endanger their neighbours with nuclear tests. This is a flagrant violation of the commitments that marked the conclusion of the negotiations to extend the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and has a negative effect on the tasks related to the drafting of the comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. Costa Rica has never possessed, and does not want to possess, nuclear or chemical weapons, and strongly urges participant States to speedily conclude negotiations on this treaty and to ensure that it takes effect as soon as possible.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“For Costa Rica, a party to the International Covenants on this matter and the headquarters of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, it is essential that the United Nations assume a more dynamic and energetic role in the protection of fundamental human rights and require from Member States strict compliance with their responsibilities in this area. For this purpose, protective entities, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), should be provided with more resources. We must also strengthen measures against States which ignore the recommendations of those bodies, or prevent them from performing their duties. We are also concerned that overcoming the balance of terror has not put an end to the arms race, and that is a matter of concern to us.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“We hope that the international community as a whole will understand and appreciate Central America’s effort, and will lend it its support, as several friendly nations have already done. As an integral part of the process of the consolidation of peace and the building of sustainable development, respect for human rights is no longer just a legal and moral obligation of Governments; it has become an essential condition for harmonious life in every society. However, we cannot disregard the fact that many situations in which these rights are still ignored or violated persist, making the task of the relevant international bodies doubly important. It is not legal to violate human rights, but it is not right to sit idly by, using the pretext of respect for sovereignty, which is only hypothetical respect and borders on complicity.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Costa Rica is optimistic about the efforts to find a lasting peaceful solution to the problem involving that brotherly country. We give our full support to the negotiation process being developed to that end under the auspices of the United Nations. Central Americans, who for many years have successfully advocated this process of peace and democratization, are today also committed to an alliance to generate in our region a new model of development, combining freedom and the well-being of the vast majority, with respect for the natural environment. This Central American commitment to the region itself and to the international community is being implemented through various actions and development projects.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It needs the atmosphere of a spirit rich in some fundamental elements, such as the sense of God, the taste for beauty, the love of truth, the choice of solidarity, and the capacity for tenderness and the courage to forgive.” The fiftieth anniversary of the Organization is an occasion for reflection, but we should also use it to meditate on the challenge of our times: to achieve sustainable development. In Central America we have committed ourselves firmly to a comprehensive peace process and democratization, in a regional effort to build peace and democracy where these are needed, and to strengthen them where they already exist. This journey is culminating today in the encouraging advances experienced in the dialogue in Guatemala.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The urgent need to solve senseless conflicts such as the one in the former Yugoslavia and to end the violence 5 General Assembly 21st plenary meeting besetting so many places in the world should not make us lose sight of the fact that true peace involves a series of elements much more significant than the mere absence of war. As has been recently stated by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, who offered to the world such a beautiful message of hope and goodwill today from this Hall, “... peace is not limited to the silence of cannons. It is nourished with justice and freedom.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“With the recent agreement on the West Bank, Israelis and Palestinians continue to show that peace is always possible. If there is a will for peace, peace can be achieved. In that context, the United Nations must continue to be the forum where all the peoples of the world have fair representation. No country should be excluded from becoming a Member of this Organization. For many years, the world prevented a general conflagration by resorting to containment. Today, although the East-West confrontation has dissipated, and preventive diplomacy is making headway, there are still latent seeds of world conflict, concentrated in the sub- human conditions in which a large portion of the world’s population live, and evident also in the massive decay of the environment.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“However, it is our belief that any move that could be taken this week to promote dialogue, coexistence and harmony between nations would be a valuable contribution to the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and to the building of the future. The effort will have been worthwhile if even one human being — a child, a woman or a man — is saved from death as a result of this initiative. There are no conflicts without solutions. All ground is fertile for reconciliation. How many tears were shed in South Africa, how much blood was spilled in the Middle East! However, animosity has gradually disappeared and harmony is beginning to flourish. Multicultural democracy is giving a new and peaceful direction to the history of South Africa.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“In the spirit of commemorating in deeds the fiftieth anniversary of the Organization, Costa Rica proposed a World Week of Peace, to begin on 24 October this year. This initiative, sponsored by a large number of countries and unanimously adopted by the General Assembly on 12 July 1995, would silence weapons everywhere in the world for at least a week, so that in the future sustainable peace might prevail over destructive war. Costa Rica hopes that during the Week all Member States will carry out pro-peace activities and reflect on how important it is for mankind to learn to live under the sign of concord. My delegation is aware of the practical constraints that stand in the way of the World Week of Peace achieving its goals on the desired scale.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“The values and principles which give shape to this Organization were an integral part of Costa Rican life many years before the San Francisco Conference. With the abolition of the armed forces in 1948, our country renewed its faith in law and its hope that reason, not force, would govern relations among human beings. With that decision of President José Figueres, Costa Rica addressed the world and declared peace. With the same thought in mind, the Government of Costa Rica has promoted many United Nations initiatives in support of peace and human rights, including the establishment of the University for Peace, the declaration of the International Year of Peace and the creation of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. All these ideas are aimed at realizing mankind’s dream of sustainable peace.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“Julio Acosta, former President of the Republic and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, who headed our country’s delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco, said that the future of the world lay with the Charter of the United Nations, which was the most important human document of the last 1,000 years. That, indeed, is what it has been, at least over the last 50 years, despite the many difficulties, the many frustrations, the many conflicts. The Charter of the United Nations has set a new course for mankind and has provided the international community with an ethical code that grows stronger every day. Costa Rica, a founding Member of the Organization, is firmly committed to the United Nations, in accordance with its long-standing regime of democracy and respect for human rights.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It also gives me pleasure to join previous speakers in thanking the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire, His Excellency Mr. Amara Essy, for the splendid way in which he performed his duties as President of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. Costa Rica wishes to convey its recognition of the indefatigable work carried out by the Secretary-General and by other Secretariat officials towards peace and security. The devoted efforts of the Secretary-General to champion a safer, fairer, more peaceful and more humane world for future generations will be a great legacy for mankind, along with his determination to transform and modernize the Organization and carry it into the future. Fifty years ago, Mr.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)
“It is the honour of the delegation of Costa Rica to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at this historic session marking the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. We are extremely pleased that a distinguished son of Portugal, a country so closely linked to Latin 4 General Assembly 21st plenary meeting America by history and culture, has been chosen for this high position. We offer you our full cooperation in the performance of your important duties. We wish to express to Member States the gratitude of the Government and the people of Costa Rica for having elected our country to one of the vice-presidencies of the Assembly. That election is a significant honour.”
1995-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 50 (1995)