YouSaid · the spoken record

Danilo Medina Sánchez

lines on the record: 66
first: 2012-09-24
most recent: 2018-09-24
sittings or episodes: 4
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 must therefore all continue to act according to our capacities, without hesitation and with the same objective of creating a world that is increasingly stable, secure and developed, a world in which all men and women can carry forward their life dreams. That is the ultimate goal that the Dominican Republic will continue to work for. We will do it in our towns, neighbourhoods and all of our cities; with our immediate neighbours and with all members of the General Assembly; and in the Security Council next year, in the new role that we will be honoured to assume.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“If the United Nations and the developed countries want to help fight poverty more comprehensively and openly, those two fronts are an intelligent, humane and cost- effective way to do so. We once again appeal to those countries from this rostrum to show the responsibility and solidarity we need to make our planet a safer place. Climate change, drug trafficking, poverty, social inequality and mass migration are all interrelated problems that we must deal with urgently. As we have pointed out today, the best and perhaps only way to do that is to act at all levels of response to the problem, so that the agreements we sign in a forum like the United Nations have a real impact on the lives of the people, and so that the needs of our peoples are articulated in their national and international institutions.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Our countries allocate billions of dollars each year to fulfilling that role, but it is never enough in the face of the huge resources deployed by organized crime networks. That is undoubtedly a key factor in the social disintegration that many of our countries are dealing with. As in the case of climate change, it is the more developed countries with greater consumption capacity that must dedicate more resources, cooperation and political will if they truly wish to fight the problem with any hope of victory. In combating the effects of drug trafficking and climate change, we will address some of the structural causes of deeper poverty and social inequality.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Thanks to such initiatives, we are better prepared to fight together against that evil, which threatens the integrity of our economies and our democracies. However, we must emphasize the need for greater international coordination. We can make great strides forward if we join our efforts, share information and support each other in our work. We also understand that showing greater commitment is the responsibility of countries that due to their domestic demand for narcotics, have set in motion the international machinery of drug trafficking and organized crime. We cannot ignore the fact that it is the developing States that act as the first barrier in containing drug trafficking, thereby protecting the most developed countries.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“In parallel, we have moved forward with the enactment of a law against money- laundering and the financing of terrorism, based on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, with an emphasis on preventing and combating money- laundering, which drug traffickers use to ensure the profitability of their activities. Finally, at the international level, we have bilateral and multilateral agreements in place with the United States, the European Union and the countries of the Central American Integration System, as well as participating in the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, all with the objective of coordinating efforts and improving our efficiency in combating drug trafficking and organized crime.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We do all of that with the aim of saving the most vulnerable populations from criminal networks. At the national level, our security forces and national drug control directorate are working all over the country as part of a comprehensive plan to strengthen our actions against drug trafficking. Among other initiatives, we are acquiring new, high-tech equipment and strengthening security at our ports and airports with more agents and security checks, as well as carrying out in-depth interventions in areas with the highest incidence of crime.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“As if that were not bad enough, drug trafficking also permeates our institutions, unbalances our economies, threatens our values and brings nothing but degradation and destruction to our social fabric. Wherever organized crime prevails, the security and peace of our peoples always deteriorate over time. As with climate change, therefore, the fight against drugs must be conducted at all three levels — local, national and international — in order to achieve effective results. In the case of our country, local intervention is focused on prevention campaigns and educating our young people by supporting them with training and entrepreneurial opportunities, while also improving the neighbourhoods where they live and recovering public spaces for people to use.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Above all, the Warsaw fund will help protect the valuable lives of millions of human beings, bringing them peace of mind for their homes and granting them a future without a constant uncertain feeling of threat every time they see that rain is coming. We therefore consider it indisputable that those countries that have most heavily contributed to the gas emissions that are responsible for climate change are also those that should contribute proportionally to the fund established to mitigate its effects. As I described earlier, we also consider drug trafficking and organized crime to be a threat to global security and stability of a similar magnitude to that of climate change. The trafficking of illicit substances claims thousands of lives every year, particularly of young people, who are extremely valuable to our countries.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Among those actions, I want to once again highlight the urgency of financing and making operational initiatives such as the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts, which will make it possible to compensate for the destruction of infrastructure and ecosystems and alleviate the threatening conditions of our residents. That fund is essential to ensuring that natural disasters do not destroy in a few hours what many nations have spent decades building. I will give one example, on the understanding that our case is not the most tragic in the Caribbean region. Last year, the storms Olga and Maria spelled the destruction of more than $1 billion worth of infrastructure. Imagine what that means for a country whose annual State budget is already limited.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Those measures will not only support our economy, they will enable us to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases by 25 per cent by 2030, a goal that we are very pleased about. However, the fight against climate change is a task for all of us, and that is why the next level — the international level — is the broadest and most essential of the three. If there is no political will in this area, most of our efforts will come to nothing and will have a negative impact on all the progress we have made at the local and national levels. That is why I would like to reiterate once again before the Assembly the importance of going beyond good intentions and focusing on concrete actions.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It is at the local and national levels where our Government has a greater capacity to act and where we are improving resilience and relocating the communities that live around our most significant watersheds, which are highly vulnerable to meteorological events. We are also doing a great deal of public awareness work and training thousands of teachers and technicians to promote sustainable development in their schools and communities. Then there is the national level, where we are also working tirelessly, both on our rapid-response strategies and in the field of prevention. For instance, we are planting millions of trees across our country and investing more than ever before in renewable energy.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda and other Caribbean islands, it has taken months to recover from the effects of Hurricane Maria, which not only brought about economic losses but also claimed a considerable number of human lives. In the Dominican Republic, we are strongly committed to dealing with the consequences of climate change. That means that we are working simultaneously on three levels of action, local, national and international. It is at the local level where people’s daily lives develop. It is there that tragedies take on a painful reality and where the work of building, preparing and raising awareness must begin.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“In both cases, the consequences are the destruction of thousands of families, collateral damage to all aspects of human development and the overwhelming of States by the magnitude of the challenges they face. Let us start by talking about the consequences of natural disasters, which are occurring more and more frequently. We only have to open the newspaper or turn on the television to see the effects of climate change wreaking havoc somewhere on the planet. From the typhoon that recently hit the Philippines, the strongest in decades, to the hurricane seasons that punish the Caribbean islands with increasing ferocity, no corner of the world is safe. Last year we saw Hurricane Irma leave Havana totally flooded, and it took many weeks for things to return to normal.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“What measures can we implement to ensure that security is not solely the asset of a select few countries, but one that extends throughout the world and reaches every neighbourhood and village? Of course, I am not the only one asking those questions — everyone here has asked them at some point — nor will I give definitive answers, which can be formulated and found only by working together. What I will do is briefly mention what I consider two of the main threats to global stability and security. I am referring to climate change and drug trafficking and organized crime. At first glance, they may seem very different from each other, but their complexity and global scope makes them two of the main challenges facing humankind.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We cannot lower our guard when we know, for example, that in our Latin American and Caribbean region alone, 35 per cent of the population belongs to the so-called vulnerable class and could therefore fall back into poverty when faced with any setback. By the same token, it is fair to recognize that like so many other things, security is not well distributed. We all know that there are territories in the Americas and in many other places around the world where the prospect of living peacefully and without fear is an almost utopian vision, due to the control that organized crime exercises in those territories. What can we do, then, to make this a more stable world?”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It is clear to us that in a space that addresses issues that can change the course of history and the fate of millions of people, we cannot seek easy and drastic solutions, which in any case do not exist. In that context, our country will always be a place of dialogue and understanding, and will always seek peaceful solutions. We are always willing to do whatever it takes to find common ground and support consensus as the best tool for peace and development. We will therefore always promote rapprochement among peoples through mediation and democratic dialogue, opening spaces for a future of shared peace. Since its founding more than seven decades ago, the United Nations has played a central role in creating a more stable and secure world for human beings across the globe. However, we can never consider stability a definitive achievement.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Our purpose during our term will be to contribute a voice for Latin America and the Caribbean to one of the forums for greater global responsibility in the maintenance of peace. Of course, we are committed to asserting, both in the Security Council and in the Assembly, the same unbreakable principles that guide us as a nation. Respect for human rights, democracy, freedom and diversity will therefore be the beacon that we will follow in order to guide our work in the Security Council. We will do everything possible to honour the trust placed in us, being fully aware that, although fragile, stability and security are priority objectives that must be preserved and progress made towards, step by step and day by day.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“At the outset, I would like to congratulate Ambassador María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés on her election as President of the General Assembly and to wish her every possible success. It is a great honour for me to be able to once again address the Assembly as President of the Dominican Republic. This is a special occasion for our country, because next year the Dominican Republic will sit on the Security Council as a non-permanent member for the first time. On behalf of the Dominican people and myself, I would therefore like to start by thanking the States Members of the United Nations for the support we have received in joining the Security Council. In particular, I thank the members of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States for the trust placed in us.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“The post-2015 agenda provides the opportunity to focus our efforts on the roots of the problems. The time is now. The responsibility is ours. From now on, let us work to create countries with equal opportunities 15-29437 19/26 A/70/PV.17 29/09/2015 for and access to development for all our citizens. We are working for equality and solidarity and for a fair distribution of the resources of this planet that we share.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“The international community, represented here in the General Assembly, has made historic progress. Although we know that much remains to be done, the balance of what has been achieved in terms of the Millennium Development Goals shows that we can move ahead when we focus our efforts properly. Our experience in the Dominican Republic shows that having a clear agenda and a common course is the only way to move forward rapidly. We have therefore prepared our post-2015 development agenda, which leads us to propose a major partnership between the private sector, civil society and Government so that the change can be lasting and sustainable. We believe that when the political will exists, no challenge is too great. I have no doubt that we can find the will to overcome the challenges before us.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“We hope that, by the time that session is held, the idea that drugs constitute a problem that affects only some countries will have been dismissed for good. The tens of thousands of people killed in the so-called war on drug trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot be regarded as collateral damage. It is a humanitarian disaster that is due too often to policies that have been badly designed and/or are poorly implemented. We need to change our focus and reach a new, more updated and realistic international consensus that leaves room for national Governments to design policies suited to their circumstances, as some countries represented here are already doing. In conclusion, may I return to the more optimistic note on which I began.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Recent studies show that a 1 per cent increase in the Gini index leads to a similar rise in the homicide rate. And though it may sound harsh to describe that terrible tragedy in economic terms, we cannot fail to note that the impact of violence on people and goods costs us 14.2 per cent of the gross domestic product in the Latin American region. At the same time, inequality is also a breeding ground for transnational crime and drug trafficking, which are recruiting young people at an increasingly early age and robbing them of future opportunities. Therefore, one of the tasks facing us at the international level is to rethink our policies on how to combat drugs. As members of the Assembly know, next year the special session on the world drug problem will take place, at the request of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Therefore, if we do not want that scenario to continue perpetuating exclusion, we have no other option than to make a firm commitment to quality education. And we have to do that in a serious way. The Dominican Republic is trying to improve the quality of its educational system, and we are also trying to achieve the necessary changes to make our economy grow in equality, so that our State can be active in supporting its people. Inequality is the root cause of many of the challenges that we face globally, including violence and insecurity, which particularly afflict Latin America and the Caribbean. Ours is the only region where the homicide rate has increased over the past 15 years. There is a lot of discussion about the relationship between violence and inequality.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Only in that way can we deal with problems that seem to be endemic, but that actually derive in large measure from the disproportionate allocation of available resources. Look at what has been happening to our youth. Today, this generation of young people has received more years of schooling than anybody else in our history. And yet, they have higher rates of unemployment and only part-time work. Another paradox is that, although they have more years of schooling, only one third of poor students, according to tests, meet the minimum reading competency levels. In parallel, the increasing automation of work means that soon, instead of choosing between skilled and unskilled jobs, it will be a question of skilled jobs or simply unemployment.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In the next decade, the 1990s, the recovery began, and there was major progress in key areas, such as education. That yielded fruit in 2002, when a labour force that was better educated than their parents was finally able to finally benefit from an expanding economy and higher wages. Since then, the Gini index on income inequality has dropped by 5 per cent. That shows clearly that social policies are essential, along with changes in productivity and improvements in the labour market. We cannot continue looking at the relationship between economic policies and social policies as an unresolvable conflict. Rather, we have to tackle both aspects at the same time and move in the same direction to reduce inequality.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In that way they will be able to provide not just more jobs, but proper jobs, high-quality jobs, and they will be able to hire an increasingly well- trained labour force. Along with the necessary changes in the structure of our economies, the State should be the second pillar of the fight against inequality. We have to reassert the role of the State as an effective redistributor of wealth, as a creator of opportunities and as a defender of the rights of all citizens. 18/26 15-29437 29/09/2015 A/70/PV.17 Let us remember the counterexample of what happened in the 1980s, during the so-called lost decade. Poverty increased to cover almost half of the Latin American population. The austerity policy that many States opted for further aggravated the situation and slowed the recovery.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“As the ECLAC study makes clear, what we have is a structural factory for inequality, which means that major changes will be needed to correct our path and enable everyone to advance at the same rate. We need to change the structure of production, shatter the old ways and move ahead together to a model that will benefit everyone, big and small. To begin with, it is essential that the “middle way” be promoted in particular. Public policies must help to ensure that small and medium- sized enterprises have better access to credit and are more competitive, productive and innovative. Small and medium-sized enterprises must also become actors in globalization, finding their proper place in the production chains.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“According to a recent study of 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that was conducted by ECLAC and the German Agency for International Cooperation, our region operates a high-speed rail system, as it were, which connects modern global businesses to international trade and accounts for 60 per cent of gross domestic product but only 20 per cent of jobs; a medium-speed rail, which prevails in the middle income countries, accounting for 22.5 per cent of gross domestic product and 30 per cent of jobs; and finally, a rail that serves micro-businesses and the informal economy, which together bring in only 10.5 per cent of wealth but account for 50 per cent of jobs. That makes it impossible for everyone to benefit and participate proportionally in growth.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“However, if we look at the current structure of the productive mechanisms of the countries of Latin America, we have to acknowledge the differences within that structure. In other words, we need to recognize that at least three levels of development exist simultaneously in each country. On our journey towards progress, we not only ride in different cars and in different classes, but on different rails, which means that we move forward at radically different speeds.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“So, despite our efforts to combat poverty, it remains excessive and is aggravated by great inequality. As the excellent 2014 study by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), entitled “Instability and inequality”, points out, greater equality with growth requires two profound changes — first, in our structure of production, and secondly, in our structure of distribution. In other words, growth is as necessary for equality as equality is for growth. To put it even more clearly, we need both a responsible productive sector that guarantees wealth creation across all layers of society and an active, effective State to ensure the redistribution of wealth and the creation of opportunities.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“The fight against inequality is the point of departure for solving the majority of the global challenges, yet it remains our main unfinished task throughout the world, especially in Latin America. If we review our achievements, we see a landscape filled with light and shadow, one that offers grounds for rejoicing but also one that prompts urgent calls to action. On the one hand, Latin America, after Asia, is the region with the largest middle class, with more than 130 million people projected to attain that status by 2030, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, along with sub-Saharan Africa, it is also the most unequal region in the world. Even today, the wealthiest 10 per cent of Latin Americans receive 32 per cent of the region’s income, while the poorest 40 per cent receive only 15 per cent.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“We are also putting the final touches on a renewed commitment to global development, which is enshrined in the post-2015 development agenda in the form of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (resolution 70/1). At the same time, the industrialized nations have finally taken a decisive and resolute step forward to combat climate change. We welcome their political will, for which we have been calling for some time, because we believe it represents an act of responsibility and justice that heralds a more equitable model for the distribution of responsibilities between rich and poor nations. The post-2015 development Agenda provides an excellent opportunity for us to focus on our most central priority and the greatest enemy of sustainable development, namely, inequality.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“It is true that the United Nations was born of the wounds, pain and fear left by the great conflicts of the twentieth century, but it also arose from the unstoppable force of hope and the iron will of great men and women who believed in dialogue, solidarity and the grandeur of the human race. Although we still have far to go and although immense challenges remain, the Organization continues to represent the values that inspire us day 15-29437 17/26 A/70/PV.17 29/09/2015 after day. Over the past 12 months, the international community has experienced difficult challenges, but it has also witnessed encouraging events that we would do well to recall. We witnessed the reopening of embassies between the United States and Cuba, which brings us closer to the day when that sad, decades-long conflict will finally come to rest in the history books.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“It is an honour to participate once again in the work of the General Assembly as a representative of the people and the Government of the Dominican Republic. At the outset, I would like to welcome and congratulate Mr. Mogens Lykketoft on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session. This anniversary gives us the opportunity to put in perspective what the Organization has meant for humankind. It was established 70 years ago as the fruit of the worst horrors of war and as the first global forum created to preserve peace, coexistence and the well- being of all human beings.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“We will find a way to work together, as we have done with the neighbours with whom we share an island, or as we found yesterday, during the climate summit, with the other countries with which we share the planet. The citizens that we represent, increasingly better informed, demand that we live up to our responsibility and our declared commitment: to preserve peace, to promote development and to make education and health care the right of all inhabitants of the planet.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“They say that poverty cannot be overcome, that the gap of inequality will always grow and that past grievances will be reborn in each new generation. However, we know that none of that is true. We know where to look to find the path of hope. We have only to look at those who are closest, that is, our own people, their basic daily needs and the hopes that motivate them to continue the struggle. If we look carefully, we see that the economy is not a prison but can be a tool for improving the lives of people. We find that the people are free. They are free to know which parts of their past they wish to use as a guide to their future and which they wish to leave aside.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“With specific and relatively simple actions, the international community can have a major and lasting impact on the lives of those people. I appeal for help for Haiti. May the international community help Haiti to document its people in its territory and in ours, since documentation is the first essential step for the enjoyment of a wide-ranging body of rights. Let us not allow a few technical shortcomings to be an obstacle to such a hopeful and necessary process with as much potential as that new stage of cooperation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. There are times when our best aspirations seem fragile. There are times when cynical people point out, under I do not know what law of the economy or in history, that we are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“As members know, many of those people are Haitian. In order to regularize their status in the territory of the Dominican Republic, they must first have identity papers from their country of origin, which many of them unfortunately lack. Haiti is making an effort to reach those Haitians and to provide them with documents that recognize them as its nationals. However, Haiti’s technical and economic resources are limited. In the past, a number of international organizations and countries have expressed their concern about the fate of Haitian migrants. We share that concern for humanitarian reasons and because it affects us as the main host country. I would therefore note that now is an excellent time to move from words to actions.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We are discovering that old wounds do not impede advancing on that path, but that they heal as we move forward. Our peoples demanded that we exercise the necessary courage to take the first step. We will continue to take steps until we achieve our goal of two free, sovereign and independent nations that, on the basis of their sovereignty, cooperate for the benefit of their respective peoples. I wish to take this opportunity from this rostrum at the General Assembly to make an appeal. As I have said, a new era in Dominican-Haitian relations has begun. In that new phase, we would like to enjoy the support of the international community. One of our main actions to strengthen Dominican sovereignty and to ensure the rights of people living in our territory is to provide them all the relevant documentation.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“However, if we limit our identity to those few chapters, it will be impoverished. Our history is very rich. It has hundreds of chapters. In many of them, we can find the inspiration to guide us towards a better future and a more complete, richer and more human identity because that is clearly an excellent basis for understanding. In both countries, there are millions of people who want better development, education, health care, security and jobs and more opportunities. Those are concrete demands that require specific measures. The truth is that, by responding to them and reaching agreements in each of those areas, in a few months we were able to achieve the progress that we had not made in decades. Little by little, we are moving forward.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Whether it is building bridges between countries once in conflict, as the European Union did, or among communities that decided to share the same nation, as in the case of South Africa. Hope can and must find its way. I would also like, if I may, to bring a note of optimism from our Caribbean region. In the past year, we started a dialogue process with neighbouring Haiti that can rightly be regarded as historic. Our situation is of course unique but not to the degree that it cannot be echoed in other parts of the world. As members perhaps know, since the birth of our two Republics, there has been a long history of misunderstanding and disputes, which led to each of our countries having a distorted picture of the other. It is true that in our past there were a couple of painful chapters, which are part of our identity.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“In the history of all nations or communities, without exception, there is a long history of disagreements, misunderstandings and quarrels that, at times, can be used to stir up the worst passions. They can be manipulated by individuals seeking to consolidate power or inflamed by extremist groups that feel that they have nothing to lose. There will always be someone who keeps old disputes alive. There will always be someone who does not mind sacrificing the true interests of the people at the time because of the wrongs of the past recorded in the history books. However, there are plenty of examples to the contrary. Throughout the world, there are people and countries that have managed to leave their past behind in order to focus on building the future that they want for their children and new generations.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We should recognize that 2014 is presenting major challenges to that noble purpose. In different latitudes of the world, there have been violent conflicts between communities, peoples or States. The contexts of those conflicts are varied, but one thing remains constant — the extent to which past grievances shape our identities today, and how dangerous it is to allow oneself to be submerged by them. We watch in perplexity and indignation the virulence with which these violent conflicts are waged in different parts of the world. The Middle East is once again the scene of the bloodiest sectarianism, which we condemn from this rostrum in all its manifestations.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Thanks to that and other measures, over the past 18 months in the Dominican Republic overall poverty has been reduced by 6 per cent and poverty in rural areas by 9 per cent. In other words, in 18 months we have lifted more than half a million people out of poverty. We will continue to work tirelessly, implementing policies that put the economy at the service of the people and taking measures to combat poverty and inequality in a sustainable manner, and we will continue to create the basis of what one day will be a full welfare State in the Dominican Republic. It is an honour for us to be one of the signatory nations of the founding Charter of the United Nations, which, as everyone knows, assigned to the Organization its purpose of saving future generations from the scourge of war.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“In health, that second pillar essential to the welfare State, we are also making significant progress. We have eliminated the co-payment for all public hospitals. Every year, we add 450,000 participants to the subsidized health insurance system. We are also giving priority to supporting small agricultural producers. We have been visiting rural communities every week for two years now, listening to people and seeking ways of helping them, such as by providing credits, training and infrastructure. The result of this, which is being monitored by the United Nations Development Programme, is a rebirth of the Dominican countryside, including improving its ability to feed the country and creating employment in rural communities.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“And we have set ourselves the goal to become a developed and prosperous country, where equal opportunities will be, not an ideal, but an everyday reality. To achieve this, we have established a major domestic compact, which will be our top priority as a nation: namely, education. That is why we have doubled the current budget for public education and allocated to it 4 per cent of our gross domestic product. This will enable us to carry out the largest expansion of school infrastructure ever in our history and ensure that all girls and boys, without exception, will have access to quality public education. I am also proud to tell the Assembly that at the end of this year, thanks to the efforts of thousands of volunteers, we will be in a position to declare our country free of illiteracy.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Today, we live the paradox of seeing how that ideal of sustainable growth and social justice becomes more fragile in the countries of origin, while it is being reborn in emerging countries. While developed countries adopt policies of austerity and structural adjustments, which are concepts sadly familiar to Latin Americans, we see how social programmes proliferate in different corners of the planet, lifting millions out of poverty and mitigating inequality. In the Dominican Republic, we still have a long road ahead of us, but we are taking firm steps in the fight against poverty and inequality. We are a small country but we do not lack ambition. We have made the commitment to our people, our citizens, to put them at the centre of our public policy.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Generally speaking, the times we live in raise major challenges for the mission of the Organization — preserving peace, encouraging development, making education and health the entitlement of all inhabitants of the Earth. As we are all aware, about six years ago, a crisis that began in the financial sector of developed countries quickly spread to all productive sectors and has affected the entire planet. The consequences of the economic shock continue to be felt and were translated into tens of millions of unemployed, millions of evictions and deep cuts in social benefits in our countries. The welfare State, the instrument which produced some of the greatest advances in development and security in history, was jeopardized.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“It is an honour to participate in the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations by representing the people and the Government of the Dominican Republic. I wish to express my sincere congratulations to Mr. Sam Kutesa on his election as President at the current session. I wish to thank the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for the honour bestowed on our country by inviting us to participate in the Education First initiative. As I hope that he was able to note in his recent visit to our country, the priority that education is being given in the Dominican Republic is perhaps the best indicator of the new hopes springing up in our country. It is true that news of hope is especially valuable these days when it is not very abundant.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“What is needed is for us to work together to overcome exclusion, not to prolong poverty and extreme poverty indefinitely. The Dominican Republic reiterates its firm commitment to peace, tolerance and international coexistence as well as to democracy and freedom as basic components for development. We hope that sustainable development will enrich the daily lives of individuals, families, communities and countries and will preserve our natural resources. Peace, the abolishment of social inequality, environmental sustainability and the sustained growth of our capacity to produce the goods and services required by our peoples go hand-in-hand, and they are the very core of development.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)