YouSaid · the spoken record

Lenin Moreno Garcés

lines on the record: 81
first: 2010-09-24
most recent: 2020-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“Finally comes gratitude, which seeks to enable our elders to live out their lives knowing that their society appreciates what they have done. Let them live surrounded by love, company and care, so that those years can be their best. Someone once asked me how these proposals were born, and I answered with several maybes. Maybe it is because I was born and spent my childhood in the heart of the Amazon, the lung of the world, in the most diverse tropical rainforest on the planet. There I became familiar with the deep problems of an abandoned region. I could see how precarious health and life was without minimum coverage for human beings. Many children died, and many mothers perished with them.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“After that comes encouragement, aimed at offering young people knowledge that will serve them in the future, in their professional career, and at encouraging them to be enterprising and to hold themselves in high esteem. We must make their future more transparent and less complicated. We must help them learn to love life and to discover the beauty of their environment, so that they are never forced to seek satisfaction or security in foreign substances. We must encourage them with praise, with greater participation and with confidence in their abilities and their dreams. Support is for the adult, perhaps. We support adults in their efforts to get jobs, build families and succeed in their endeavours aimed at ensuring social and personal security and, above all, to put a roof over their heads. We have called that mission A House for All.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Caring for mothers and children, before and after birth, and looking after that child during its first 1,000 days of life is a mission of warmth. Then comes the stage of inspiring those little ones to enjoy themselves, to play, to study and to be happy. We must teach them to love science and to be passionate about technology. It is important to study, but it is perhaps more constructive and enlightening to be creative, to love research, to indulge one’s imagination, to explore the challenges of technology, to continuously cultivate one’s values and to never stop playing and experimenting with colours, sounds, smells, textures, flavours and knowledge.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Policies are successful when they seek to resolve everyone’s personal stories, especially those of the poorest, neediest and most disenfranchised — because we are nations united to change the history of peoples. Our Government plan is called A Whole Life, because that is who we are and what we do. At the end of the day, we have a whole life to be right and wrong, to dream, to build and to love. It is up to us to analyse and manage the consequences. The plan is called A Whole Life because we want to attend to human beings from the moment of conception to the moment that God decides to close their eyes — to their departure. Depending on where each person is in his or her life cycle, our attention could involve care, inspiration, encouragement, support or gratitude. Care and inspiration are more appropriate for the first stage.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Everything in life is cause and effect, and every effect has a cause. Human beings tend to look to the past to find similarities in order to predict the future, because we are, inescapably and permanently, governed by cause and effect. We, the rulers, leaders and decision-makers, have an immense responsibility to alter the way in which the world perceives its future. Our peoples must understand that causality is not inevitability. On the contrary, people have the ability to change their circumstances. In order for them to do so, the international policies that are shaped here, in the most important of the world’s forums, must help us to empower our societies and to conceive of history as something that we can change.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“That is why we need fundamental love for others, honesty and a sense of community. Faced with the failure of a development model based on accumulation, inequality and war, we can, and must, foster a new society based on the construction of the common good. All countries can achieve development with equity, if we have a fair international system and if we commit ourselves to the eradication of poverty and inequality. Our challenges are great, but I am convinced that we are capable of overcoming them. My deep optimism lies in the confidence that dialogue, political decision-making and collective action will enable us to build a more humane and more just world in which we can live with dignity.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Dialogue is the only tool for building societies of peace. That means societies with jobs, high-quality education, access to health care as a right, decent housing and access to basic services. Through dialogue, democracy is built, which is both a means of moving forward and our final goal. Democracy is strengthened by generating and promoting spaces for young people to participate in politics. We have an obligation to generate new leadership so that they can take our place when the time comes. We must maintain the defence of fundamental liberties, including those of expression and worship. We must promote a new international order based on peace, respect for differences, equality and solidarity. We do not want merely compassionate societies, but rather societies that feature solidarity.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“I would like to refer to another issue of enormous importance for today’s world, namely, the migration crisis. Ecuador supports the principle of universal citizenship and free mobility, because we are increasingly interconnected, and the right to free mobility cannot be applied only to capital and goods. Human mobility enriches peoples and contributes to combating all forms of discrimination and xenophobia. We strongly support the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, which is being discussed here in the Assembly. Closing borders is not the solution. It has never been the solution in the history of humankind. When I formed my Government, I called for major national dialogue, without excluding anyone, in order to reach agreements that would allow us to build a more humane, just and democratic society.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Countries have common but differentiated responsibilities. Those who pollute the most must take greater responsibility. As the Assembly knows, Ecuador is one of the eight Amazonian countries. Having been born and raised in the Ecuadorian Amazon, I have a duty to promote the protection of the largest hydrographic basin in the world. In the dialogue convened by the Secretary-General, I presented the Amazon initiative to stop deforestation and combat climate change. We advocate compliance with all international agreements for the protection of nature, including the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans. We encourage bioknowledge and the bioeconomy. We must protect and make the most of the knowledge of the guardians of nature, in particular indigenous peoples, communities and nations.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We reiterate the need to create an intergovernmental body on tax cooperation at the United Nations. Another mechanism for promoting transparency would be a binding instrument on transnational corporations and human rights. We appreciate the support of all countries that share our views on such an initiative. Looking at the devastation caused by climatic phenomena in recent weeks, I would be remiss if I did not express my solidarity with the peoples affected and turn to address one of the greatest challenges that humankind faces, that is, the responsibility to combat climate change. We must take care of our common home and ensure the survival of the planet. The unlimited exploitation of the environment has led us to live with the consequences of climate change. We, the developing countries, are those that pay the highest costs.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“It is unacceptable for eight people in the world to possess the same wealth as one half of humankind’s poorest. Such injustice goes against the rights to development and human dignity. A way to immediately confront inequality would be to institute fair tax measures. We must fight tax evasion and avoidance: those hidden resources are vital for the development of our countries. Furthermore, the use of tax shelters has served to hide corruption within both the public and the private sectors. If we truly want to fight corruption, we must encourage a culture of transparency. In our country, by popular agreement, the people of Ecuador decided that no public servant can have resources or goods in tax havens. As Chair of the Group of 77 and China, Ecuador has promoted a global agenda for fair tax actions.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We therefore insist that the sovereignty of States and non-intervention must be respected. We call for dialogue as a mechanism to resolve differences around the globe, with full respect for international law. Military intervention is not the answer, as it only brings with it suffering, pain and death. We therefore resolutely support the peace talks that the Government of Colombia is holding in our country with the National Liberation Army. We welcome the agreement reached in Quito, which was announced a few days ago, for a bilateral temporary ceasefire in Columbia. Step-by- step we are nearing the goal of having the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States become a region of peace. As I mentioned at the beginning of my statement, we have before us another major challenge — the alarming inequality in the world.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We must commit to achieving peace. Consistent with that need, today Ecuador is acceding to the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. We call on all countries to accede to that historic international instrument. We know that the military industry is a big business, which is why arms traffickers, and not arms producers, are prosecuted and convicted. What ethics are at play here? How is it possible that resources that could be devoted to financing the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals are wasted on the absurdity of war? We firmly believe that peace and development are achieved through dialogue; but if we continue with wars and blockades against countries and peoples, such as the blockade against our brother country Cuba, we will never be able to achieve true liberty and democracy.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We unquestionably inherited the notion from our indigenous peoples that the world must be focused on the human being and their relationship to nature, in which the beginning and the end is to meet the needs of all and make possible a life with dignity. My indigenous brothers and sisters taught me that we were born to be happy, and it is upon that premise that we must govern, live, manage and act. However, we must also recognize that we are experiencing a difficult and painful time as human beings. We are facing many crises. We see a potential nuclear conflict, greater levels of inequality and poverty and a planet that must fight the devastating effects of climate change. If we continue along such a path, there is no doubt that we are moving towards destruction. Clearly that is evidence of the fact that we, the human race, are failing.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Beyond that stage, we must provide support to individuals with a view to ensuring the well-being of their families — the right to social security, housing, employment, recreation and a safe and healthy environment. At the end comes the stage of gratitude when we give back to the people who have served their societies and families — the care and services that we provide to our senior citizens. Within that vision of ensuring the rights of each individual throughout their entire life, there persists an urgent need to eradicate all forms of violence. Today all of humankind has a moral and ethical duty — we must prohibit the abuse and killing of thousands of women and girls. There can be no more femicides, not even one. Our “A Whole Life” plan is, in sum, how we in Ecuador have interpreted our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“After birth, we need to provide medical care for the child, appropriate nutrition, vaccinations, neonatal screening and early intervention. Then comes the stage when we must inspire the new human being and foster their love for science, knowledge, art and sports to shape their will and mind, thereby awakening their consciousness and planting the seeds of the values within them that will serve as the basis for their adult life. In the next stage of life, it is crucial for us to propel our young people forward with an education — a high quality higher education — facilitating in that way the fulfilment of their endeavours, projects and dreams.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Without a doubt, a responsible Government must take care of its citizens so that all of them may have a decent life on a sustainable planet where every day we work towards achieving peace. Our Government philosophy agrees that we must care for our citizens throughout their lives, from the moment of conception to when God decides to close our eyes. We must ensure a good life and a good death. That is why we have organized the Government’s work around a plan that we have called “A Whole Life”. A responsible country and Government must care for, inspire, encourage, support and be good to its citizens throughout their entire lives under the principle of co-responsibility. Taking care of citizens begins with prenatal services.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“As I speak from this rostrum today, I can affirm that much progress has been made to achieve inclusion and accessibility; however, as a society we still have much that remains to be done for the world’s 1 billion people living with disabilities. I am an optimist. We are entirely capable of finding solutions; it is a matter of political will. That is why I am grateful for the accommodations that have been made to enable me to address the General Assembly today. I congratulate the President, Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, for proposing the topic for the general debate, namely,”Focusing on people: Striving for peace and a decent life for all on a sustainable planet”. Those are truly today’s imperatives.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Let us create an army of warriors that carry no weapons on their shoulders or ammunition in their packs, but whose weapons are ecology, medicine, the defence of human rights and human solidarity, an army that fights the only disability that truly exists, which is the human disability. The only disability that exists is that of the heart. The enemy is inequality, which, although fierce, will be defeated. We will succeed, of course. Of course we will succeed.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“The travelling poet Walt Whitman said, referring to all human beings, to all other beings on Earth and to the Earth itself, “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Song of Myself). We are made of the same atoms, which we share. We come from dust, we whirl around for some time and then we return to dust, to our Pacha Mama, to Mother Nature. But she has been abused and disrespected. Even so, in her agony, she is still generous. Rabindranath Tagore said that the Earth has been insulted and reviled, but in return offers her flowers and her fruits. I call on Member States, our brother countries, to share this revolutionary vision, to find peace and to make it everlasting, to change the history of the invaded, the polluted, the humiliated and the forgotten of the Earth.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I will repeat that: we want a world without nuclear weapons, but our approach is to preach by example, so that that which we demand from others also becomes first and foremost a requirement for ourselves. I call for a definitive decision. Let us dismantle nuclear arsenals, so that just as we criminalize the manufacturing and marketing of illegal drugs, we would also criminalize the manufacturing and marketing of weapons of mass destruction — and if only that could be done for all weapons. There can be no world governance without peace. Nature is the best teacher of peace. I was born in the Ecuadorian Amazon basin. We call Earth our Pacha Mama. She and we are the same.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Have we not similar problems? I also ask myself: do we not share the same evolution? Do we not have the same hopes for the future? Let us share the realization of the dream of universal citizenship. Let human beings travel wherever they want, whenever they want, as they do when they are at home and among family, and as should be the case around the world. I want to reiterate the Ecuadorian position condemning all forms of colonialism and occupation of territories by foreign forces. We reaffirm that dialogue must always be the mechanism of choice for the settlement of conflicts. We believe in the sovereign right of all countries to development and to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. We want a world without nuclear weapons. We therefore recommend preaching by example.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“The expertise of the sister Republic of Cuba played a significant role in the execution of this detailed study. Cuba is perhaps the country that shows the greatest solidarity in Latin America because, when the time to help comes, they do not take into account the fact that they still suffer under the most infamous, illegal and illegitimate blockade in human memory, and which Ecuador condemns with all the energy of a grateful people. 3 10-55122 I must highlight the inescapable urgency of addressing the subject of human migration. Allow me to make an appeal to all countries, especially developed ones, to sign the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which was opened for signature 20 years ago: 20 years ago. What, I ask myself, are we not one single race?”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We never in our wildest dreams imagined what we would find in that study: human beings left in holes in the ground, in cages, with silence as their only company and death as their only hope, human beings ashamed and shaming others. That situation no longer exists in Ecuador. Although much remains to be done, we have already accomplished much. As of now, we can locate via satellite every person with disabilities in Ecuador who needs help and provide them with the technical assistance they need, accessible and dignified housing, medical care, rehabilitation and integration in the workforce and the education system. In addition, we have created a subsidy, equivalent to a minimal living wage, to acknowledge the work and the dedication of those who care for persons with severe physical or mental disabilities.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“However, I wish to state very firmly that the Millennium Development Goals left out a very significant segment of the population and that, soon, they will reveal deficiencies in the social policies of countries. I am speaking here of the excluded among the excluded, the forgotten among the forgotten. I am referring to people with disabilities. Let us be clear: disability is not incapacity, but rather diversity. As there is geographical, cultural or bioclimatic diversity, there are also diverse capacities, and that is where talent, heart, dedication, perseverance and willingness lie. Ecuador has undertaken a bio-psychosocial, clinical and genetic study of all persons with disabilities in the country.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We have already created a capital fund administered by the United Nations Development Programme with the participation of the Ecuadorian State, our civil society, and representatives of our fellow contributing countries. I call upon our brother countries throughout the world, especially the industrialized countries, to support the Yasuní Initiative and, acknowledging the responsibility we all share for climate change, to seek original solutions to a problem that threatens the very survival of the human species. Ancestral Amerindian wisdom teaches us that the Earth was not inherited from our parents; rather, this magical creation is lent to us by our children. Ecuador has reached its targets related to the Millennium Development Goals, and it continues to promote them, including by setting an example for the international community.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Ecuador is a country that is making major efforts to achieve development. But, as an act of generosity, the people of Ecuador have decided not to receive 50 per cent of the income that this oil would generate, so long as the international community makes the same effort. The Yasuní Initiative, as President Correa himself has said, is not just symbolic. It is the most important initiative for our country and for the entire planet. It would protect one of the areas richest in biodiversity — perhaps the richest in the world — and there is no doubt that it would contribute to mitigating climate change. The world will be able to assess the way of life of Amazon peoples, in particular that of the most vulnerable among them: the indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“The wealth of the park also extends underground. In Yasuní there are oil resources from which Ecuador could obtain 846 million barrels of heavy crude. Three years ago, the President of Ecuador, the economist Rafael Correa, launched the Yasuní-ITT Initiative before this forum (see A/62/PV.7), which proposed keeping that oil underground, unexploited. If we fulfil this aspiration, we will prevent the emission of 407 million tons of carbon, the main cause of climate change, and we will leave intact the planet’s richest world biosphere reserve. To do this, we need to raise global awareness and gain the relevant international contribution, equivalent to at least half of the total revenue of $3.6 billion that the State of Ecuador would earn if it were to exploit the oil reserves.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Ecuador is one of world’s 19 megadiverse countries. Its Amazon forest boasts the Yasuní Park, declared by UNESCO as a world biosphere reserve in 1989. Scientists agree on the unique value of this park, for its extraordinary biodiversity and state of conservation and for the cultural heritage it holds. The park concentrates Amazonia’s highest densities of amphibian, mammal, bird and plant species. Yasuní is also a Pleistocene reserve. There, species were not 10-55122 2 affected by glaciation, which preserved a process of differentiated evolution of new species. Moreover, the Yasuní National Park is the home of two indigenous peoples that have opted to live in voluntary isolation with respect to Western culture: the Tagaeri and the Taromenane. Both belong to the Huaorani culture, possessing age-old wisdom and cultural heritage.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“On 26 November, Ecuador will hand over the pro tempore presidency, which it has held since August of 2009, to our sister country of Guyana. In the same vein, Ecuador has fostered South-South cooperation as a mechanism for development, encouraging cooperation among the legitimate representatives of States parties. We believe that countries must be heard and their requirements and realities addressed, and that cooperation should be a reality over the medium term. I should stress that one of the most important endeavours developed within this space was the solidarity extended to the sister country of Haiti and its legitimate Government for its reconstruction, to attain the development it yearns for and to strengthen its institutions as it deserves. I wish to place special emphasis on the importance we accord to the issue of climate change.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I would like to commend the election of His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session and to welcome his excellent proposal for the main subject of the general debate, “Reaffirming the central role of the United Nations in global governance”. This is also part of Ecuador’s policy of strengthening multilateralism. To that end, we have continuously encouraged regional integration as the logical response to an ancestral heritage that never kept or defended borders between friendly countries. The wish for a united South America came to fruition with the establishment of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) as an area for genuine integration aimed, inter alia, at eliminating inequality and strengthening democracy.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)