YouSaid · the spoken record

Fradique Bandeira Melo DE MENEZES

lines on the record: 74
first: 2002-09-24
most recent: 2009-09-24
sittings or episodes: 6
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

“For the Government and the people of Sao Tome and Principe, the United Nations remains an indispensable Organization where there should be no differences among Member States. The United Nations must continue its mission of maintaining peace and security and promoting international development. Those are the Organization’s objectives to ensure the betterment of our world.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“But we dare to remain hopeful that the new United States Administration will have the courage and determination to shortly address this issue in the same manner as it has dealt with that of Guantánamo. I wish to stress that the road ahead of us is very difficult and long. There must be global cooperation in a context of availability and responsibility to ensure sustainable development for all countries. I therefore appeal for greater cooperation between donor and beneficiary countries and greater consultation not only with Government institutions, but also with institutions more familiar with the needs of people on the ground. I am referring specifically to rural communities, teachers, doctors, nurses, farmers, fishermen and all those in the productive sectors of our countries.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“We continue to support increased participation at the United Nations for the Republic of China on Taiwan. In that regard, we welcome the admission of that nation of 23 million people as an observer at the World Health Organization. We hope that other United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Civil Aviation Organization, can also take advantage of the valuable contributions that that developed country can make with respect to the urgent needs of the Organization. Unfortunately, however, while we can express a certain satisfaction concerning the issue of the Republic of China on Taiwan, we cannot do so with regard to the trade embargo against Cuba; indeed, we are greatly disappointed in that area.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“17 09-52320 We hope the 2020 objectives can be formalized during the Copenhagen summit. Even in the meetings this week, at the Assembly’s current session, we have seen growing concern on the part of the international community, at the level of the Secretary-General and in the Alliance of Small Island Developing States, with regard to the success of this process. Whenever I speak before the General Assembly, I conclude by mentioning two continuing cases of injustice: that of the Republic of China on Taiwan and that of the trade embargo against Cuba. Despite everything, there are positive signs on the international scene, for which we are grateful. We welcome the recent positive developments between the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“These environmental changes present a strategic challenge for countries, with increasing global insecurity caused by the effects of violent storms, droughts, massive migrations and pandemics, which lead to an increase in poverty, environmental degradation and weakening national Governments. Experts in this field call our attention to the fact that these climate changes may result in an unprecedented need to provide emergency food aid, which could cause a crisis of sustainability for the international community. The negotiations in the framework of the United Nations are aimed at creating a substitute for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which establishes limits on greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 for 37 countries in the developed world and is an attempt to profoundly alter the world climate situation.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“I can say that in Sao Tome and Principe we have made determined efforts, especially to achieve the Goals in the areas of health and education. We are almost there, although we are yet not completely satisfied. The biggest debates related to global warming concentrate on substitutions for fossil fuels in order to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect. This debate has gone on as temperatures have risen, causing the glaciers and polar ice caps to melt, which in turn has already caused a rise in the sea level. As I mentioned earlier, that is threatening our country.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The African States must have a voice and cannot be ignored in this process of reform of our Organization. That is why I want to state my complete agreement with what was said from this tribune yesterday, at the 3rd meeting, by the President of the African Union, our brother-leader Qadhafi, reclaiming better participation by the African countries as permanent members of the Security Council. We are beginning the last five years in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The past five years have presented us with the biggest challenges facing global society: poverty, pandemics, environmental degradation — everything that galvanized the world’s position that was translated into the declaration that we heard yesterday. The goals and hopes that this declaration embodies need attention.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The only way we can face these crises is through active multilateralism, based on international law and on the principles of the United Nations Charter, and through reaffirming our commitment to achieving the goals set out in the United Nations 2005 World Summit. We are well aware that we will achieve those goals only through a renewed multilateral system, integrated in a world organization that is stronger, more egalitarian and with more solidarity. In this framework we call for support for the oft- repeated proposal for reforming the United Nations system, and particularly the issue of permanent members of the Security Council. We believe that this issue cannot be endlessly put off. There must be more justice in the context of the United Nations.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Sao Tome and Principe is a micro-State with a micro-economy, and thus it is poor and vulnerable. As such, it is not immune to the effects of those crises. We need to reinforce the merits of multilateralism as an instrument through which the international community can promote peace and development. Therefore, Sao Tome and Principe wants to demonstrate its support for the institutionalization of this agenda within the framework of the United Nations. In a world confronting a global economic and financial crisis, along with the negative impact of climate changes, there is a need to guarantee food security and energy security, to deal with migrations and pandemics and numerous regional conflicts of increasing complexity and associated risks.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“We need urgent measures that are global and concrete to save us from this crisis. The report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/64/1) contains some important points to which we have given considerable attention, because my country shares similar concerns. I am referring to the urgent need for reform of the United Nations system. Africa, especially its small countries on the periphery, continues mired in the deepest poverty. Our problems are particularly difficult to solve due to a combination of adverse factors that deserve an approach from the international community that is more systematic, more diligent and more coordinated. There have been several crises in 2009, and we have to re-think together the future of the new world economic order. Those crises affect all countries and demand a global response.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“But it is not just economic and financial problems that we face. Our biggest challenge today is guaranteeing the future of our planet, not just in the economic sense, but also resolving climate change issues that threaten the very survival of small island nations like Sao Tome and Principe. Though our carbon emissions are insignificant and our forests play a key role as part of the world’s lungs, rising sea levels are already causing coastal erosion around our country. Time is no longer on our side but has become our unforgiving judge. There is no time for more unfounded justifications for the non-fulfilment of the Kyoto Protocol. We cannot continue evading these 09-52320 16 essential environmental issues, which are not a question of developing countries against developed ones.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Before anything else, allow me to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Ali Treki of Libya, a country with which we maintain excellent relations of brotherhood, for his election to the important post of President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, which role he will certainly carry out with his usual level of excellence. I would also like to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann for his excellent work on the world economic crisis during his presidency at the sixty-third session. A year has passed since the opening of the Assembly’s sixty-third session, and yet we have still not recovered from the full effects of the global economic crisis, despite enormous efforts on the part of developed countries. The same distortions in the world’s economy remain.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The United States Administration has a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the world that the statements of its leaders are not just rhetorical exercises. At the same time, I would like to make it very clear that Sao Tome and Principe is a tenacious defender of the measures to combat international terrorism and to prevent the further loss of innocent life. Development strengthens diplomacy and security, reduces threats against our collective security and produces peaceful, stable and prosperous societies. That must be the focus of our efforts. I should therefore, in conclusion, reiterate what I said at the outset: we must all be less selfish and care more about each other, rather than just ourselves.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I must remind the Assembly that the Republic of China on Taiwan is a country with a vibrant democracy and an enviable economic and technological record that has served as a development model for the global economy. On 20 May 2008, we were pleased to see the inauguration of the new President of that friendly country. We paid close attention to his inaugural address, which was a genuine call for peace and good relations in the Taiwan Strait. Also regarding the lack of solidarity in the world, the embargo against Cuba is another cause for concern that requires our urgent attention. That relic from the past must be lifted on an urgent basis, especially in the aftermath of the destruction caused by the two successive hurricanes that recently struck that friendly nation.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“For the first time in centuries, as confirmed by the most recent report of the World Health Organization on the state of the world’s health, malaria is not the main cause of child mortality and morbidity among the people of my country. That has been possible thanks to the Republic of China on Taiwan. Speaking of solidarity and Taiwan, once again from this rostrum, I would like to appeal to the conscience of each and every member to consider the fate to which 23 million Taiwanese have been relegated. Will the community of nations represented here continue to ignore the existence of a population comprising more than 23 million people?”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Our Governments, diplomats and politicians rarely think in such terms. No people chooses to be poor. Being poor does not imply that we are less intelligent or lazier than others. It all has to do with the opportunities available at the time of birth, as well as to the solidarity and compassion one encounters thereafter — when these are not empty words. Yes, we must re-establish generosity and solidarity among human beings. 08-51845 24 An example of that is the fact that there was a decrease of more than 95 per cent in the number of cases of malaria recorded in Sao Tome and Principe in 2007. As a result, we expect that the disease will soon be eradicated from our country through an ongoing control programme.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“However, giant waves have begun to wash over our coastal highways in the past 10 years, temporarily cutting off certain regions of our country. I cannot overemphasize the strong appeal I made from this rostrum in the past to those who are primarily responsible for the global warming that afflicts the planet, namely, that they address this phenomenon and the means to mitigate its effects with much greater seriousness. In his statement at the opening of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly (see A/63/PV.1), the Assembly President said that love was the greatest need in today’s world and that the selfishness of some has led to the current situation. This may perhaps be considered overly simplistic coming from the mouth of a head of State, but I believe that that is precisely the core of the problem.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“With adequate support from our partners and the international community, we will be able to achieve the relevant targets set out in the MDGs. According to data published in 2007, the incidence of HIV/AIDS infection has increased in my country. We have attempted to provide free or subsidized antiretroviral treatment for all, with help from the Federative Republic of Brazil. We are also carrying out an aggressive policy to educate people in order to prevent the disease and promote safe sexual practices. Sao Tome and Principe is an archipelago that includes three mountainous islands. Despite our mountainous terrain, however, our people are increasingly concerned about the advancing sea at high tide. According to records, no waves higher than three metres have broken on our shores in the past 110 years.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“The food crisis, the financial crisis and the constraints of insufficient aid linked to inadequate processes are all contributing to deteriorating prospects. Paradoxically, the number of poor people is increasing rather than decreasing. We are continuing our efforts to reverse that situation, by example, by greatly increasing microcredit loans in the agriculture and fisheries sectors in an attempt to ensure some measure of food security. However, despite the relatively unfavourable overall environment, there have been some success stories. For example, in recent years, Sao Tome and Principe has made great progress with regard to child mortality indicators; we are certain that we will achieve the targets established in the MDGs. We have also made progress in the area of education.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We hope that those who, during the first three days of the general debate, have reaffirmed their determination to continue their solidarity towards Africa will translate the intentions expressed here into action. I need not reiterate my country’s position with regard to chronic unresolved conflicts, especially the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue, the perennial latent conflict in our subregion that is taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the humanitarian situation in Darfur and its impact. Our attention and available resources are focused on efforts to eradicate poverty, ensure food security and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite the enormous efforts of my people and the hardships they have suffered, my country will not be able to achieve all the Goals by 2015.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I believe it to be an important working document that deserves the closest attention from Member States. The recent upheavals and conflicts that the world has experienced are proof of the fragility of the current system of international relations. That makes it necessary for the world’s main political actors to engage in permanent dialogue to find lasting solutions that will make it possible for nations and peoples to concentrate on social and economic development issues. With regard to development, I would like to commend the Secretary-General on his selection of themes for the high-level meetings, the first of which took place the day before the opening of the general debate and the second of which is taking place today.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session and to wish him every success. I am certain that the themes he has put forward for discussion at this session are a reflection of his concern about the various international problems currently affecting the world. I would dare say that we are doubly blessed by his qualities as a diplomat, which are well known, and as a priest. Allow me also to take this opportunity to 23 08-51845 thank and commend his predecessor for a job well done. The report (A/63/1) of the Secretary-General to the Assembly exhaustively describes the world in which we live and reflects the major concerns of Member States while providing guidance on how to resolve them.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I believe that nearly everything has already been said here since the beginning of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly. Some were things that we Africans wanted to hear and some we could have done without. But I have come to New York once again to join other heads of State who are concerned with the state of the planet, which faces armed conflicts, environmental catastrophes — some naturally occurring and some the result of thoughtless and selfish behaviour and attitudes of some among us — as well as multiple financial crises, including extreme increases in the price of oil and basic food products. On behalf of the people of the islands of Sao Tome and Principe, I should like to congratulate Mr.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Also a question of justice is the issue of the United States Government lifting the embargo against Cuba, repealing the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and allowing for free trade and free travel. Let the Cubans settle their problems among themselves. This is a democratic act. I thank all members for being here today and listening. May God bless us all.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Finally, before ending, and as I have done in prior years, I wish to refer to two situations to which I call the attention of members and implore their solidarity, regardless of whether they are poor or rich. One of those situations is the issue of Taiwan. There are 23 million people living on Formosa island, also called Taiwan. They do not ask the international community to help them because they are poor. On the contrary, they are one of the main recognized world economic powers, and they are helping other countries, such as Sao Tome and Principe. They only ask to be recognized as a sovereign country and to be included as such on the lists of the United Nations and its agencies. This is a question of justice.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Throughout our 32 years of independence, we have followed the advice of international organizations and built up some $350 million in bilateral and multilateral debt, most of which was recently forgiven under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and other programmes. Allow me to take this opportunity to present, on behalf of the people of Sao Tome and Principe, our deepest gratitude. As long as massive poverty, injustice and obscene inequality persist in our world, none of us can rest. I say to all, please do not look the other way. Do not hesitate. The future might say that what we failed to do was tragic, but let me also say that what we did do was truly heroic.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We have low corruption, while also being rated among the best countries in the world for freedom of the press. We spend almost no money on defence and we have never fought a war. We are grateful for aid. My people would suffer even more than they already do without the World Food Programme, for example. The World Health Organization and the Global Fund to fight tuberculosis and malaria are working with us very well. The Republic of Taiwan, the people of the island of Formosa, with their well-known generosity and special attention to our realities, have been crucial in our own success against malaria. Many organizations and individuals have worked with us for many years with open hearts and generous spirits, and we thank them all for that.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Let me say a little bit about how it was and how it is in Sao Tome and Principe. The majority of people grew up in wooden shacks, with no running water, no electricity, no toilet and no chance for an education. In 1975, the country emerged from centuries of slavery and oppressive colonialism to independence with almost no teachers, no doctors, totally unprepared to govern ourselves or create an economy that did not depend on slave or contract labour as the only means of profit. We have struggled. We have stumbled. But today we have a vibrant and stable democracy that we are proud of. We have a high percentage of girls in school. We have literacy rates far above the average in the developing world. We have free health care for all of our citizens, although it is woefully inadequate for lack of funds. We have almost eradicated malaria.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It seems that international organizations sometimes suffer from poverty of expectations. Our own people in the developing world are also at times crucified on the poverty of their own desires. Instead of raging against our destiny, we have lowered our standards. I think the humiliation of poverty actually scorches the heart and creates despair. How can we come here year after year and see this despair, disease and hunger and not feel enormous sorrow? We must accept that global poverty is the disgrace of our affluent era. So how do we alleviate poverty? Many say that Africa is poor because of bad governance and corruption. I strongly reject that view. Is it shameful to remember how all of our countries in Africa, all of us, were when we became independent, or how we were even more recently in Sao Tome and Principe.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Now, with regard to how to finance development, we are told that globalization is the way, that a rising tide will lift all boats. But in many parts of the world the rising tide of globalization lifted the yachts and swamped the rowboats. Can private corporations realistically be expected to combine their entrepreneurial activities with furthering social causes? Obviously, some companies must improve their practices and be held accountable for cleaning up their environmental disasters, such as those in the Niger Delta. But to cast companies in the role of economic reformers is unrealistic. It seems that perhaps globalization has made the right to shop more important than the right to vote. At the same time, we must also be realistic about the results of aid.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”. I join previous speakers in saying that despite all the technological and scientific advances, half of the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day. Twenty per cent of everyone alive suffer from chronic hunger. Every single day, 30,000 children die needlessly from dehydration, diarrhoea or infections, which could be all too easily prevented or cured. In many countries, children are not even given a name until they are one month old because so many of them do not live that long. One billion adults today are illiterate; 100 million children cannot go to school because of their poverty.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“For those who still ignore our existence, may I remind them that my country, Sao Tome and Principe, is an African nation composed of two islands in the Gulf of Guinea and independent from Portugal since 12 July 1975. So, I wanted to say that we also join the calls to defeat terrorist extremism everywhere. However, we have already seen that this will not be achieved by military force, but by ideas and ideals that win hearts and minds. Regarding the Millennium Development Goals, I want to express my regret that so little progress has been made towards achieving these worthy ends. How can we ignore those who are to be helped by those Goals, the least, the last and the lost? As the Nobel Laureate Martin Luther King once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We come together this year at a time of enormous challenges for the United Nations. The world situation is very serious. One difficulty is that the problems are of such enormous complexity that the mass of facts presented to the public by the media make it exceedingly difficult for average people to understand the situation. Many of us in this room today live far from the troubled areas of the earth. So, it is, perhaps, hard to comprehend the plight of long-suffering peoples like those in Afghanistan, Darfur, Iraq, Palestine, Sierra Leone and Somalia, among so many others. But we must reject prejudice and discrimination and end those conflicts.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Thank you for inviting me to be here today. I bring you greetings from the people of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe. This is my first opportunity to personally congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon and to thank him for taking on the huge responsibilities he has assumed as Secretary-General. We offer him our full support for the difficult tasks ahead. I would also like to congratulate Mr. Srgjan Kerim for his election as President of the current session and to thank Ms. Al Khalifa for her work in guiding the sixty-first session so well. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Secretary-General for the choice of the topics for this session, such as climate change, finance for development, the Millennium Development Goals and countering terrorism.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“When I was first elected President of my country five years ago, I lit a candle of hope for the long-suffering people of Sao Tome and Principe. We are not there yet, but the light is getting brighter. If development were easy, everyone would already be developed! We cannot sit in supine indifference. Let us renew our efforts and work together with respect, dignity and dedication for the benefit of all the peoples of the world and for the fate of our beautiful planet.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Aid gives hope to millions of people around the world. We simply need to mend it, not end it. My own country has certainly suffered from its own share of bad governance — for the most part unwittingly, because of our own inexperience. But we are learning quickly in our short history, and we now have one of the most stable and robust democracies in all of Africa. We have the prospect of oil in our waters and in waters shared with our neighbour, Nigeria. We have 29 06-52885 already taken steps to ensure that any potential petroleum resources are not wasted but are protected for the benefit of all our citizens with an oil revenue management law that was passed unanimously in our parliament in 2004. We cannot let the past bury the future. We can lift billions out of poverty.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Without meaning to do so, multilateral and bilateral donors can actually make Governments worse. And just as badly governed countries tend to be poor, so badly governed aid projects, without transparency or accountability, also tend to fail. Humanitarian aid has proven far more successful than long-term development aid, because it is given in highly targeted bursts. It is also usually given as medicine, food, clothing or tents and taken directly to the location of the tragedy, with doctors and nurses on the ground rather than consultants. Of course, there have been some beautiful successes in aid programmes, mostly in health care, with victories over smallpox, drug-resistant tuberculosis and river blindness. Adult literacy has risen, as had life expectancy until the AIDS pandemic wiped out that improvement.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“When States do not protect property and people; when national revenues benefit self-interested political insiders who oppose any actions that would lead to more equal distribution of income and resources; when Government officials waste funds; when people are hired on the basis of being from the right family or region or political grouping; when nobody monitors Government spending; when corruption is noted but never punished; and when illegal activities are not restrained by law, the press or democratic opposition, then miserable results follow. We have all heard of the “natural resource curse”, which shows that large amounts of oil or diamonds, for example, tend to make democracy and good government less likely. But recent studies have also found that there is also an “aid curse”.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Fifty years ago they were trapped in poverty. That is no longer the case. Why have so many other countries been left behind? The newest theories tell us that the answer is simple. With or without natural resources, with or without human resources, with or without technology, badly governed countries are poor countries. Bad government causes poverty.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“But if this were true, then poor countries could simply build some schools, pave roads and buy some computers, and we would quickly catch up with rich countries. But there is something wrong here. While Taiwan, South Korea and China have all been doubling their incomes every decade, many poor countries making these changes are not growing faster than rich countries. In fact, they are growing more slowly, or even getting poorer. So there is a new theory that says the more you have, the faster you grow. This could explain why rich countries stay rich, and poor countries fall farther behind — except that it does not explain how Chile, India, Singapore, Mauritius and Botswana are catching up. These dynamic countries — not Japan, not Switzerland, not the United States — are the fastest-growing economies on the planet.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Sao Tome and Principe is grateful to Secretary- General Kofi Annan and the Goals’ Director Jeffrey Sachs for their tireless efforts to pull poor countries out of what Professor Sachs so rightly calls the poverty trap. But how did so many countries get into the poverty trap? We are unlikely to get out, or stay out, unless we know how we got there in the first place. I think it is time we all faced some of the unspoken truths about poverty. Why are we poor? Economists traditionally told us that economic wealth comes from a combination of man-made resources, such as roads, factories, machines, telephone systems; human resources, hard work and education; and technological resources, technical know-how and technological machinery.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“06-52885 28 While mentioning the Security Council, I must say that my country supports the calls that have reverberated through these halls for more than a decade. We must reform the Security Council. Its membership and institutional structures reflect outdated geopolitical realities and political thinking that was shaped by the world of 1945. Giving only five permanent members the veto power and special privileges puts the Security Council out of touch with the world. Africa, for example, does not have a single permanent member. This is not acceptable. I will close by talking about poverty, or rather what we are all seeking, which is the end of poverty. The Millennium Development Goals are a noble project.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Thanks to Taiwan and also to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, we are well on our way to finally bringing this scourge under control. In addition to humanitarian and development aid, Taiwan also maintains productive commercial ties with many United Nations Member countries and is a member of the World Trade Organization, the Asian Development Bank and the Asia Pacific Economic Group. The principle of universality is consecrated in the United Nations Charter. Permanent members of the Security Council should not continue to ignore the case of Taiwan. Another issue that continues to require the urgent attention of all of us is the embargo on Cuba. This is a relic of the cold war that should be lifted immediately.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“I refer here to Taiwan, an established democracy whose people live in freedom and in peace. Their dynamic and technologically advanced economy is a model for creating wealth in today’s global economy. Taiwan is also an excellent world citizen, generous in humanitarian and development aid. For centuries, the people of Sao Tome and Principe were debilitated by endemic malaria, and thousands died. Countless attempts to control the mosquitoes carrying that disease failed, until Taiwan brought the necessary know-how and resources to bear. Today cases of malaria have been reduced by 60 per cent. Our doctors and nurses say that there have never been so few cases of malaria in living memory.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Our women and children are among the millions of other faceless victims around the world, and, without help, we could one day face extinction. Climate change is already sabotaging many of the efforts being made to achieve sustainable development goals, augmenting poverty in developing countries, especially in the least developed countries and the small island developing States. There is new and strong evidence that most of the warming observed is attributable to human activities. As the polar ice caps melt, my low-lying island country faces a second kind of extinction, that of disappearing beneath the waves of the ocean. I cannot continue without again asking the Assembly why a country of 23 million people is not represented at the United Nations, where every country is supposed to have one vote.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“What worked to create economic growth in Europe may not work in Africa. Each country, each people, each region, each town must have the freedom to decide what is best for it, while also respecting the rights of all and everyone’s responsibility as a world citizen. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is still out of control. In my own tiny, isolated island country, we were long immune from it. Despite desperate efforts at education and prevention, our tiny population is being laid waste by a shocking increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases. We have only one hospital and a handful of doctors. We are helpless in the face of this crisis, as we cannot afford the antiretrovirals we need for all our sick people, nor do we have the ability to police our maritime borders to keep out the main source of infection.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We also cannot blindly think that our religion is the only religion, when God created so many, all believing in a Supreme Being but worshiping in different fashions. God also painted us in a rainbow of colours and did not leave instructions for one colour to be in charge of all the others. Nor did He choose a special region or language to rule over everyone else. We must pull together so that no one is left behind. There is enough for everybody, if only we would share. We all could live in freedom and in peace, with work, health, education and dignity, if only we would work together. While we must work together for certain common goals, we must also respect our cultural differences. One size does not fit all. The practice of democracy in Latin America may not be the same as democracy in Asia.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We can only hope that his successor will prove as praiseworthy as he. We are meeting here today at a time of growing international tension and of increased terrorist attacks on innocent civilians on every continent. We see unending conflicts, even genocide. Never have we needed the United Nations more than at this time, when life as we know it on our planet is threatened by climate change. It is tragic that in the face of all these challenges, the United Nations is often unable to act, because internal politics and a lack of resources constantly hamper its ability to respond as needed. No country can live in a vacuum in today’s world. For better or for worse, we are together in deciding the fate of our planet. We can no longer be only citizens of our town, our region or our country.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We have had two female Prime Ministers, and today women head half of our Government ministries. We are therefore delighted by her election and wish her every success. I thank also the outgoing President, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his remarkable work, especially in the area of advancing reform of the United Nations. Words are insufficient to pay tribute to outgoing Secretary- General Kofi Annan. A very special son of Africa, he has been an extraordinary leader of our Organization. He has worked unceasingly, showing enormous vision and great courage. No challenge has been too large or too dangerous. My country and I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Secretary-General, whose intervention 27 06-52885 during a 2003 coup attempt helped preserve democracy in Sao Tome and Principe. My people and I thank him.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“As I have just been re- elected, this is my first opportunity to speak to this forum at the beginning of my second term. It is therefore with great pleasure that I am here today for this sixty-first session of the General Assembly. Please allow me to congratulate Mrs. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa on her election as the new President of the General Assembly. We are fortunate to have as our President a diplomat with such magnificent credentials. In addition, this is a milestone for the United Nations which makes us all proud. My country, Sao Tome and Principe, is a firm believer in gender equality. I am proud to say that we have a very high percentage of girls in our schools. A woman has held the presidency of our National Assembly, and the current head of our Supreme Court is a woman.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)