YouSaid · the spoken record

José RAMOS-HORTA

lines on the record: 120
first: 2004-09-24
most recent: 2023-09-24
sittings or episodes: 7
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

“But that unequal relationship has to change and will change only when we invest more in high-quality education and health care for our children and youth and when we invest more in science and technology. We have the chance of the century to build a new partnership of equals between the super-rich of the North and us on the periphery, with a renewed spirit of mission around the global causes of nature and human survival. Failing that, we will sink together, rich and poor, the weak and the powerful.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Rather, we should welcome the positive reality of global countries that share with us diasporas, cultures and interests in wellbeing or security that are deeply intertwined with our own. We can gain more from the free movement of people and goods than from building concrete walls. We all benefit from the impressive transformation of India into a global economic success story. India has an admirable track record of decades of practical solidarity with other developing countries, even during the early stages of its own development. Equally we want to see prosperity in Europe. Japan. South Korea and Australia. But their continuing prosperity depends on peace and stability in the global South and on our markets, workforce and providers of the raw wealth that they process and re-export.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Allow me to recall a story that is no longer part of our daily conversation — the story of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi. an innocent Syrian baby whose lifeless body washed ashore near the Turkish resort town of Bodrum in September 2015. How many of us are pained by the sight of children dying everyday of hunger and in ongoing wars? In centuries past, the Atlantic Ocean was the graveyard of African slaves, and those who survived the voyage built new countries with their sweat and blood. In the twenty-first century, the Mediterranean Sea is the new graveyard of thousands of Africans, fleeing drought, extreme poverty and conflicts. No one should fear the Chinese. Indian. European and American super-Powers.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We would see positive effects on poverty rates, food security and access to basic health services, education, electricity, drinking water, sanitation, housing and social security, with multiplier effects on the diversification of economies, especially in agriculture. We live in a universe full of dualities: an increasingly prosperous world whose wealth has increased by $30 trillion a year, according to Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. but where the leaderships of the Group of Seven or the Group of 20 fail to reflect that in the fight against hunger, stunting and other forms of multidimensional poverty. We need to adopt a universal child benefit and a new ODA target for a fair share for children, particularly targeting children in fragile low- income countries.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“By facilitating the energy transition in small island developing States. LDCs and vulnerable nations, we aim to mitigate climate change impacts and preserve our shared global environment for generations to come. In the face of the agony of poverty and rising costs in the most impoverished countries, the super-rich chief executive officers of banks and creditor countries remain indifferent to calls for debt cancellation. I insist here that Banks and other credit institutions cancel this damned debt. It would be a leap forward in international solidarity if all members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development were to allocate 1 per cent of their national gross domestic product to official development assistance (ODA).”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“As a second priority, the initiative would pay urgent attention to the particular challenges faced by fragile States that are susceptible not only to fragility and vulnerability on their own but also where there is heightened risk when faced with any massive economic turmoil, which the green transition — if not handled carefully — could increase. Thirdly, as the urgent need to transition to a low- carbon economy and clean energy accelerates, the initiative would seek to ensure that the quest for rare earth elements and critical minerals does not lead to further instability, promote weak governance or exacerbate local tensions or grievances in the countries where the strategic reserves of such elements and minerals are found. The initiative seeks to create a brighter and more sustainable future for our planet and all its inhabitants.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Therefore, we propose a bold initiative that would seek to accelerate the just energy transition in fragile developing States that rely heavily on oil and gas production to prevent turmoil and unrest. The combined efforts of unlocking finance through debt alleviation, streamlining international finance at the lowest interest rates, and significantly increasing official development assistance will empower those nations to embark on projects that foster the development of clean industries, address the ongoing loss and damage related to climate change, and facilitate their efforts in greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation to climate change. While initiatives to further the just transition exist, they do not pay enough attention to fragile or vulnerable States, least developed countries (LDCs) or small island developing States.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We know from experience and history that wars are very seldom won on the battlefield, miscalculations and false pride prevail, and the war goes on for years and killings and utter destruction continue until exhaustion; only then do the sides involved decide to begin negotiations on a peace settlement. Why not talk now? People living in fragile circumstances are already feeling the effects of climate change most severely. We need a new outlook on the climate and security nexus that will address the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on peace and security and ensure that the quest for energy transition does not exacerbate the security situation in vulnerable and fragile countries.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“In Myanmar, unable to control the ground, the military pursues a scorched-earth strategy with the widespread use of aircraft and helicopters targeting civilians across the country. At least 3.000 civilians have been killed and 17.000 people arbitrarily imprisoned, including legitimately elected leaders such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Timor-Leste condemns the invasion and the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the ongoing war. with its catastrophic consequences not only for the Ukrainian people, but also for the Russians and the rest of the world, with the disruption of global trade in grain and energy.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Academics concoct an expanded Security Council, regurgitating ideas for a more representative body reflecting today’s demographics, which is in itself an almost surreal task, bearing in mind that leaders up to the present have not ended the nuclear arms race, remained the biggest arms merchants of death, led in the desecration of Mother Nature, failed to help the poorest out of poverty, and have not shown the wisdom to write off the debt incurred by countries of the poorer South, a burden caused by loan sharks from Western commercial banks. Children living in conflict zones continue to come under attack on an alarming scale. Recent years have seen an exacerbation of children’s vulnerability to grave violations.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“The growing tensions among regional and global Powers are eroding the potential of our collective security institutions at a time when we face existential challenges. We cannot accept incomprehensible anachronisms, such as the embargo imposed on the Cuban people, the continuing impasse in the Western Sahara conflict and the blatant disregard of United Nations resolutions on the two-State solution for Israel and Palestine. On and off. we hear about the need to reform the Security Council.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Global crises such as pandemics, climate change, the war on Ukraine and the resulting geopolitical fragmentation have disproportionately impacted already fragile and conflict-affected countries. They have always felt the brunt of every global crisis. On the other hand, those countries are the least responsible for those crises. The incidence of extreme hunger, poverty and humanitarian crises caused by wars, climate change and geoeconomic fragmentation is increasingly concentrated in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Armed conflicts proliferate and economic and social conditions are worsening in countries around the world, but we seem to have forgotten the children of the tragedies of Myanmar. Afghanistan. Yemen. Syria. Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We are very grateful for the unanimous decision of ASEAN leaders to grant observer status to Timor-Leste, a pathway to membership and a comprehensive support package to continue training our staff and diplomats. We do not depend on outside help and are eternally grateful to those who helped us in our times of greatest need. We finance our own national budget from the returns of a sovereign wealth fund invested in United States Treasury Bonds and global financial markets, with an annual return of over 9 per cent. Timor-Leste is an active member of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries and is a co-founder of the international g7+ group, which was established in 2010 in Dili, has a membership of 20 conflict-affected countries and is currently chaired by Sierra Leone.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We are an observer State in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with the right to participate in all summits of Heads of State and Government, ministerial meetings and senior officials and technical meetings. In the 20 years since independence and the 10 years since we formally requested membership in ASEAN, most economic and social indicators show significant progress, including in life expectancy, which was less than 60 years in 2002 and is now at 70. and a reduction in poverty and infant mortality. From 21 doctors in 2002. we now have more than 1.200. In 2002. the capital had partial electric coverage, while the rest of the country did not enjoy that privilege. Currently, power is available in 96.1 per cent of our territory.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“In collaboration with UNICEF, the Government intends to implement an intersectoral early childhood development policy to promote investments in the first years of life and build a solid foundation for social and human capital. We have a high and unacceptable incidence of domestic violence. UN-Women recognizes. however, that Timor-Leste is taking significant steps in implementing international legal and policy frameworks, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Timor-Leste has no political violence or tensions or crimes based on ethnicity or religion. We have no domestic organized crime or armed robbery. Despite a significant reduction in poverty, multidimensional poverty remains high, at 45.8 per cent, and even higher among children. Lifting our people out of extreme poverty, food insecurity, neonatal mortality. stunting and child malnutrition, and providing child and maternal care are some of the challenges that we are determined to face head on over the next five years. For that reason, child malnutrition and access to pre-school education are two of our main priorities.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We are a young, imperfect and vibrant democracy, an oasis of peace, tolerance and freedom. Since we gained independence in 2002. our democracy has evolved, alive and dynamic. The Economist magazine’s Democracy Index rates Timor-Leste as the most democratic country in South-East Asia; the organization Reporters Without Borders, in its most recent World Press Freedom Index, places Timor-Leste in tenth place worldwide in terms of press freedom. We are a multicultural, multi-religious, multilingual and multiethnic society. With humility, we continue to build a country open to the world, tolerant and free from hate and violence. Our practicing Catholics, representing 98 per cent of the population, live in harmony with our Protestant and Muslim brothers and sisters.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Russia, Ukraine and NATO countries must swallow their pride, review the past policies that have led to this mutual suicide, back away from each other’s borders, let the Ukrainians rebuild their country and their lives and let Russia retreat in security to its borders.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In the Ukraine conflict, Russia and Ukraine should clear their ports and sea routes and allow a resumption of normal international shipping activities, following the breakthrough in the grain and fertilizer agreements brokered by the Secretary-General. Considering the extremely limited number of credible, neutral global leaders, the Secretary-General and the envoys of his choice should work hard day and night to reach a humanitarian ceasefire agreement and a provisional peace agreement. The ultimate goal should be a comprehensive, permanent peace agreement, but in the short term we must aim for a temporary cessation of troop movements and military action, the opening of humanitarian air and land corridors and zones for unimpeded humanitarian assistance and a resumption of export and import activities.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The people of Myanmar feel abandoned and betrayed by the so-called international community. They are asking why there is such a stark difference in how they are treated compared with the prompt and extremely generous support for Ukrainian civilians and refugees. They are asking why there is so much sophisticated military support for Ukraine’s resistance, yet such a mute reaction to the war that has been waged on them. The Myanmar conflict is affecting the security and stability of neighbouring countries and may escalate. There has to be dialogue among all involved in the conflicts in Ukraine and Myanmar and in other crises around the world. The Tatmadaw cannot claim it is defending itself from external aggression.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It is time for the richest families and corporations of the so-called global South to gather at a historic summit, hosted by the Secretary-General, to commit to a vision and plan of action to rid Asia, Africa and Latin America of extreme poverty and child malnutrition, ensure that every poor community has clean water and sanitation, provide vaccines and basic public health services and offer better education facilities and better housing with renewable energy and connectivity for better access to education and business. That can be done by the rich of the global South — all it requires is vision, great heart, courage and the understanding that by investing in the poor of our own countries we are investing in peace. Finally, I want to talk about the situation in Myanmar.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Debt levels now limit our ability to protect the weakest and most vulnerable from the effects of rising prices, let alone to increase our efforts to address the climate emergency that threatens our very existence. Since 2015 the number of developing countries in debt distress or at high risk has doubled, to 60 per cent. But equally I want to address our cries for solidarity and fraternity to the billionaires and trillionaires of Asia, Africa and Latin America. There is more liquidity in Asia than in Europe and the United States combined.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“They should pause for a moment to reflect on the glaring contrast in their response to other wars elsewhere, where women and children have died in thousands from conflict and starvation. Our beloved Secretary-General’s cries for help in those situations have not been met with equal compassion in response. And we are now facing a ruinous situation in terms of the rising cost of living for the poor, which has already resulted in riots in Sri Lanka, Peru, Kenya and most recently Haiti. Low-income countries were able to spend only a fraction of the amounts that high-income countries spent on COVID-19 stimulus packages. High-income countries spent 20 per cent of their gross domestic product, middle-income countries, 6 per cent, and low-income countries just 2.5 per cent. As a result, many countries had to increase their debt.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Draconian fiscal austerity measures in the form of cuts in public expenditure and higher taxes were forced on workers and the middle class in the crisis- affected Western countries. But rarely are we able to inspire the rich to show the same level of compassion and wisdom towards the poorer South. I continue to believe that we are all part of the great human family, yet some seem to feel that we are not really equal or part of that same human family. Part of the world lives in dazzling citadels, while their billions of distant relatives live in poor global neighbourhoods. The Western countries and others started off on high moral ground in confronting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but may end up losing the support of the developing world, which constitutes 80 per cent of the global population, after all.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In 2015, donor countries reallocated their official development assistance commitments to the North African, Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugee crisis flowing into Europe, causing an estimated 15 per cent drop in total aid. The potential for a diversion of aid is even greater now, after $349 billion was estimated as needed for the reconstruction of Ukraine. We must ensure that the Ukrainians are supported, but not at the expense of unity with the many struggling people in other nations. In the aftermath of the 2008-2009 subprime crisis, which had knock-on effects across the globe, hundreds of billions of dollars were quickly mobilized to rescue exposed European and American banks.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I hope that all have carefully read the letter of our esteemed Secretary-General, dated 31 August and addressed to all Heads of State, which provides with clinical precision exact figures on the number of our fellow human beings who are affected — women and children, youth and the elderly, in several African countries, Yemen and Afghanistan. The World Bank’s Food Commodity Price Index, which reached a record high in nominal terms during March and April, increased by 15 per cent between April and May, and is more than 80 per cent higher than it was two years ago. Add to that the recent devastating floods in Pakistan inflicting heartbreaking suffering on over 30 million people. Aid to poorer countries of the South should not be cancelled out to be reallocated to address the refugee crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“At our independence 20 years ago, we had only 20 medical doctors. Today we have more than 1,200 doctors for a population of 1.5 million. That would not have been possible without Cuban solidarity. At independence 20 years ago, life expectancy was less than 60 years; now a Timorese woman can expect to live beyond 71 years of age. Connectivity will surge in the next three to four years, as Timor-Leste will be linked by several submarine cables to Australia, Indonesia and beyond. As it is, we already have a high percentage of mobile phone and social media users, and we are experimenting with exciting digital and e-government technologies. I wish to now touch upon three matters of profound concern. The first issue is the extremely serious food crisis affecting millions of people in Africa and Asia.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In 2023, Timor-Leste will hopefully gain World Trade Organization (WTO) accession, another natural extension of our country’s regional and global economic integration. The accessions to WTO and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are driven by Timor-Leste’s own economic interests, such as the domestic economic reform process, to ensure a healthy enabling environment for foreign direct investment, national investment and the diversification of our economy. ASEAN membership is a strategic imperative, which is as important for Timor-Leste’s stability and prosperity as our country’s peace and prosperity should be to ASEAN. As much as peace and prosperity in our neighbourhood benefits us all, conflicts, threats of conflict and risks originating in one country inevitably affect others.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We are grateful to the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (COVAX) for the initial shipments of vaccines. We are grateful to New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Japan, China, the European Union, Portugal and the United States for their generous support in kind and cash. In a world plagued with conflicts and man-made catastrophes, from Myanmar to Afghanistan, to Yemen and to Ukraine, Timor-Leste is an oasis of tranquillity. Common criminality is very low; armed robbery is unheard of. We do not have organized crime. Our Catholic majority population — 98 per cent of the population — and their Protestant and Muslim brother and sister communities live side by side in total harmony. Timor-Leste does not have a single case of ethnic or religious-based tension or conflict.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Thanks to the prompt actions taken by the Government, supported by our partners and friends, we avoided a public health crisis. Australia proved to be a true sisterly neighbour, promptly delivering every assistance our fragile health system required. We are deeply grateful for the speedy generous action taken by the Australian Government in deploying medical specialists, ventilators and intubation equipment and in training local staff. When a vaccine became available, Australia provided it beyond our needs, enabling the vaccination of more than 72 per cent of our people, including children, in record time. Government and civil servants, who at times move at a tropical leisurely pace, quickly drafted a COVID-19 prevention and economic recovery strategy, which included cash transfers and food baskets for every low- income household.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“But the policies we undertook to prevent the spread of that insidious virus, such as curtailing the free movement of peoples and goods, inevitably affected the livelihoods of rural and urban people across the country. Farmers and traders suffered the most. To protect our children, we closed down schools even though we knew that this decision would have serious detrimental consequences for the hundreds of thousands of children and youth who had to miss school and miss out on the one-meal-a-day programme, which provides a meal for every child in schools across the country. In the very early days of the onset of the pandemic, our health authorities and the World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies on the ground scrambled and worked hard, day and night, to prevent the much-feared virus from killing our people.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It is an honour to return to this Assembly of nations once again as President of my country, a position to which I was re-elected five months ago. I am conscious of time, so I have distributed my full speech, and I will skip over many pages as a courtesy and out of respect for the Assembly. Like almost every country on the planet, Timor- Leste has endured multiple climate change catastrophes, a prolonged dry season followed by floods, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and now the global economic impact of the confrontation between Russia, Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. We had a minimal direct impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of hospitalizations and fatalities. More children died of dengue than of COVID-19.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In regard to the Security Council, we restate our view that it has to be expanded to accommodate the new demographic and economic realities of the twenty- first century. Major regional Powers like India and Brazil must be granted permanent member status in the Security Council. In concluding, on behalf of our people I thank the international community for the steady and generous assistance provided to us in our years of need. We would not have been able to achieve the progress of the past years without the understanding of our friends and partners. We can all do better in Timor-Leste and elsewhere, and we must. With humility we acknowledge our failings and limitations. We are determined to live up to the expectations of our people and to lead them towards a peaceful and prosperous future.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I believe that I have already exceeded the time allocated to me by one minute and 35 seconds. I have a few more words to say about foreign aid and climate change, but I will skip that in order to respect everybody else, particularly those following me. Allow me only to say two words about United Nations reform. More than 60 years after its founding, the United Nations has yet to undertake meaningful reform to make it more representative of the world of the twenty- first century and to become more effective. And we are not talking only about an expanded and more representative Security Council. We are talking about making the United Nations and its many agencies and programmes less bureaucratic and more efficient in their internal management and service delivery.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We urge Israel, a country founded on 5,000 years of history and born of centuries of persecution and war, to show the wisdom and generosity of the Jews by ending the Gaza blockade, allowing unhindered access 10-55109 4 for humanitarian assistance, and ending the land- grabbing and colonization of the West Bank. On the question of Western Sahara, the aborted decolonization of that territory and the endless plight of hundreds of thousands of Saharans in camps in Algeria constitute an indictment of the international community. This is not an issue as complex as Afghanistan or Palestine. How can we believe that there will be an early resolution of these other seemingly intractable problems when there seems to be little political will to solve the Western Sahara problem?”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“To those in Israel who have championed the cause of peace and the rights of the Palestinian people, I will say that they represent the very best of the Jewish people — a people who more than anyone else on Earth should understand the suffering and desire of others for freedom. We urge Hamas to show statesmanship by recognizing the State of Israel. Extremism, fanaticism and indiscriminate violence do harm to the noble Palestinian quest for dignity and freedom. At the same time, we submit that Hamas and Hezbollah are genuine popular movements deeply rooted in the plight of millions of poor, dispossessed, alienated and angry in the Middle East. Labelling them terrorists and refusing to engage and build bridges with such groups is, in our view, not a sound policy.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Based on our own experience, we believe that in order to manage such complex challenges, be it in our own country, Myanmar or anywhere else, we must all show wisdom and engage in patient dialogue with those who do not agree with us so that together we can end conflict and pull our countries out of poverty. With respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we commend the Israeli and Palestinian leaders for their renewed dialogue under the auspices of the United States Administration. To those in Palestine who, in spite of decades of suffering and humiliation, have resisted the temptation of extremism and violence, I bow.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We appeal to President Barack Obama to sign an executive order releasing five Cuban citizens who have languished in United States jails for over 10 years and denied family visits. Even visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross have not been authorized. The United States should likewise lift the draconian financial and economic sanctions and trade embargo against Cuba. The Cuban people are among the few in the world who are still suffering the inequities of the cold-war era. It would seem that, for some in the United States and in particular in the State of Florida, the cold war is not over. The situation in Myanmar is an immensely complex one. It is a vast country fragmented along ethnic lines and plagued by numerous armed groups fighting with different agendas.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Timor-Leste is proud to have one of the most humanist Constitutions in the world. It prohibits the death penalty and its maximum prison sentence is 25 years. We have also ratified all core international human rights treaties. Our Constitution gives primacy to international law over domestic law, such that all our laws must conform to international law. As the Head of State guided by humanist beliefs and the relevant provisions of our Constitution, I have issued pardons to individuals who have been tried and found guilty by the courts and have served a number of years with good behaviour. We believe that the pursuit of justice cannot be dissociated from other overwhelming values, such as compassion and understanding of mitigating circumstances. I wish now to turn to some international issues.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“With regard to the management of our petroleum resources, we are pleased to note that the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in its most recent report of 1 July, rated Timor-Leste number one in Asia and number three in the world for sound, transparent and effective management of our oil and gas revenues. Women make up almost 30 per cent of the deputies in our national Parliament. Key cabinet positions in the executive branch — finance, justice, social solidarity, prosecutor-general and so on — are held by women. A youth parliament, comprising 130 youth parliamentarians ranging in ages from 12 to 17 years, has been elected and will have its first formal sitting in November. I am pleased that our expectations on balanced gender representation were in fact exceeded. The youth parliament counts 68 girl and 62 boy deputies.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“The first of the 800 Timorese medical students studying in Cuba have returned home. In addition to those studying medicine in Cuba, there are 200 more 3 10-55109 enrolled in the medical school of our national university. In addition, more than 200 Cuban doctors have been assigned to Timor-Leste since 2004, working side by side with Timorese doctors and nurses delivering services to the remotest corners of the country and training our medical and health personnel. The members of the famous Cuban Medical Brigade are true missionaries, as deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize as Mother Teresa. In Timor-Leste, this year we will finalize our own road map, the 2011-2030 Strategic Development Plan, which will lift our people from centuries of poverty to the level of an upper-middle-income country by 2030.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“In the past two years, poverty levels have decreased by as much as 9 per cent. Infant mortality and under-five mortality rates have been reduced and have already reached the 2015 target. School enrolment has increased from 65 per cent in 2007 to 83 per cent in 2009-2010. Adult illiteracy is being gradually eliminated thanks to a joint programme between Timor-Leste and Cuba. We anticipate that, within two to three years, Timor-Leste will be completely free of illiteracy. About 30 per cent of our general State budget is allocated to public health and education. This turn-around is due largely thanks to aggressive public financing of social such programmes as direct cash transfers to the elderly, widows, the handicapped and veterans, and to determined efforts to expand cultivated areas and increase food production.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“In only eight years and in spite of the overwhelming challenges facing us, we have navigated out of the storms to a new period of peace, stability and economic growth. Timor-Leste is a least developed country, affected by pervasive poverty. We are still a fragile country, partly because we are only eight years old, and being an infant country, all the institutions of the State are young and fragile. However, the Almighty and the Merciful has blessed us with generous natural resources, such as oil and gas, enabling us to accelerate our overall development. Timor-Leste was not yet independent in 2000, and it was not until our first Millennium Development Goal report was issued in 2004 that the first targets were set. For the past three years, Timor-Leste has enjoyed real peace and a robust economic growth of over 12 per cent.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Nuclear weapons are not going to be of much help in the ongoing ethnic, religious and border disputes in Asia. We pray to God the Almighty and the Merciful that these weapons and others, chemical and biological, do not ever fall into the hands of extremist non-State entities. We gathered here from 20 to 22 September to review the progress — or lack of it — on the pledges we solemnly made before our peoples in 2000 to eliminate or at least halve poverty by 2015. In Timor- Leste, we regained independence in 2002, and in the first years of our independence we set out to rebuild our country from the ashes of the violence of the past, lay the foundations of a functioning democratic State, heal our wounds, reconcile our divided communities and normalize relations with past external adversaries.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We do not know whether Iranian rulers do or do not have the desire to be an armed nuclear Power. What we do know, however, is that the possession of nuclear weapons is not a shortcut to super-Power status, as some in Asia seem to think, and does not insure anyone against twenty-first century conventional and non–conventional security threats. Nuclear weapons were developed as a result of the tragic experiences of the Second World War and of mutual suspicion and fears pervasive among the Powers at that time. They have become obsolete. That is proven by the fact that the mighty Soviet nuclear and conventional arsenals were not able to prevent the implosion of its Empire, the liberation of hundreds of millions of people or the reunification of Germany.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“He went too far, as he has done many times before in this Assembly and in other forums, as when he has questioned the facts of the Holocaust. Otherwise, we fully subscribe to Iran’s legitimate right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, and we caution the Powers that be not to hasten in reaching conclusions that may lead to irreversible, catastrophic decisions. We do have serious doubts, however, about the reliability and safety of nuclear energy. Let us not forget the lessons of the Three Mile Island accident, which occurred at 4 a.m. on 28 March 1979 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or the even worse Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of April 1986. The recent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would pale by comparison with the blow-up of a nuclear energy facility.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I was at Columbia University, addressing an equally important gathering of young students and academics from many countries, cultures and religions. So I did not hear President Ahmadinejad’s latest intellectual concoctions in this Assembly. I will not question the right of anyone to speak his mind. President Ahmadinejad is entitled to believe in and regurgitate whatever intellectual, philosophical or theological concoctions his unique mind may fabricate. However, I do not agree that any of us should disregard the basic rules and practices of conduct among leaders by uttering obscenities in this Assembly. What President Ahmadinejad said in this forum in regard to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center was an obscenity.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I have never met Mayor Bloomberg, but he has gone up in our esteem and respect because of his intellectual clarity and moral courage in standing up for the rights of American Muslims in building a cultural centre and a sacred place of worship in lower Manhattan as a venue for reflection, learning and fraternity among cultures and religions. What better place is there than lower Manhattan, near the World Trade Center, to signal the revulsion of American Muslims and moderate Muslims all over the world at the actions of some extremists? I congratulate Mayor Bloomberg for his moral courage and integrity. I was not present in this Hall when President Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran addressed 10-55109 2 this Assembly a few days ago.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“It is a lengthy speech — although I will not compete with Presidents Obama, Ahmadinejad or Chávez — so I will skip through much of it, out of respect for the representatives who have been here for a week listening to many speeches. Still, I would fail my upbringing if I were not to thank the Mayor of New York and New Yorkers for welcoming us to their city. We sympathize with the residents of this city for the inconveniences we cause them by our presence, even if most people would agree that the United Nations and the numerous meetings held here throughout the year bring enormous tangible and non-quantifiable benefits to the city. I also would like thank the United States federal authorities for their exceptional efforts and professionalism in providing us with a secure and friendly environment.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I have been given such a bad spot on the speaking list that I feel as if I am in a Fellini movie, speaking to an empty Hall. Still, because I believe in ghosts, I believe that the friendly ghosts of those who are not present are here to listen, and I profusely thank those who bothered to come on this Saturday afternoon. Mr. President, in compensation for my having the worst possible time slot in the general debate, when I see you this afternoon I hope you will have a nice box of Swiss chocolates to give to me. We will not distribute the written version of my speech because no one reads them anyway and it is a waste of paper and money. However, anyone who is curious enough about my speech will be able to find it on the General Assembly’s website.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)