YouSaid · the spoken record

Álvaro Ramos

lines on the record: 44
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 1997-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The citizens of every nation, of every country of the world, call on us today to be firm in our commitment to the Charter and to adapt our new activities to the changing times.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In times of change, which we all see as appropriate and inevitable in order to revitalize the Organization, we nevertheless identify more than ever before with the essential purposes and principles established 52 years ago. These bind the Organization together and, despite the time that has elapsed and the important changes that have since taken place in the world, continue to constitute and must continue to constitute, today as yesterday, the goal and objective of all the changes the United Nations will have to face at the dawn of the twenty-first century. People, simple people, call for us to be effective and efficient in our activities and bold in our decisions in preventing conflicts, and to act on their behalf in rebuilding civil societies.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Uruguay continues to assign to international law a primordial role as a regulator of relations among States. Respect for and compliance with international law are essential for peaceful coexistence. For this reason, we support the holding of an international conference to discuss a draft convention establishing an international criminal court for autonomous and independent hearings on certain crimes, such as genocide and others which, because of their seriousness, are roundly condemned by the international community. We also support the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on the elaboration of a convention for the suppression of terrorist bombings.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We believe that a new concept of technical cooperation will have to respond to traditional demands, such as humanitarian affairs, as well as others associated directly with the process of integration into the international economy, such as, for example, the redefinition of the role of the State, its modernization and its decentralization. We believe that a positive contribution to political and democratic stability and to economic growth is made by processes of regional and subregional integration. In our case, the Southern Cone Common Market — composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and our country — is a clear example of democratic stability and expansion of trade, within and outside the region, compatible with the rules of the World Trade Organization.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In this context, we consider it very important to maintain unconditionally the principle of universality and the right of all developing countries, without exception, to benefit from international cooperation and to receive technical assistance with a view to achieving sustainable human development. Uruguay considers international technical cooperation essential for consolidating the processes of development and integration in the various regions. It is a fundamental tool for attaining greater economic growth. We support the development of South-South cooperation as an important tool for promoting the improved development of nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“On the threshold of a century that is already taking shape and that, unfortunately, seems to be marked by growth without equity, uncertainty in employment and a proliferation of crises and conflicts, good management of development assistance is today more necessary than ever before. At a time when human concerns seem to be alien to us, it is essential, in Uruguay's view, to support an Organization that holds that people must be placed at the very heart of the development process if we want growth to be compatible with the human condition and development to be conducted by and for people.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“That should not, however, mean that developing countries would assume new and additional commitments today; that would, in our view, be unjust and unacceptable. The system of contributions should be based on objective criteria of financial responsibility. We agree that there is a need to correct and manage the budgets of the Organization in order to reduce expenditures and increase efficiency, thus striking a balance between expenditure on peace and security and expenditure on development, each of which is a cornerstone of the other, without weakening operating and information activities. We cannot but express our public satisfaction at seeing the importance the Secretary-General attaches to development, which he regards as one of the priorities 6 and essential functions of the Organization. There can be no peace without development.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In this connection, we fully support the restructuring proposed by the Secretary-General while at the same time endorsing the philosophy on which it is based, embodied in his idea that the question of human rights should be part of all the substantive spheres of the Secretariat's programme of work: peace and security, economic and social affairs, development cooperation and humanitarian affairs. The financial crisis the Organization is experiencing, which has no counterpart in its history, stems primarily from the failure to pay assessed contributions. While not intending to justify any delay in payment, Uruguay believes that the current scale of assessments requires adjustments to make it fairer, more transparent and better based on the capacity of States to pay.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Protection of human rights has been and will continue to be one of the priority objectives of both our domestic and international policies. Without full exercise of human rights, there can be neither peace nor security, neither economic prosperity nor social equity, and the existence of a democratic system of government will therefore also be impossible. In addition, there can be no full exercise of human rights without a minimum economic, social and educational base, and my country will be prepared to contribute to ensuring the existence of such a base.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“However, this should not be an obstacle to limited purchases of arms by our armed forces solely for the purpose of replacing their obsolete equipment, thereby fully discharging their constitutional mandates. We must work to ensure a continuation of the mutual confidence and security that prevails in the region today, without third countries weakening and taking advantage of our continent through the sale of sophisticated weapons. Uruguay will continue to support with firm conviction all disarmament processes, and, accordingly, we recently signed in Oslo the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, those lethal weapons that have caused not only death and serious injury to soldiers but also the loss of thousands of innocent lives.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We fully support the Middle East peace process initiated at Madrid in October 1991 and continued at Washington, and the Government of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay continues to encourage the necessary holding of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. It is essential for both parties to respect in good faith the commitments entered into in the Madrid and Washington declarations. Our Latin American continent does not want an arms race; it wants, on the contrary, to be free of nuclear weapons and of other sophisticated weapons of mass destruction that can create instability. We want to work in peace, allocating the largest possible amount of resources to our economic and social development.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The General Assembly's recent adoption of the resolution putting an end to the use of “gratis personnel provided by Governments and other entities” fulfils one of my country's long-standing aspirations and does justice to the principles of equitable geographical representation and the equality of Member States, both enshrined in the Charter. Similarly, the recent General Assembly resolution adopting uniform and standardized rates for payment of awards in cases of death or disability sustained by troops in the service of the United Nations peacekeeping operations seems to us an important step that puts an end to an unjust situation.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Uruguay is prepared for this, and, accordingly, we reaffirm here once again our commitment not only to continue to make our traditional contribution but also to 5 diversify it in order to adapt it fundamentally to peace- building. In this connection, we welcome the signing, with the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, of a memorandum of understanding regarding our contributions to the United Nations standby arrangements system. This will contribute to facilitating the planning of future peacekeeping missions in the shortest possible time.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Only thus will we be able to give its resolutions greater operative force. Consequently, we should take a new approach and open a new chapter in the reform process, not confining our reflections and aspirations to reforms of the Security Council or to reforms of a financial nature, but extending them to the organ that brings together the international community as a whole, namely, the General Assembly. After 52 years of the Organization's existence, the maintenance of international peace and security continues to be one of its essential functions. Peacekeeping operations, to which my country is proud to have been a contributor from the outset, must be fully maintained while adapting to new kinds of conflicts.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“That is all well and good, but at the same time, we need to find practical ways of revitalizing and invigorating the activity of the Assembly. The General Assembly is a unique body in international institutional machinery. In it, representativity is practically universal. States participate on an equal footing without regard for their size or power, and the ideal of international democracy attains its clearest expression, at least in formal terms. The decisions of this body have great moral and political force and accordingly, it is essential to formulate them better and make them more timely. For these reasons, the General Assembly not only needs to function more flexibly and utilize its resources more rationally, but also, and essentially, requires greater substance.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Nonetheless, our country will be ready to analyse any other proposal that might be submitted aimed at limiting the absolute individual veto. While the reform of the Security Council and the possible revision of the scale of assessments have recently been, and continue to be, the focus of political attention, we should also study the question of strengthening the General Assembly. A calm and dispassionate analysis of the organizational structure and respective areas of responsibility of our Organization shows that the forum where the principle of juridical equality of States reigns supreme is undoubtedly the General Assembly. There has been and still is much discussion regarding the composition of the Security Council and the exercise of the right of veto, in the context of the new parameters of international realities.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“However, my country believes that the reform of the Council should not be confined to the topic of its membership. Equally important is ensuring that its activities are transparent and that information provided to and communication with the States that are not members of the Council flow freely and are up to date. The Eastern Republic of Uruguay has expressed strong support for progressively limiting the right of veto, and to that end we have submitted a proposal to the effect that on certain subjects, the right of veto could be suspended by the General Assembly by a majority to be determined. That mechanism, essentially democratic in nature, would thus help reduce the absolute power of the right of veto as currently provided for in the Charter, while at the same time it would strengthen the competence of the General Assembly.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Uruguay endorses an enlargement of the Council because it believes that its structure should be adapted to the new realities in the world, which differ substantially from those that existed when the Organization was established, since at that time account was taken of the power structure resulting from the Second World War. In this regard, we support an increase in the number of both permanent and non-permanent Members of the Council, to a total of not more than 25, so that efficiency is not impaired. Our country particularly supports an increased presence of developing countries to ensure a better balance in the membership of this singular organ of our Organization. We believe that the newly created seats should be occupied on the basis of real equality of opportunity for all States.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“4 We understand that the document is aimed at the objective of equipping the Organization with an administrative structure that will permit more flexible management, prevent duplication of functions and secure coordination among its organs and programmes, all of which will result in an improvement in terms of both economy and management. Within the overall issue of reform, the specific topic of the Security Council is one of the most important because of the political significance that organ has had and will continue to have within the structure of the United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Undoubtedly, the central focus of our attention will continue to be the issue of the reform of the Organization, the essence of which is now contained in the document submitted by the Secretary-General. My country fully supports and has every confidence in the appointment and endeavours of the Secretary- General, Mr. Kofi Annan. We have thus paid the greatest attention to the package of reforms he has submitted, and we are prepared to promote deliberations on them so that they can be concluded as soon as possible.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Allow me first of all, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your election to preside over this new session of the General Assembly. We are sure that the experience you have gained in your years of activity in the Organization, together with your personal qualities and technical skills, will, under your mandate, contribute to the strengthening of this most important body of the Organization. Allow me also to express our congratulations to the outgoing President, Ambassador Razali, for the work he performed, which certainly contributed to the strengthening both of the presidency and of the role the General Assembly is called on to play in the United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“This is one of the most tragic forms of international organized crime, and its growing seriousness is demonstrated by statistics from the most varied sources. Its transnational nature makes it essential that the principle of shared responsibility should be systematically applied — without exception or unilateralism — to the entire cycle of production, trafficking and consumption. This is a tightly wound chain whose links include all countries without exception. Please accept, Mr. President, our sincerest congratulations on your election to guide the work of the Assembly and the firmest commitment of the Government of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay to support you in your activities.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Still in the field of disarmament, we have repeatedly voiced our opposition to the transfer, stockpiling, export and production of anti-personnel landmines. Accordingly, we shall continue to support keenly all initiatives aimed at eliminating them, as well as at securing the immediate entry into force of the Protocol adopted in Vienna last May. Uruguayan contingents assigned to peacekeeping Missions in Angola, Mozambique and Western Sahara have been among the many victims of these weapons, and it is the moral obligation of humankind to eradicate them. Finally, we should like to close by referring to one of the clearest and most tangible manifestations of the phenomenon of globalization we have sought to describe: the production, trafficking and consumption of illegal drugs.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“These are resources intended to fight poverty and underdevelopment and to create more dignified living conditions for our peoples. Nor should we confine cooperation to a vertical, one-way process; rather, we must also view it in terms of South-South cooperation, availing ourselves of our mutual experience to create our own competitive advantages. A few days ago, Uruguay became one of the first signatories to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Together with other developments, such as the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice regarding the legality of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, this Treaty constitutes a basic instrument for the reaffirmation of the principles of international peace and security.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“While our hopes for the establishment of representative democracy throughout our continent remain as strong as ever, we continue to oppose the unilateral application of economic, trade or financial measures against a State for political purposes. The usefulness of such measures for the rapid and peaceful transition of a country towards democracy has not yet been demonstrated. With regard to cooperation for development, we recall that the countries with greater capacities to contribute undertook to allocate at least 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product for that purpose. Yet there has been a significant downward trend in contributions stemming from that commitment in recent years, and this trend cannot be linked to the financial crisis the Organization is experiencing.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“There is no question that free trade has been and remains one of the cornerstones of world economic development, as was repeatedly recognized during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). For this very reason, we cannot endorse unilateral efforts to effect the extraterritorial application of domestic legislation and as a consequence of which, whether by virtue of their letter or their spirit, a country would be able to extend the applicability of its laws beyond its own national borders, undermining not only the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States but also freedom of trade, which is the very essence of the World Trade Organization, recently established by the international community.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In another context, integration processes are indispensable for fair competition in a world of subregional blocks. In this regard, the countries of the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR) are convinced that our integration process contributes to a true liberalization of trade. MERCOSUR constitutes an integrated, open process that has created economic zones both inside and outside the subregion. Thus, impetus has 6 been given to association with other States of the hemisphere, with other regional blocs and with countries outside the region. But above all, MERCOSUR has generated trade, both inside and outside the organization. MERCOSUR is today a demonstration of open regionalism, which affirms the commitments and, above all, the teachings of the World Trade Organization.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“With regard to the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East, and despite the various obstacles that continue to hamper the consolidation of a broad and stable peace, it is essential that the international community maintain its support for the peace process initiated in Madrid in 1991. In the same spirit, it should continue to encourage direct talks between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab countries — as is occurring even today in the United States — with a view to achieving mutual recognition and the ultimate objective of a lasting peace throughout the Middle East. We are confident that the talks taking place in Washington will culminate in the success to which we all aspire, and to which they seem to be leading.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Uruguay has already expressed its support for increasing the number of permanent members on the Council in the light of present-day world realities, but the number of non-permanent members should also be increased, precisely because of the need for greater transparency and greater representativeness. While many proposals for change have been put forward, we should at the very least all agree that the Council’s future composition should be designed so that the quest for more representativeness does not adversely affect the Council’s operational efficiency.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“With reference to the agenda for the present session, and without prejudice to the statements the delegation of Uruguay will be making in the various bodies of the Assembly, we believe it appropriate to make a few brief comments on some items of particular interest. It is clear that the reform of the Security Council has captured the attention of the international community, precisely because of the post-cold-war changes I have mentioned. The potential impact of the Council on the evaluation, prevention or easing of international conflicts, and the effective application of the principle of legal equality among States make it necessary to have greater democratization or transparency in the decision-making process and more equitable geographical distribution in the composition of the Council.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Uruguay truly takes the principles of the Charter and the purposes of this Organization as its own, from the maintenance of peace and security — reflected in the fact that our country contributes the largest number of troops per capita to international peacekeeping operations — to the recognition of the primacy of international law — reflected in our being the first country to unconditionally accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. Our position with regard to the United Nations is thus consistent with our historical definition of ourselves as a nation, a definition anchored in respect for international commitments and strict compliance with the principles of international law in all areas in which States bear responsibility.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Uruguay fully and spontaneously agrees with the widespread aspiration for change. Like the vast majority of States represented here, our country feels a deep-seated, natural inclination in favour of any means or instrument that, at the global or regional level, prompts or compels nations to conduct themselves in accordance with law. For countries such as ours, which are founded on the rule of international law, it is essential to support any effort to guarantee the legal order, the principles of law, and the rule of law in relations among States. This is not simply a rhetorical reaffirmation of our desire for peace or our conviction that international law must prevail.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“On its thirtieth, fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries, efforts at revision, or rather at reform, emerged, aimed at achieving greater efficiency in the pursuit of its purposes. Unfortunately, however, the effort currently under way, like its predecessors, does not go to the root of the problem, which lies far deeper than the pursuit of administrative efficiency or the rationalization of functions. If we evaluate the current efforts to restructure the United Nations, we see clearly that in practice virtually all of the reforms being studied have no more than a procedural or formal impact, and do not make a decisive contribution to strengthening the system, or at least its substance, especially if we bear in mind that this Organization exists at a period in history characterized most distinctly by an accelerated pace of change.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Since its establishment, the United Nations has seen the number of Member States increase almost fivefold, and at present, approximately one third of these countries has been significantly affected by insurgent or dissident movements or Governments in exile. For all of these reasons, which are associated with this dialectical process of globalization and fragmentation, 5 with the growing international importance of a heterogeneous collection of new actors and with the emergence of non-conventional threats to peace that cannot be reconciled through traditional mechanisms of collective security, we need to rethink our Organization and to act in consequence. The restructuring of the United Nations is certainly not a new issue.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“There are also ethnic groups not assimilated into an externally imposed nationality, so-called region-States, with growing links to the world economy and decreasing links to national authorities, as well as religious movements that transcend frontiers and inflame fanaticism which, in some cases, has terrorist effects. We therefore see a dual and contradictory process: globalization and fragmentation. On the one hand, interdependence has given rise to an increasingly interlinked world in which entities influence each other mutually, and this in theory would be conducive to the strengthening of political units and the formation of mega-States or large regional blocs. On the other hand, and as a consequence of the progressive impact of these new actors on the international scene, fragmentation has also emerged.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Obviously, the United Nations, sustained by the will of Governments, has acted and continues to act as a summarizer or synthesizer of those various wills, without prejudice to the greater or lesser influence of the military or financial powers of its Member States. For this reason, quite naturally, the activity or inactivity of the Organization depends on the concerns or indifference of national Governments, or on the way in which those Governments articulate their consensus or disagreement. But other actors have also taken the international stage, and they are not always a part of the multiplicity of non-governmental organizations.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“To some extent, this phenomenon may be similar to that described as the emergence of the imprecise State, found in a wide variety of non-State political bodies or agents that have an international impact through the intricate network of non-governmental organizations and multinational political movements whose proliferation is another sign of the new interdependence, and which play an increasingly active role in the management of the world system. Undoubtedly, Governments, as the executives of the political decisions of States, retain their essential powers in matters of diplomacy, security, defence, macroeconomics and currency.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“For this reason, we believe that there is an urgent need to take an up-to-date, modern look at how the United Nations should react and act in response to the new threats to peace, and at what its capacity should be to respond to the phenomena inherent in the recent or current forms of globalization. On considering these questions, we shall certainly come up against an unavoidable obstacle: that of the nation in its traditional form and as the basic unit on which the structure of the United Nations was built. This nation no longer exercises a monopoly over international decisions, and consequently is not the exclusive determinant of their legitimacy.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“It must be asked, then, whether the United Nations, an organic manifestation of the global system that has taken shape in this decade, is capable of effective, systematic action in preventive diplomacy. We would take it one step further and ask what our own national responsibility is, as a democratic State and a founding Member of the United Nations, in strengthening its role in the face of new challenges. Although this may appear simplistic, it is possible to conceive of war as a consequence of poverty, injustice, overpopulation or poverty. But if these conditions have to be eliminated before peace is feasible, then preventing or restricting hostile tensions becomes a Utopian exercise.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In this setting of globalization and interdependence, the United Nations — with its universal composition, its agglutinative structure that brings together countries at the most varied levels of human development and ethnic or religious composition, its institutional capacity to act as a point of articulation or a sounding board for all concerns or aspirations that extend beyond the local, national or regional level — would be in an ideal position to play a leading and decisive role. In other words, this Organization is the forum that, by the nature and magnitude of its missions, should embody or interpret more faithfully than any other institution these compelling, topical phenomena of globalization and interdependence. Yet, this distinctive role of the United Nations remains an unrealized vision.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“This phenomenon increasingly lends itself to the dominance of a system of echoes and reflections between nations, of all manner of interrelationships, which in theory should contribute to international stability, since according to classical doctrine, the risks of military confrontation are reduced when nations become more interdependent economically and financially. Nevertheless, recent events have revealed the contrary: new sources of tension and conflict have emerged on the international scene, as well as new unconventional forms of violence and crime that affect world peace and destabilize coexistence within and between democratic societies.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The recent establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is seen as the institutional culmination of this global trend towards liberalization of trade in goods and services and as a force conducive to interdependence. Accordingly, globalization, despite the various rates at which it operates in different parts of the world — from the slow, deliberate pace at which it proceeds in countries with agrarian economies to the dizzying rapidity of its progress in those possessing advanced technologies — appears to be the distinguishing mark of 4 the post-cold-war era.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The industrial assembly lines of advanced technology ignore national borders, often making it difficult to determine the origin of a finished product, since its components come from such diverse sources. The political boundaries of States are no longer boundaries of economic production and processes. The network of multinational corporations has expanded to the extent that transactions between their subsidiaries account for one quarter of world trade. In the face of the fluctuation and volatility of international electronic transactions, the central banks of the most developed countries already have difficulty controlling the exchange rates of their currencies or the level of interest rates.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Perhaps the term “globalization”, which occurs so frequently in so many decisions nowadays, best describes the international system which prevails in the present decade and which, under the influence of a growing and close interdependence, will extend into the twenty-first century. Admittedly, the term is not a precise one that sums up the broad and complex range of supranational phenomena that have been emerging since 1989, the year that symbolizes the end of the cold war. It is undoubtedly a term that is indicative of the fact that today the cause-and-effect relationship in the economic, political and even the cultural sphere transcends traditional national borders more than ever. Interdependence is today more pronounced than ever before in history: markets, capital flows, research and production do not coincide with the political map.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)