YouSaid · the spoken record

Tabaré Vázquez

lines on the record: 58
first: 2005-09-24
most recent: 2016-09-24
sittings or episodes: 4
sources: un-general-debate

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

“I very much appreciate the attention the Assembly has given to me today. On behalf of the Uruguayan people, a small country in South America’s Southern Cone, I would like to reiterate that, within our modest means, we will continue to work with members to strive for a more fraternal world with more solidarity for more social justice, with peace, with respect and with tolerance for all inhabitants of the planet.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Secondly, in our address to the General Assembly in 2015 (see A/70/PV.16) we expressed our desire that the seventieth session would be the last at which our country had to call for an end to the economic, trade and financial embargo so unfairly imposed by the United States on Cuba. So long as the embargo remains in place, Uruguay will continue to demand here its definitive lifting. Thirdly, we are not indifferent to the complex political and institutional situations that exist in several brother nations. As good brothers, we hope that such difficulties will sovereignly resolved on the basis of democratic institutional frameworks and in a calm, respectful and sincere dialogue among the parties involved. The will of citizens, the will of the people, must be thoroughly respected.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“The best way to return such support — and without being ignorant of the circumstances under which we live today — we commit ourselves to continue working hard, as our modest means allow — to help all the people of the world succeed in meaningfully defending their rights to health and life. Uruguay is not unaware of the circumstances in other regions of the world. Again, we are not indifferent. Allow me to address some of those issues. First, we would like to congratulate the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. We reiterate to them our willingness and readiness to continue cooperating with the parties in the new and demanding stages of the peace process.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“None of the claimants’ arguments were accepted and, more important, the policies adopted by our country were recognized as sovereign, legitimate and in line with the international commitments Uruguay had undertaken and in accord with international law. But things do not happen by coincidence. In that regard, I would like to thank the World Health Organization, many of the countries represented here and all the institutions and individuals who in one way or another supported Uruguay’s cause in this dispute. I thank all of them sincerely on behalf of the Uruguayan people.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“That company was suing our country because of its opposition to two regulations adopted by our country in order to control tobacco. In addition to the formal arguments brought by that tobacco firm, the main reason for its action was to punish a small country like Uruguay that had decided to control tobacco consumption and to work hard for the health and right to live of our people. The lawsuit was a punishment, using our small country as an example, so that all countries that were implementing or planning to implement similar policies would learn from this lesson not to go forward with them. The proceedings were lenghthy, meandering and costly. In the end, though, on 8 July, the arbitral tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes handed down its final ruling. It was decisively favourable to Uruguay.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“As on this issue there is also no future without solidarity, we call upon all countries, Governments and peoples, non-governmental organizations, as well as scientific, medical and international organizations, to form an alliance under the United Nations against the epidemic of non-communicable diseases — an alliance for a healthy life and as broad, vigorous and dynamic as possible. It is possible — not easy, but possible. In many ways, more than financial resources, it requires conviction and political will to go ahead. Uruguay is a world leader in the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. But there have been opponents to that leadership. Among them, at the beginning of the year 2010, a claim was brought before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes by the tobacco firm Philip Morris.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“While I hope I am mistaken, if we do not take appropriate measures, our countries, especially the poorest and most humble among them, will suffer dramatic consequences due to those diseases, which, I repeat, can be prevented. Of course, this is not a medical panel or a scientific symposium. But as a political leader who has not forgotten his medical profession and continues to be involved in it, allow me to tell the Assembly that not only is it possible to design and implement such strategies, but that very positive results can be achieved. Those are not easy or simply strategies, but they are essential and can yield good results. Uruguayans know this from our own real-life experiences. But more than that, we have in place actual projects that we are working on.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“And the plausible global goal of reducing poverty, which is timely and adopted by the Assembly as the condition sine qua non for sustainable development, rather than drawing closer, dramatically, retreats more each day beyond our reach. If we look at the statistics available, in a single working day approximately 104,109 people worldwide will die today as a result of the diseases I mentioned. How then can we not design and implement strategies to control alcohol and tobacco consumption and to promote healthful lifestyles, such as a healthful diet and physical exercise. No doubt what I am saying here is a far cry from what those who preceded me in addressing the Assembly have said.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“And the tax that our countries impose on tobacco products does not amount to 50 per cent of the costs of illnesses directly caused by smoking. Secondly, in 2009 the overall estimated economic cost of cancer in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America amounted to an estimated $286 billion in direct costs — for example, doctors’ visits and medical analyses — and indirect costs, including travel and lodging expenses and lost workdays and productivity, among others. Therefore, in our humble view, unless we vigorously fight the epidemic of non-communicable diseases in countries and social groups that are most exposed or affected, the impact of those diseases will grow.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Poverty exposes people to the behavioural risk factors that lead to non-communicable diseases and these, in turn, tend to worsen the state of poverty of the affected individuals and families. Health systems are also affected by the impact of the high costs of the treatments that are needed to treat chronic non-communicable diseases. To give an idea of the financial implications, and without being dramatic, I want to draw members’ attention to the following statistics, which they certainly already know. First, the direct cost of smoking on the national health-care systems of Latin America is estimated at $33 billion. That is the equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the gross domestic product of our region and 7 per cent of what it spends annually on health care.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Clearly, the consequent terrible impact that these diseases have on humankind fly under the radar of our Governments, but they nevertheless tragically affect the lives of our peoples. And these avoidable diseases are largely due to four risk factors directly linked to supposedly typically modern behaviours, that is, smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. The primary effects of those risk factors are dramatically felt increasingly in middle- and low-income countries, and the poorest people in every country, strongly reflecting the underlying socioeconomic determiners. Among these populations, the conditions are ripe for creating a vicious cycle.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Our unconditional duty is to create the conditions for our people to build their own lives in society and to support them in that task. What I am saying does not seem like much, but it is a lot. Without ignoring the enormous importance of other issues under consideration by the Assembly, let me refer to one that perhaps is not in the news, but it is certainly important because, as the data provided by the World Health Organization shows it is the primary cause of mortality throughout the world, especially in low- and middle- income countries. I am mainly talking about non-communicable diseases, in particular cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic pulmonary diseases.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“But I am taking that risk because, with only a few exceptions, all the issues that I raised a year ago can be conveyed in the same terms and, in some cases, even graver ones. Let us be clear: I do not say that as a reproach, and even less so as self-praise. It is painfully obvious, however, that despite the efforts of the United Nations to fight terrorism, violence, intolerance, discrimination, poverty, inequality, injustice and organized crime, these scourges continue to plague much of humankind. For it is our modest belief that the task of Governments and, moreover, of rulers — that is to say, our task, which has been entrusted to us by our citizens — cannot be limited to making assessments and telling people what is amiss.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“As a citizen and the President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, it is an honour for me to speak to the General Assembly again from this rostrum. In this forum, which is the largest and most representative of humankind today, I offer the greetings of the citizens and the Government of my country. Our greetings reflect the values of peace, freedom, democracy, justice and solidarity, which define our nation and the United Nations, which we helped found in 1945, and today we are a non-permanent member of the Security Council. As this is not my first time here, I run the risk of repeating what I said on previous occasions, and in particular what I said on 29 September 2016 in the General Assembly at its seventieth session (see A/70/ PV.16).”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Uruguay has contributed to peace and security with a concrete and unwavering commitment that began before the creation of the United Nations, has been maintained over the Organization’s 70-year history and today is manifest in its participation in the peacekeeping operations whose mandates come from that very Security Council. We want to bring our values, commitment and efforts to bear as a non-permanent member of the Council for the period 2016 to 2017. We rely on the support of those here to help us do that, and we will not disappoint them.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In 2008, our country officially submitted its candidacy for a seat on the Security Council as a non-permanent member for the period 2016 to 2017. We did so based on our commitment to this Organization, of which we are a founding member; on our adherence to international law and multilateralism; on our firm rejection of all forms of terrorism and discrimination; on our conviction that the only means capable of resolving conflicts are the peaceful ones laid down in the Charter of the United Nations; and on our confidence in the value of the Security Council’s efforts to fulfil its primary function of maintaining international peace and security.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“The second situation in Latin America is the tension that has existed for several weeks on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. We call for calm, respectful and open dialogue between the Governments of these brother countries in order to deal with this situation, whose main victims are the peoples of the two countries, especially their socially most vulnerable sectors. The third situation is the peace talks in Colombia, another complex but decisive process for our brother country and our region as a whole. We support this process and are ready to cooperate with it under the terms agreed to and demanded by the parties. Uruguay is not omnipotent, nor does it claim to be omnipresent or infallible, but neither is it indifferent.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“The first is the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba as an indispensable step in the normalization of bilateral relations between the two countries. We commend that step, and while we are aware of the complexity of the process under way, we are confident with regard to its future, particularly with regard to the key element of ending the economic, trade and financial embargo imposed on Cuba more than 50 years ago by the Government of the United States. As it has done on previous occasions, Uruguay will vote in favour of the General Assembly’s draft resolution calling for an end to the embargo. Hopefully it will be the last time that the Assembly will have to pronounce on the issue.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Calling for ethics in the twenty-first century, I realize, might appear to be naïve or anachronistic, but the reality indicates the opposite. As we stated, we need only look at the news of the past few weeks to see that in some aspects, none of them trivial, the world really seems to be a kind of lunatic asylum run by its own patients. That is terrible, but if humankind wants to survive and progress, it cannot resign itself to such a terrible situation. It cannot become resigned to war or to the humiliation of poor people who have nothing to eat, nor can we close our eyes 24 hours after seeing a Syrian boy dead on a Turkish beach. From our own perspective as a Latin American country and as Latin Americans, we cannot fail to mention three situations that are prominent on the agenda of our region.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“36/51 15-29431 29/09/2015 A/70/PV.16 It is not ethical that, in some circumstances, tribunals and multinational organizations are able to prioritize trade over the defence of the fundamental human right to health and life. That is what Uruguay is suffering from. A major international tobacco company — I would cite only its initials so as not to offend certain sensibilities, but it is in fact Philip Morris — has appealed against Uruguay for bringing the issue of tobacco control to the World Health Organization. That is the situation Uruguay faces. Perhaps because we are a small country, we have been chosen for that role, not just to punish Uruguay but so that other countries of the world do not follow the path Uruguay has taken to fight against tobacco and to provide a better quality of life to its people.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In the area of international cooperation, we are not starting from zero. There are a number of institutional frameworks and modalities and very many projects under way. Could the implementation of the former and the progress of the latter be improved? No doubt, but rather than inventing new ones, let us make better use of what we already have. To that end, we certainly will need more human, material and financial resources, but there is one resource without which all these things, as abundant as they may be, will always be insufficient. I am referring to the resource of political will, which in this case is more than an ideological dilemma or a question of left, right or centre; it is an ethical issue.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Above all, I reiterate that the fight against smoking is also one against its vector of transmission, which is not mosquitoes, birds or rats but a multinational tobacco industry that, in order to double its profits, has no problem killing its own customers. Uruguay has been a world leader in the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Beginning in January 2014, Uruguay adopted a law on the control and regulation of cannabis, and we are working on measures related to controlling alcoholism, perhaps with a zero-tolerance policy in certain cases and circumstances. Finally, with regard to that issue, nothing can be achieved in isolation. Everything requires sensitivity, resolve and perseverance on the part of all Governments and peoples throughout the world.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In regard to healthful lifestyles, physical activity and sports are important, as is a healthful diet, as opposed to the harmful and highly processed foods of an industry that growing exponentially. We must control smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse. Based on our experience, we feel that it is indispensable to include tobacco and alcohol in our policies on drugs. We know it is not easy, but it is possible to regulate those markets without resorting to prohibitionist dogmatism and respecting the rights of individuals and making public health a matter of State sovereignty and social progress.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“We are facing a brutal pandemic and, I humbly suggest, we must be aware of the reality we are currently suffering a pandemic that the humankind has never before known. Life is precious; it has no price. In order to address and reverse the growing morbidity and mortality from cancer and other non-communicable diseases, it is important to adopt political positions and policies and to implement systemic strategies to end poverty, generate social inclusion, promote education, encourage healthful lifestyles, and strengthen integrated health systems, including national programmes for the primary prevention, early detection and diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and long-term follow-up of these diseases.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“How much of that money could be saved if, rather than using it to treat the effects of these diseases, it could be put into social policies to improve people’s lives by offering better education, better health and dignified living conditions for our peoples? It may be unpleasant to mention this aspect, but it is part of an uncomfortable reality that we must change, because if we do not adopt immediate measures by the year 2030, 1 million Latin Americans will die annually of cancer alone, and more than 7 million people globally will die from a preventable disease that, with early diagnosis and proper treatment, can be cured. Cancer will kill more people in the world every year than those killed during the Second World War.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Infectious diseases are killing people mercilessly and impacting us deeply, while chronic non-communicable diseases are also insidiously killing our populations. At the same time, malnutrition and risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases, such as overweight and obesity, have been said to also affect high-income countries and remain prevalent in the world. It is estimated that cancer has been costing Latin America $4.5 billion annually in terms of direct costs for physicians’ consultations, studies, diagnoses, treatment, medication, hospitalization, palliative care and more. There are indirect costs as well, such as travel and accommodations, lost work days and productivity.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“If we add other non-communicable diseases linked mainly to the lifestyle that we are developing as we advance, it is obvious that there is little left to say. Over 60 to 70 per cent of morbidity and mortality worldwide is due to chronic non-communicable diseases — cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and so on. Accordingly there is still so much to be done. That task should have no borders of any kind, because the complex of problems underlying them know no borders. That is so much the case that the mere mention of the complex global landscape brings to mind Africa and Asia in particular, as well as Latin America, where many low-income and middle-income countries currently face a double burden of morbidity.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“As the leader of my country, I am well aware that public health is a key and essential component of the sovereignty of nations, a right of individuals, a factor in the development of societies and an unavoidable responsibility of States. From that perspective, we face a disturbing and unavoidable reality at the level of the whole of planet Earth. Indeed, according to recent studies and reports of the World Health Organization, first, the global burden of disease is shifting from acute, infectious diseases to chronic non-communicable diseases; the two must be fought, by working to keep acute diseases from appearing and by acting to prevent non-communicable chronic diseases from occurring. Secondly, chronic conditions such as heart disease and strokes are 15-29431 35/51 A/70/PV.16 29/09/2015 currently the leading cause of death worldwide.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Prevention also means rejecting all forms of terrorism and discrimination so that there are no dead children on the beaches of the world because they cannot find a place to live, rejecting terrorism and discrimination wherever they arise and in all circumstances and places. Prevention is thinking boldly and acting sensibly with an eye on future generations, but as there is no future without a present, prevention is also thinking and acting according to our hopes, needs and possibilities. A moment ago, I made a reference to health, no doubt because of my work experience — since I am a physician and until very recently was in the full exercise of my profession and vocation — but not only from experience.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Always, and not just in matters of health, prevention is better than cure. Prevention means recognizing others as the same as us, which is much more than “tolerating” them”, respecting and promoting their rights, all their rights; betting on democracy as a form of government and state of society; educating and training for dignified life, decent work and full citizenship; respecting the planet on which we live, which, moreover, is still the only one on which the human species can survive as such. If we continue to destroy this world in the short term, humankind and future generations are sure to be homeless.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Weeks ago the world public opinion was moved by the image of a dead child on a beach after the sinking of the vessel with which, like so many other victims of the conflict in their country, he was trying to find a place in the world where he could find the protection to which he was entitled. The international reaction was immediate, but we hope that it was not ephemeral, that we not forget this tragedy that hit us and shamed us, to act with determination and efficiency in finding solutions to the global tragedy of the exodus of millions of human beings. Uruguay, as a nation nurtured by immigration and as a people that received international solidarity when it needed it, accepts this unavoidable duty. It is imperative to avoid a repetition of this tragedy, but it is also necessary to address the causes that brought it about.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I bring to this forum, the largest and most representative of today’s world, the greetings of the people and the Government of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay — a greeting that expresses our passion for peace and freedom; our commitment to democracy, human rights, justice and solidarity; our commitment to the sustainable development of our country; and our desire for a humankind that, despite the redundancy, places at its core human beings — all human beings, men and women of this world without exception or excuse. We are all equal before the law, but above all we are all equal before life. Although I come from Uruguay, I am not here to talk about the problems of Uruguay. I would modestly like to discuss problems affecting humankind as a whole.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Almost five centuries later, it is fitting to remember the teachings of that great Renaissance humanist. It should not, however, be remembered solely as something of the past; we should embrace it as a task of the present and put it into practice, or at least try. I believe that there is no other option if we really wish to survive as a species and to improve as human beings. I also believe that, if we all make a responsible attempt, we shall achieve it. In that conviction, intention and confidence, I greet the United Nations on behalf of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“At the beginning of this address, I stated that if the United Nations raison d’être is to improve what we are as human beings, the Organization must be capable of improving itself as a system. But the United Nations is those who comprise it — we ourselves. Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to the United Nations reform process. The process that began at the 2005 Summit, which saw the creation of two new structures within the Organization — the Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission — should be completed with consideration for those issues whose practical 09-52179 40 implementation is pending or behind schedule with respect to the goals we have set. Michel de Montaigne taught us that there is no greater destiny for human beings than seeing to the business of being human.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The Ceibal project is completely funded by the Uruguayan State, which allocates funds not only for acquiring and preparing the prototypes, but also for their maintenance and the continuity of the programme. The Ceibal project is much more than simply the provision of computers and is therefore worth much more than its price. Its true worth lies in developing intelligence, introducing deep changes in teaching and learning, offering equal opportunities in access to information from childhood on — because equality is not a right for adults alone — and providing the information and knowledge indispensable to becoming a member of society and thus ensuring its proper functioning.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“We are achieving this by means of the Ceibal project, also known as “one laptop per child”, which consists, precisely, in providing each student and teacher of our public primary school system with a free computer and access to the Internet. By the end of this year, we will have provided a prototype to each of the 301,143 students and to 12,879 teachers in the country’s 2,064 public elementary schools. This may seem like a small number, but it should be recalled that Uruguay has only some 3 million inhabitants. The project is open to students with learning, motor or visual disabilities, who receive computers especially designed for their needs. Private schools are not excluded from the programme and can take part by purchasing the prototype for a modest sum.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Given that tobacco smoke does not affect smokers alone, in a study published in 1985 the English epidemiologist Richard Doll maintained that being in a room with a smoker for one hour a day is 100 times more likely to cause lung cancer in a non-smoker than spending 20 years in a building containing asbestos. Our delegation at the United Nations sponsored and promoted resolution 63/8, whose implementation will allow us to have, at least in this environment, a smoke-free United Nations. It represents partial but auspicious progress in the fight against this epidemic. In May 2007, a year after becoming a smoke-free country, Uruguay set out on the path to becoming a country with equal-opportunity access to information technologies.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“This is no insignificant matter when one takes into account that, according to the World Health Organization, smoking is the leading avoidable cause of death worldwide. It is an epidemic that annually causes more than 5 million deaths throughout the world and more than 1 million in the Americas. Five million deaths a year are far more than those caused by alcoholism, traffic accidents, AIDS, illegal drugs, murder, suicide and the H1N1 virus combined. When we add up all the deaths caused by these pathologies, we find that the number of tobacco-related deaths is greater still. If the current trend continues, over the next 20 years tobacco-related deaths will double in the world and triple in our region, and in particular in the poorest countries.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Faced with the impossibility of discussing the vast system of policies and actions that are involved in that task, I will mention just two that Uruguayans wish to share with the international community, because they concern the needs, hopes, rights and responsibilities of all humankind. Our country has taken a firm commitment as regards tobacco control policies, both at the international level through its ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and at the national level through the implementation of policies for the improvement of the well-being of the population. In 2006, Uruguay became the first smoke-free country in the Americas and the seventh in the world.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“As is well known, Uruguay receives significant investments that contribute to its industrial development, but it also exercises rigorous control over their environmental quality, applying its internationally recognized regulations, demanding the use of the best 39 09-52179 available technologies, and practising effective control in the field over environmental impacts. Uruguay is also responsible, transparent and reliable as regards investment for sustainable development. In the era of globalization, it is not only the economy that has to be globalized. Peace, freedom, democracy, justice, dignity and the welfare of the people must be globalized as well. The countries represented here, each according to its respective identity, are working towards that end, as is Uruguay.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Uruguay is among the countries that are signatories to the widest range of human rights conventions, and on the occasion of the treaty-signing ceremony for the present period, Uruguay will sign the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, becoming one of the first signatories to that important international instrument. Uruguay is also party to the main international conventions in the sphere of the environment and sustainable development.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Far from discouraging us, they stimulate us to bolster and coordinate efforts with other Member States and the United Nations Secretariat to collaborate in stabilizing the areas affected by conflicts, in the protection of the civilian population, institutional strengthening and the promotion of bases for economic and social development of affected countries. Similarly, our staunch rejection of terrorism is not incompatible with cooperation among States in the fight against it while maintaining absolute respect for international law and human rights.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Secondly, we will persevere in the effort to achieve an American integration without exclusions or exceptions or embargoes, such the one imposed on Cuba, one without first, second or third class members. We are all Americans, and equals. Without actions following, postulates are sterile. Uruguay is one of the main troop contributors to United Nations peacekeeping operations. The difficulties that this peacekeeping system is going through are due, among other factors, to the growing demand for missions, their equally growing complexity and the effects of the global economic crisis on the funding for these operations.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Thirdly, we reiterate our steadfast commitment to the advancement and protection of human rights, because they constitute the ethics of liberty and democracy and are aspects of the dignity that we need, much as we need the air we breathe almost without being conscious of it. Fourthly, we repeat our unwavering responsibility in the protection of the environment as a human right and as a fundamental aspect of achieving truly sustainable development. As Americans, we feel it is our ethical duty and political responsibility to reiterate in this global forum that, first, we reject the institutional rupture in the fraternal Republic of Honduras, and we demand the immediate restoration of constitutional order and the restoring to their posts of the authorities democratically elected by the Honduran people.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Concerning this task, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay once again reaffirms its unwavering respect for international law, which is the greatest guarantee for the sovereignty of peoples and their peaceful coexistence. We also reiterate, first, our firm rejection of the threat of the use of force or of its use, of terrorism, drug trafficking and all types of violence and discrimination. Secondly, we repeat our determined support for a peaceful solution to conflicts, to the sovereign equality of States, to non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, to the self-determination of peoples, to international cooperation in economic and social matters, and to multilateralism that also includes free trade, because protectionism is to commerce as authoritarianism is to democracy.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“As I did four years ago (see A/60/PV.6), I once again extend the greetings of the people and the Government of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay to this forum, which is the most broadly representative body of today’s world. Those of us here are aware of the contrasting realities of the present world; we are conscious that never before has humanity simultaneously been offered so many possibilities and faced so many threats as is the case today. We know that we cannot be indifferent to or be paralysed by those possibilities and threats; nor are we disposed to be, but what are we doing to dissipate the threats and take advantage of the opportunities presented by this reality? Surely not everything we would like to or that we deem necessary, and perhaps not all that we are capable of.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“In conclusion, this is exactly what I wished to convey to members on behalf of the Government and the people of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay: far away, in the forgotten southern part of South America, there is a country that does not resign itself to difficulties, that is building its own destiny and that, faithful to its tradition, wishes to join in building a better world, working alongside all our dear brethren, the citizens of the world.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Nevertheless, with the commitments that we have assumed to Uruguayan society - whose will is our mandate ó the Government of which I am head is promoting changes: changes which are necessary, possible, responsible and gradual, changes with political and social support, changes that do not overlook reality but do not give up on the dream of a Uruguay with human development, with productive economic growth and with a safe environment, a Uruguay fully integrated into its own region and into the international arena. We are not starting from scratch, but we have a lot to do to achieve this utopia, the dream of which motivates us as a nation.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“We Uruguayans regained democracy in 1985, and the current Government, which took office exactly 200 days ago, is working hard to heal the wounds dictatorship caused through human rights violations. We are not hostages to the past, but Uruguayan society needs to know the truth about what happened to ensure that never again will it happen - never again.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Societies where there is a contrast between an opulent few and a neglected majority are not prosperous. Societies where to be born is a problem, to be young is suspect, to get an education and a job is a privilege and to grow old is a curse have no future. This is the way we see it in Uruguay. We have learned this from those generations that preceded us in building a country that, though it has its own unique features, is not atypical of nor alien to the Latin American context. While it is true that the first half of the last century was a favourable period for Uruguay, it is also true that - due to a combination of external circumstances and domestic structural weaknesses - the last fifty years were a period of economic deterioration, impoverishment and even an institutional breakdown in 1973.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)