YouSaid · the spoken record

Lavalle-Valdes

lines on the record
8
first
1999-02-22
most recent
1999-02-22
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “Guatemala eagerly awaits that report and hopes that, if it is not possible to bring about a definitive end to armed conflicts of all types, there will at least be strict respect for the international humanitarian law applicable to them. We hope that the report will make an important contribution to the achievement of that intermediate goal.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  2. “We are all aware that there are differing opinions on the perfectibility of human nature. The spread of a phenomenon that has been commented on of late by the media and in this meeting makes us believe not only that human nature cannot be perfected, but that humankind may in fact be in a state of clear moral degeneration. I am referring to the recruitment of children to the ranks of combatants, including in conflicts characterized by the commission of atrocities. We hope that the report requested of the Secretary-General in the statement to which I have referred will give due and thorough attention to the question of the participation of children in armed conflicts.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  3. “We are also pleased that the statement underscored the importance of the historic Hague Conventions, in which the relevant customary law is reflected, as well as the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977, treaties to which Guatemala is a party, as it is to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the importance of which is also emphasized in the statement. The statement also stresses the harmful impact of the proliferation of weapons, especially small arms, on the security of civilians. This prompts me to mention with satisfaction the cooperation between Guatemala and the Department of Disarmament Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat on the convening in our country of a seminar in November last year on this important issue and a related a problem.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  4. “Nor will it be possible to erase from the collective national memory the painful recollection of so much suffering. Guatemala therefore fully shares the concern expressed by the Council, in its presidential statement of 12 February 1999, on "the widening gap between the rules of international humanitarian law and their application". (S/PRST/I999/6, p. 2) We support the appeal made in that statement for strict compliance with the norms of international law by the countries affected by armed conflicts.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  5. “One misfortune that we particularly deplore is the fact that our long internal armed struggle was not an exception, but rather a confirmation of a tragic characteristic of current armed conflicts - in other words, a conflict in which the number of civilian victims is much higher than that of combatants. It is true that, to a great extent, we have achieved the return to their homes of those who were internally displaced by the armed conflict, as well as the resettlement of those uprooted. Measures have also been taken to stabilize and improve the situation of all civilians affected by the confrontation. However, even if these and the other problems afflicting the country are resolved, it will of course be impossible to heal all the physical and psychological wounds left by so many years of atrocious violence.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  6. “8, p- 4) The conclusion of that traumatic conflict, which was as savage as it was unnecessary and futile, was brought about through the painstaking efforts made, with the inestimable assistance of the United Nations, by the parties to the conflict. Those efforts led to a series of specific agreements that concluded with the signing, in December 1996, of the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace. My country, with the assistance of the United Nations and the rest of the international community, is now involved in the process of implementing the accords.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  7. “Unfortunately, however, Guatemala also has powerful additional reasons to express today the profound concern of its people and Government over the tragic issues being discussed at this meeting. As you know full well, Sir, and as I am certain all of those present are also aware, it was only in late 1996 that we saw the definitive end to a 36-year period in which Guatemala and its people suffered the horrors of a fratricidal internal conflict. That year, our President, Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen, described that confrontation to the General Assembly as "a dirty war that crushed entire villages and compelled many people to flee". (A/5I/PV.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source

  8. “Mr. Lavalle-Valdes (Guatemala) (interpretation from Spanish): On behalf of the Government of Guatemala, I wish to express my gratitude for this opportunity to participate in this important meeting of the Council. I wish also to congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency and on your outstanding and skilled leadership. We also express our appreciation to your predecessor for the exemplary way in which he discharged his mandate. The issue now before us, so eminently humanitarian in nature, is the legitimate source of deepest concern to the international community. There are ample grounds for any non-member of the Council to speak today in order to associate its concerns with those so well expressed in the two meetings that the Council has devoted to this issue this year and in this meeting as well.”

    1999-02-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3980 (1999) · source