YouSaid · the spoken record

Rojas Lopez

lines on the record
15
first
1998-09-24
most recent
1998-09-24
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “But we also ask the countries of Africa themselves to take responsibility and to show by deeds, as many have already done, their resolve and commitment to firm and lasting peace, true democracy and genuine human development.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  2. “Costa Rica will insist that that Group continue to work with the same intensity on the outstanding matters that it has itself defined. In particular, we attach priority to the questions relating to illicit arms-trafficking, security in refugee camps and zones and the means available to the Security Council to monitor the activities that it has authorized and that are carried out by Member States. We trust that in the remaining months of this year we shall be able to achieve tangible results in these areas and others. At this crucial time, my delegation appeals to the international community to give its full support to the achievement of what the Council has resolved in the last few days on the question now before us.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  3. “My delegation has taken an active part in the tremendous amount of work done by the Working Group established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1170 (1998). Over these months, the Group has generated significant results and carried out its functions in the context of an evolving process. From this standpoint, we can claim to have completed an important stage, in which we have taken noteworthy decisions on such matters as support for regional and subregional initiatives; strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in the areas of conflict prevention and peacekeeping; the effective enhancement of the sanctions regimes imposed by the Security Council; and the means available to Africa for peacekeeping.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  4. “I do not raise this matter lightly, but because it arises from our own national experience, which has taught us that a resolute policy to strengthen civilian power, based on free and pluralistic electoral processes and accompanied by clear decisions to reduce arms expenditures, yields only benefits because it bolsters democratic institutions and releases resources from state budgets that can be devoted to education, health, housing - in short, to social investment, which is the best promoter of peace and security, understood from a broad civilian and democratic perspective. The right innovative approach to support and international cooperation could serve to stimulate African countries to move in that direction.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  5. “That is why we applaud the recent decision of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity to begin negotiations on establishing regional jurisdictional institutions in this regard. Our own experience in Latin America has taught us that such structures are fundamental factors for guaranteeing respect for these rights, which are inherent in the human condition. At the same time, my delegation believes that the Security Council must focus at this meeting on the question of demilitarization and the reduction of military spending.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  6. “Within this vast undertaking, my delegation wishes to focus particular attention on the question of human rights and the issue of demilitarization and the reduction of military expenditure, matters that we have consistently stressed during the past two years of our Security Council membership. With respect to human rights, we affirm that achieving the observance of and full respect for these must become a fundamental political objective, since Violations lie at the heart of the conflicts besetting the African continent. These considerations are not alien to Africa's realities, precisely because Africa is a region of the developing world that has established one of the best legal frameworks in this regard. We must say, rather, that respect for these rights should be the constant concern of the political leadership.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  7. “This is particularly true for the questions of importance to the Africans themselves: ensuring respect for all human rights, in particular for fundamental guarantees; the promotion of pluralistic and representative democracy; the rule of law; the existence of autonomous and efficient judicial institutions; the primacy of civilian power based on free and fair elections; demilitarization and the reduction of military spending; the promotion of sustainable human development, with particular emphasis on fighting poverty; and the development of broad educational models designed to achieve social mobility and to promote the genuine equality of men and women.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  8. “All of this should be seen from the standpoint that peace and security can be achieved, maintained, built upon and strengthened only through integrated, all-encompassing endeavours that go beyond the monitoring of cease-fires and include other elements vital to the process of transition from conflict to peace and democracy. Having established the parametres for the role of the international community Vis-a-Vis Africa, it is also necessary to establish that, in this respect, regional leadership is the key political factor in the conduct of this great joint undertaking. The magnitude of the problems to be resolved and the challenges to be faced requires African leaders to assume a creative, responsible and unbiased attitude.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  9. “At this stage, we can affirm that our Organization possesses sufficient political will and commitment to tackle the challenge of supporting Africa. We know that this in itself is not enough and that we must now get down to work. This is our great challenge and the primary objective in the short and medium terms. In this sense, Costa Rica wishes to stress the fact that the traditional concept prevailing in this Organization of the nature and character of peacekeeping missions, seen from the purely military point of view, has been stretched and expanded into a wider-reaching concept that includes political and humanitarian components.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  10. “The conceptual heritage that the Security Council has developed this year also embraces the fundamental element of commitment. In connection with Africa, we all understand that the time for bombastic rhetoric is over and that what is needed is genuine commitment, allowing the development and implementation of specific proposals, mechanisms for action defined with the firm aim of responding to the great challenge of peace, development and coexistence with respect for fundamental guarantees. In these months of tremendous political and technical work, the Security Council and the Secretariat have been able to identify specific responses to some of the important and pressing questions that we asked together on 25 September 1997.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  11. “I do not need to dwell on the reasons why a new Vision is needed for African countries that would take into account their exceptional situation and their own priorities and would seek to promote the building of genuine and sustainable peace. In emphasizing this great future of understanding through cooperation, Costa Rica notes its concern about the abuse of the argument of self-defence to justify military actions against other African States. In this respect, Costa Rica agrees with the criteria by which, as expressed in other cases by the International Court of Justice, self- defence is a legitimate right only when military action is taken by one State, either directly or through armed groups with substantial support from that State, against another.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  12. “There are myriad examples in that intractable region. Allow me to say that we in Costa Rica are learning from those Africans who have believed that it is possible, through concerted action, to solve the most pressing problems of developing societies. In addition, this shared vision of the issues means that the international community cannot seek to impose outside solutions on African countries that are alien to their national and regional lives and experience. It is African men and women who, through their structures, must define and establish their own models for securing peace, development and respect for freedoms and rights. On this basis, my country believes that it is essential to stress the need for cooperating countries and the international financial institutions to take new approaches in their relations with Africa.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  13. “With respect to the importance of the concerted approach, no one can deny that dialogue must be the basic two-way instrument in solving Africa's problems. The sad lessons of daily life have taught us that violence has not resolved the disputes in Africa. No one could reasonably assert that resort to force has solved any of the serious problems besetting the peoples of the continent. Quite the opposite, it is wars that have aggravated and spotlighted in all its starkness the human tragedy that millions of men and women of the region have had to face and survive. However, it has been and remains the Africans themselves who have demonstrated, with their own experience and commitment, that cooperation is a valid and legitimate instrument for solving problems and reconciling conflicting positions in shared ideals and objectives.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  14. “First of all, we would note that our common approach is based on a comprehensive, concerted and committed consideration of the question. Secondly, we would highlight the happy fact that Africa's regional leadership in this regard is proving itself indispensable and decisive. With respect to the comprehensive nature of the approach, the international community has understood that the problems in Africa are not isolated or unconnected. That has led us to see that in Africa the question of peace and security transcends traditional concepts and embraces a wide range of economic and social questions - above all, those relating to the observance of human rights. Any interpretation of the situation in Africa that tries to ignore or fragment this reality is simply unsound and baseless.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source

  15. “Mr. Rojas Lopez (Costa Rica)(interpretati0n from Spanish): My country is taking part in this ministerial level meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Africa with particular interest and motivation. Sweden's acclaimed leadership and its traditional solidarity with the causes of the developing world have encouraged and spurred on the members of this Council to take a broad and constructive position in support of Africa. Likewise, our Secretary- General's firm commitment to this question has been a constant source of inspiration for a creative and determined approach to ways and means of lending international support to Africa. In the year of work that has elapsed, the Security Council and the international community have advanced and developed a substantial common core of ideas in their View of the situation in Africa.”

    1998-09-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3931 (1998) · source