Statement by the President of the Argentine Republic in the General Debate of the 75th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations - Dr. Alberto Fernández

22 September

 

Dear Secretary General, Dear President, Members of this Honorable Assembly:

Argentina was one of the founding states of the United Nations 75 years ago. Today we are experiencing a health crisis of worldwide dimensions inviting us to make a new beginning.

Pope Francis calls on all of us, especially the leaders gathered on this occasion, to think about how to emerge from this crisis better and not worse.

Inspired by his preaching and by his example, I come to ratify a call to the entire world to recreate a multilateralism based on our solidarity.

It is not time to globalize indifference but rather to make the solidarity global in many dimensions.

This pandemic has shown us to be weak and it has recreated the need to build bridges between people, nations and regions.

If we are able to build artificial ventilators using parts and knowledge from different regions of the planet, we have to be able to dream and build ventilators which are not artificial for the post-pandemic era.

If we are putting together the efforts of doctors, researchers, investors and scientific systems across the planet to discover a vaccine to prevents Covid-19, we have to be able to dream and build a vaccine against social injustice, environmental predators, discrimination in all its forms.

This spirit of solidarity is what my government has giving priority to since it came into place, because nobody can get out alone from the pandemic or from poverty.

That is why, from the very beginning of the pandemic, Argentina prioritized the safeguarding of life and care of the most vulnerable, implementing a series of emergency measures that made it possible to avoid the collapse of the health system and mitigate the immediate consequences. of the pandemic.

Immediate relief was given to families and companies through many measures, with a present and active state.

In this same spirit of solidarity, we believe that the vaccine produced to prevent the disease must be a global public good accessible to all nations in an equitable manner.

We support the resolutions adopted in this regard by this General Assembly and we have put our capacity at everybody disposal for the research and production of the vaccine.

My objective is to put Argentina on its feet again and together we can put the world on its feet again.

This cost for us recognize the importance of balance.

The balance is to restore the priorities of the multilateral system, beginning with the last to reach everybody.

We have to be architects of a new "common house".

Before the onset of the pandemic, the need of reform the United Nations Security Council was raised. There are agreements on rehabilitating the World Trade Organization. The crisis of the mechanism of the Bretton Woods institutions was raised, which had shown limitations in responding to the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

All of this are parts of the postwar multilateral architecture.

The pandemic also has created a crisis the classic metrics to determine access to resources for development. Indicators usually used to classify the needs of countries, such as per capita income, do not account for the inequalities and diverse realities that exist within a single country.

Likewise, we make invisible the work that millions of people do, specially the work of women, contribute with unpaid domestic and care work.

It is also essential to review the way we conceive cooperation, adopting a multidimensional perspective that goes beyond per capita income to determine the eligibility criteria in order to receive Official Development Aid (ODA).

Over 60% of the poor live in middle-income countries. If we do not serve these countries, in solidarity, and understanding that true progress is built “with everyone inside”, it will be difficult for us to make decisive progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

All of the above indicates that it is indispensable to give greater capacity to the United Nations in response to the mandate for which it was created.

We need a United Nations 4.0, with intact foundational values and with the intelligence to incorporate the immense technological changes underway, to make them more human, more democratic and more socially inclusive.

All this marks the need for deep consideration, that goes beyond the response given to the pandemic.

The way out of the pandemic and towards the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, requires promoting economic, industrial and social policies aimed at the structural change of our economies.

Commitment to the environmental agenda requires an important provision of financial resources, capacity building, and technology transfer by developed countries, in the light of the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities.

Our country is committed to an agenda of fair transition towards comprehensive sustainable development. This fair transition refers to the gradualness, the reinforcement of the productivity and competitiveness of the economy and the creation of jobs.

We are convinced that we need a collective commitment to achieve the prompt and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Nobody can emerge safely from planet which catches fire, floods or poisoned itself.

In this global context, toxic and irresponsible foreign indebtedness for speculative purposes constitutes another wave of backwardness and underdevelopment.

Argentina was able to achieve an important agreement with almost all of its private external creditors, becoming one of the first countries in responding to the challenge of facing a debt restructuring in the context of the pandemic.

The support of the international community, which includes several of the countries present here, as well as the private sector, civil society and the international academic community has been key to recovering the sustainability of public debt.

Negotiations with the IMF will be face in the same way, in a responsible way, being respectful of the commitments made, while avoiding putting at risk the conditions that allow economic reactivation and the construction of an inclusive and sustainable path to development.

A little more over 5 years ago, on September 10, 2015, this General Assembly approved Resolution 69/319 on Basic Principles of Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes.

The position of the General Assembly created a precedent for the governance of international finance and the recognition of sovereign economic rights in the face of abusive and extortionate behavior.

The purpose was to give rationality and predictability to debt restructuring processes, based on good faith, transparency, fair treatment, sovereign immunity from jurisdiction and execution, legitimacy, sustainability and restructuring through a majority.

We call on the international community to continue seeking for new multilateral alternatives that facilitate the orderly restructuring of debts and ensure the greatest availability of resources for the application of public policies to response the pandemic and sustain inclusive growth.

No country can pay its debt at the cost of leaving its people without health, without education, without security or without the capacity to grow.

It is also equitable to give priority to human rights above everything else.

The promotion and protection of human rights is indeed a fundamental policy of the Argentine State since 1983. This decision has resulted in the ratification and giving constitutional level to all the international human rights instruments in force and in our active participation in the universal and regional system.

The flags of memory, truth and justice guide the institutions of our democracy, as well as respect for diversity and inclusion.

The post-pandemic world can exacerbate the severe crisis of refugees and displaced people facing the planet and our region as well. The response must be to promote and guarantee of the human rights of migrants.

As never before, our human condition calls solidarity from us. We cannot remain passive in the face of sanctions that imply economic blockades that only suffocate the peoples in the midst of this humanitarian crisis.

The fight against all forms of discrimination and the commitment to the rights of vulnerable and historically discriminated people and groups is part of this policy of the Argentine State that is projected in the numerous initiatives that Argentina supports and leads.

The global crisis triggered by COVID-19 has also highlighted the severe lack of gender equality.

For our society, the achievement of substantive equality between men and women is a priority and a central pillar of Argentine democracy.

My government is committed to this and that is why, for the first time in history, we have created the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, as well as a National Cabinet to have across cutting Gender Policies.

Our government decided to reinforce the national actions and mechanisms of attention to women victims of violence, as the same time we have implemented a gender focus in measures for social and labor protection, we have promoted joint responsibility and a fairer distribution of the unpaid domestic work.

The commitment is already clear. Argentina has been classified in the UN ranking as the country that implemented the most gender-sensitive measures during the pandemic.

I would not like to fail to ratify that Argentina condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and favors its treatment in the framework of multilateral forums. Always within the framework of the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Twenty-six years after the bombing of the AMIA headquarters, I wish to continue the policy initiated in this area in 2003 and continued subsequently and require to the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to cooperate with the Argentine legal authorities to make progress in the investigation of this attack.

We also call the international community to response the requests contained in Interpol's red cards notices to report the possible presence of an accused in their territories, something that Argentina has never stopped calling for.

In conclusion, I want to reaffirm the legitimate and imprescriptible sovereignty rights of the Argentine Republic over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, which are an integral part of the Argentine national territory. And that they have been illegally occupied by the United Kingdom for more than 187 years.

This year will mark the 55th anniversary of Resolution 2065, the first adopted by this Organization on the Question of the Malvinas Islands, which asked Argentina and the United Kingdom to maintain negotiations that would allow a peaceful and definitive solution to this sovereignty dispute to be reached.

This request has remained in force and has been renewed on multiple occasions, most recently with the adoption by consensus of a new resolution on the Question by the Special Committee on Decolonization on August 5th.

The United Kingdom continues with this attitude of ignoring the call to renew negotiations on the territorial dispute and has aggravated the controversy over calls for the illegal and unilateral exploitation of renewable and non-renewable natural resources in the area, which is contrary to the resolution 31/49 of the General Assembly.

The United Kingdom also insists on the unjustified and excessive military presence in the Islands, which does nothing more than bring tension to a region characterized by being a zone of peace and international cooperation.

We have called to the Secretary General to renew his efforts in the mission of good offices entrusted to him by this Organization. We trust that this mission will be of great assistance so that we can comply with the provisions of the decisions of the international community.

I wish to said goodbye to this honorable Assembly, calling for us to seize this historic opportunity to come together as a society to face an unprecedented crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic has taken the lives of more than 1 million people and is leaving painful consequences that are emerging in greater poverty, hunger, and inequality, putting us to the test once again.

I hope that solidarity, dialogue and cooperation between nations, as we once were able to do, will continue to be the part to response to the challenges we face as humanity.

Thank you very much.