United Nations A/74/ PV.6 General Assembly Official Records Seventy-fourth session 6th plenary meeting Wednesday, 25 September 2019, 3 p.m. New York President: Mr. Muhammad-Bande ................................. (Nigeria) The meeting was called to order at 3.50 p.m. to life among States and societies, are enshrined, in different words, in the principles of the Charter of Address by Mr. Lenin Moreno Garcés, the United Nations. They are the pillars that support Constitutional President of the Republic of Ecuador the spacious General Assembly Hall that houses and The President: The Assembly will now hear an shelters us today. address by the Constitutional President of the Republic The United Nations and its multilateralism exist of Ecuador. because those principles are effective and constitute the Mr. Lenin Moreno Garcés, Constitutional President guidelines for a peaceful and harmonious coexistence, of the Republic of Ecuador, was escorted into the as well as promoting the individual interests of States General Assembly Hall. and guiding their interactions with one another. The Organization is a living example that multilateralism The President: On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His is still a completely essential tool. It shows how Excellency Mr. Lenin Moreno Garcés, Constitutional cooperation can be consolidated across borders and President of the Republic of Ecuador, and to invite him regions, that the peaceful settlement of disputes is to address the Assembly. always on the table — an alternative to the horrors of the violence of war — and that human beings President Moreno Garcés (spoke in Spanish): There must jointly respond to the problems of our time, are principles of coexistence among human beings that that is, sustainable development, climate change, the are recognized as universal. Such principles are valid in protection and conservation of nature, the building both times of peace and times of conflict among States. of non-discriminatory and fully inclusive societies, I would like to cite some examples: respect every nation dialogue among cultures and differing opinions. as you would have yours be respected; never tolerate abuse against anyone, while always helping those Under those principles, which are inscribed in the in need to the extent you can; violence breeds only Charter, signed in San Francisco, the General Assembly violence, and its effects pass from one generation to the can work for a better world and seek to develop them next; peace among countries is born from tolerance and and their different facets, country by country, region the cultivation of common interests. by region, conflict by conflict. When international It is therefore worth asking the following question: cooperation lapses, wars endure and injustices seem if no conflict among States has ever been eternal, why eternal, that is usually because States have lost their not build peace as soon as possible? Those and other way or do not have the political will to correctly apply visions of coexistence among peoples, which apply the United Nations principles. This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 19-29205 (E) *1929205* A/74/PV.6 25/09/2019 More than ever, multilateralism and the United the protection of the planet and the inclusion of those Nations system are today under considerable attack who are defenceless. and subject to harmful criticism. We are witnessing We all live in the same neighbourhood — planet sustained attempts to weaken international cooperation Earth — which is limited in size and resources and is and devalue the work of the United Nations. I therefore contending with a constantly growing population, as call on all States to meet and address those urgent well as challenges to the environment, wealth inequality challenges, which are worth repeating and expanding and the urgent desire to achieve adequate levels of well- on — climate change, sustainable development, being and respect for human rights. It is a world where protracted humanitarian crises, large-scale human the temptation remains to impose individual visions rights abuses, widespread poverty, growing inequalities and interests through the use of force. and threats to international peace and security, to name a few. The concerted action of States continues to be the only tool for ending those violations. We must all feel Dialogue is the foundation of the multilateral action part of the global solutions needed for global problems. that nourishes the United Nations and that we ourselves Climate change, the proliferation of weapons of mass should continue to advocate. What drives relationships destruction, the pollution of oceans, the erosion of among States is one joint frame of mind when analysing human rights, restrictions on world trade and the problems, respect for all points of view and, above all, marginal importance of fair trade are issues that we the subsequent formation of consensus agreements. all face and cannot be adequately resolved without the Without dialogue and a shared spirit of democracy, contribution and political will of all countries. we cannot understand each other; neither can we understand each other with imposed unilateralism. Disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament and the future prohibition of weapons of mass The same can of course be said of national societies. destruction, is a goal for coexistence, especially in In Ecuador we are promoting an initiative for reaching regions of ongoing or latent conflict. When we focus agreement, so that all members of society are able to on current conflicts and conflict zones, there is one identify areas that unite them and overcome issues on unchanging common denominator: the risk of the use which they have differing opinions. Enough of focusing of weapons of mass destruction. Ecuador therefore on what separates us and what sets us apart. Let us look deposited its ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition instead at what unites us, what identifies us and what of Nuclear Weapons, not, of course, because our country allows us to nurture a greater common well-being. can, or even wants to, possess such arms, but because Seeking national agreement among all the actors it is clear that the uncontrolled possession of that type of our society is of course not straightforward. Indeed, of weaponry can result in deliberate or accidental use. agreement arises when difficulties are overcome If that were to occur, the brutal effects would not be together, when we find common ground and leave the restricted to those waging an atomic war but would door open to compromise and innovation when seeking affect the entire world. We would all be the victims of solutions. If there is no agreement, that raises the radioactive contamination for centuries. We and our question of where and what is the alternative. National descendants would be exposed to harmful agents that agreement is the best antidote to outrage and unilateral cause catastrophic disease and genetic deformities. intolerance and to disrespect for human rights; it Global problems affect and hurt us all. Even if some facilitates the creation of societies that are democratic do not impact us immediately, the fact of belonging in practice and not just by design or proclamation. to the human race means that we are implicated. Let National agreement has another name at the us share empathy with victims and think about the international level, but the same spirit. We call it suffering of those societies facing such issues directly. multilateralism. The multilateral approach promoted by Terence said it well, and his wisdom persists, “Nothing the United Nations is the best tool for societies to jointly that is human is alien to me”. Dialogue, multilateral build the better world for which we all yearn and of action and national agreement in Ecuador have not just which we all dream, in order to face the problems that, appeared out of thin air. A nation’s backdrop defines due to their cross-cutting nature, affect us equally, such its actions and those of its social actors, which, to use a as the eradication of poverty, the quality of education, sporting term, delimits the playing field. I am talking 2/55 19-29205 25/09/2019 A /74/PV.6 about people’s fundamental rights, which appear in the the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights Constitution of Ecuador, the universal Charter of the of the Child on a communications procedure. That does United Nations and the international treaties that protect not constitute just another signature; it is in line with political, economic, social and cultural guarantees, our resolute action taken to become the first country including rights in relation to the natural world. Indeed, in our region to sign the Convention that protects one one year ago, Ecuador became only the fifth country in of the most vulnerable and defenceless groups of our the world to ratify the 18 United Nations conventions society, our children. on the protection of human rights. If there is one thing Another vulnerable group is migrants. We have that I hope my Government will be remembered for, already welcomed almost 500,000 Venezuelan brothers it is its deep conviction and work for the protection, and sisters, the victims of the worst exodus on our promotion, respect and effective enjoyment of human continent. It is the task of the United Nations to seek rights and fundamental freedoms.