We would like to thank the Secretary-General for presenting us with his report on the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration (A/57/270) and his report on the work of the Organization, under symbol A/57/1. Both complement each other perfectly, are highly illustrative and contain …
We wish to speak in today’s debate — associating ourselves with the statement made by the presidency of the Group of 77 and China — in order to present our country’s perspective on the immensely important topic under consideration.
We have of late heard many opinions concerning the use of informati…
I will be very brief, since I fully associate myself with the statement of Ambassador Bernd Niehaus of Costa Rica, who spoke on behalf of our subregional group. I do, however, want to add a few words about the Guatemalan peace process and our hope that the mandate of the United Nations Verification …
We wanted to participate in this debate, albeit briefly, for two reasons. The first is the importance of the subject. We are discussing nothing less than our priority agenda for the decades to come. In this context, I am speaking on behalf of the group of Central American countries. Secondly, on a m…
Since the General Assembly decided, in 1998, to proclaim the year 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, we have followed with keen interest the course of the debates on the subject at various seminars, conferences and roundtables. Our country has its roots in very ancient …
In ordinary times, our debate on Security Council reform is, to paraphrase the great Colombian writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a chronicle of a foretold debate. All those who have followed the course of our discussions on this topic, which now appears for the eighth time on our annual agenda, know, …
It might seem unnecessarily redundant for us to add our voice to those of the many delegations that have participated in the debate and referred to the serious shortcomings in the report on the work of the Security Council that has been submitted to us. However, we are doing so, first, because of ou…
Next Friday, Ambassador Edmundo Orellana Mercado of Honduras, in his capacity as President Pro Tempore of the Central American Integration System, will be making a statement on behalf of member countries. Guatemala totally associates itself with the statement that Ambassador Orellana will be making.…
First, we wish to thank the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for the report contained in document A/56/1. We consider it to be a very thorough and lucid account of the wide range of activities conducted by the United Nations during the last year. We feel perhaps that the report lacks a connecting idea…
In the first place, I would like to associate myself with the remarks of Ambassador Bagher Asadi made yesterday morning on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. I have asked to speak to insist on one single point: the importance of giving real content to the word “partnership”.
In effect, the divers…
The principle of the superiority of prevention over cure is not only generally valid, but also the subject of well-known proverbs. Accordingly, anyone who merely enunciates the principles would appear to show scant originality of thought. Praise is due, however, to anyone who, in addition to enuncia…
My Government feels deep and special concern over the situation that the draft resolution before us, of which we have the honour of being one of the sponsors, seeks to correct, or at least to attenuate.
We wish to explain briefly the reasons for this feeling.
As is widely known, Guatemala is privi…
Other colleagues have spoken on draft resolution A/55/L.42, entitled “The situation in Central America: procedures for the establishment of a firm and lasting peace and progress in fashioning a region of peace, freedom, democracy and development”. We echo their appreciation for the international com…
For the last seven years, the Member States of the United Nations have been endeavouring to reform the Security Council, an organ whose composition and modalities of work reflect the international order created at the end of the Second World War, 55 years ago. In the world in which we now live, that…
We feel that, on the one hand, the existence of a judicial system, even in rudimentary form, capable of dealing with the relations between its members, is a necessary condition that allows a group of human beings or bodies to consider themselves a community; on the other hand, a legal system hardly …
Since
“wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”.
That idea, from the preamble to the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), forms the basis for the concept of a culture of peace…
Less than a week ago, in this same Hall, the President of the Republic of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo Cabrera, addressed the Millennium Summit. On that occasion the President underscored our commitment to the purposes, principles and values of the Charter of the United Nations, and presented a summa…
My delegation has already had the opportunity of expressing its
This topic has been the subject of debate for many years. Why has no progress been made? Though the need to adapt the structures of our Organization to changing realities is so obvious as to require no discussion, the divergent positio…
I wish to thank all those delegations that joined in adopting draft resolution A/54/L.27. When the draft resolution was introduced, on 18 November, we explained why it was so important to us that the mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) be extended, so I need not…
My delegation fully shares the views expressed by the representative of Mexico on behalf of the Rio Group. We would like, however, to make a few comments of our own.
Governments and other national institutions have put in place a tremendous and ever-growing array of norms and bodies to regulate dif…
