Statement
by
His Excellency Ant6nio Gumende
Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the
United Nations
at the Genera! Debate of the
72nd Session of the United Nations General
Assembly
On the theme
"Focusing on People:
Striding forpeace and decent bye for all
on a sustainable planet"
New YoJ:k, 25 September 2017
Mr. President
Mr. Secretary-General
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
I have the honour to address the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, on behalf
of His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique, who could not
attend this august gathering due to other commitments at home. Therefore, allow me to start by
conveying President's Nyusi good wishes for a successful session of this highest forum for global
political and diplomatic dialogue - the United Nations General Assembly.
I would like to seize this opportunity to join the speakers before me, in congratulating His
Excellency Miroslav Lajcfik, for his unanimous election to preside over the 72nd session of the
United Nations General Assembly.
I assure you, Mr. President, the full commitment of Mozambique to contribute towards the
realization of the goals we all envisage for this important session. We trust that your crafted
leadership and diplomatic experience will add value to our endeavours and contribute for the
success of the work of this session.
I equally congratulate your predecessor, His Excellency Peter Thomson, of Fij i, for his stewardship
and commitment to fulfil the agenda of last session of the General Assembly.
A special word of appreciation goes to His Excellency Antdnio Guterres, the UN SecretaryGeneral,
for his vision and leadership displayed in this first year in office. We believe that he is
steering our organization into the right path to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness as it serves
us, member states, in our quest to deliver on the ambitious goals we have set for our peoples. Only
a strong and vibrant UN system can ensure that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
and its goals will deliver societies that are more inclusive, peaceful and prosperous without
compromising on the very existence of our planet.
Mr. President
Two years after we pledged our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, the world is
confronted with multiple and complex challenges that threaten to:
¢" Constrain the gains we made in fostering global peace and stability,
,/ Stall and reverse the advances made in fostering social and economic wellbeing of our
peoples; and
,,/ Cause irreversible damages to our planet.
Therefore, we welcome the theme chosen for this session by the President of the General
Assembly, "Focusing on People: Fighting for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable
Planet" as it allows this august body to timely reflect on how best to address the challenges before
US.
This reflection at a multilateral forum like the General Assembly is essential if we are to coordinate
and consolidate our approaches as we strive individually and collectively to deliver on the 2030
Agenda.
The renewed focus onpeople should serve as a universal impetus of all the development actors to
translate into practice, actions that promote peace and wellbeing of the entire humanity.
It is worth recalling that our resolve is to make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a
framework that brings together the collective will to transform people's lives in a sustainable way,
by lifting them from poverty and promoting human dignity without neglecting peace as a critical
factor for the attainment of sustainable development, based on the interplay of the economic, social
and environmental pillars.
As we strive to accomplish these goals, we are challenged to find ways and means to honour the
commitments undertaken in the Addis Ababa Agenda for Development Financing, in the Sendai
Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Only joint
and complementary efforts in this three domains will enable us to build the necessary resilience at
national, regional and international level commensurate to the challenges before us and in line with
our aspiration of leaving no country behind.
Mr. President
The experiences we gained and the challenges we faced in the implementation of other globally
agreed development goals in the past underline the need for a greater commitment of our
development partners to scale-up and honour their assistance and for funding pledges made for
climate resilience, mitigation and adaptation, as well as for disaster prevention efforts in
developing countries. This support is of paramount importance to mitigate the effects of climate
variability whose devastating effects have been laid bare in several member states of this august
body in the last two months.
Furthermore, it also made clear that a robust and efficient UN system, as well as a steady
partnership between the organization and the regional bodies can play a catalytic role in
accelerating national development and strengthening democratic political systems and institutions
that can lead to more inclusive and hence peaceful societies.
in this vein, we support the ongoing efforts to reform and reposition the UN development system,
undertaken by the Secretary-General, in order to make it more responsive to the development needs
of its member states.
Mr. President
The overwhelming challenges of our times require bold and determined political will to yield the
results we seek. Mozambique reaffirms its unequivocal commitment to the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development since focusing on people has always been at the core of Mozambique's
national development agenda.
Therefore, we have aligned our national development agenda to include the three dimensions of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as reflected in the five pillars of the national Five
Year Program namely:
¢" Consolidating national unity, peace and sovereignty;
¢" Developing human and social capita!;
¢" Promoting employment, productivity and competitiveness;
¢" Developing economic and socia! infrastructures; and
,/" Ensuring sustainable and transparent management of natural resources and the
environment.
Mozambique has created a multi-stakeholder National Reference Group which encompasses
Government, Civil Society, Private Sector, and International Cooperation Partners for the
management of the SDGs, and is promoting capacity building for its implementation, monitoring
and evaluation.
In the effort to consolidate national unity, peace and sovereignty, our focus on people leads us to
strive to ensure that lasting peace and stability is a reality to all Mozambicans. Thus, durable peace
and stability ranks as an overarching priority in our national agenda, as it is a crucial factor for the
development and for the promotion of lasting human security in its broadest sense.
Therefore, the Government of Mozambique, under the leadership of President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi
strives for an inclusive dialogue with all political actors and the civil society through both formal
and informal mechanism, including the Parliament. This inclusive approach is also used to engage
all Mozambicans in the conceptualization and implementation of the national development agenda.
In addition, our focus on people also envisages not to leave anyone behind, one of the guiding
precepts of our universal agenda. Therefore, particular attention is given to policies and strategies
aimed at the protection and the full enjoyment of human rights, the promotion of gender equality
and equity as well as the empowerment of women and youth who constitute the majority of our
people.
Mr. President
Mozambique believes that our focus on people, peace, decent life and sustainable planet also
requires a regional dimension, particularly in the context of a globalized world. Hence, we are
encouraged by the contributions that regional and international multilateral mechanisms have had
to prevent and manage conflicts and to promote peace and stability, in particular those under
Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the Community of Portuguese
Speaking Countries, to which we are proud to belong to.
We believe that mechanisms that promote peace and prosperity should also constitute a strong
platform of action aimed at fostering dialogue among civilizations, an unquestionable tool in the
promotion of a culture of tolerance, peaceful coexistence and sustainable world. We pledge to
continue to play our role in these endeavours.
Mr. President
Our resolve to focus on people entails that we address with a sense of urgency the root causes of
the increase on unregulated migration and massive flows of refugees, two dimensions of the human
crises that we are confronted with in modern times.
This regrettable reality is in great part a consequence of a succession of unresolved crisis or poorly
settled conflict situations in relation to which the international community bears a responsibility.
In this connection, we risk achieving an ineffective and fragile peace if the international
community remains focused on short term and ad hoc measures which leave scope for the
recurrence of the same intractable problems at a later stage.
The international community should come together, to redouble efforts and to build consensus to
prevent the senseless loss of lives. We need to adopt measures to reduce people's vulnerabilities,
complemented by actions that address the complex and structural causes of these mass movements
such as conflicts and political, social and economic exclusion.
Focus onpeople on a sustainable planet also requires an urgent attention to climate change. Today
more than ever before the challenges posed by the adverse impact &climate change are noticeable.
Every day we are confronted by the destructive impact of climate change, challenging those who
continue to harbour doubts about the effects of human activities on the environment and the
climate.
The recent devastating effects of the hurricanes, the mudslides and the earthquake that affected
millions of people in the Caribbean region, the United States of America, Sierra Leon and Mexico
are a vivid reminder of the scale of the natural disaster threats we face. 1 would like to seize this
opportunity to convey to the affected people and countries, a message of solidarity and sympathy,
on behalf of the people and the government of Mozambique.
The great human losses and the destruction of infrastructures as a result of the scale and ferocity
of the storms prove, once again, that beyond our convictions we need to reflect and to act as a
common front, to face the menaces arising from climatic change. To this end, we reaffirm the
importance of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as an instrument to strengthen the much
needed partnerships for adaptation and mitigation measures.
Mr. President
The positive dynamics generated by the major development commitments made by the
international community in 2015 have been overshadowed by the worrying signs of the eruption
of political instability, the prevailing inter and intra-states conflicts, particularly in Afi'ica and the
Middle East, the rising tensions in the Korean Peninsula, as well as by the recurrence of acts of
terrorism and of violent extremism.
These challenges to peace and stability threaten to reverse the development gains registered over
the recent decades and to hinder our development efforts as we chart the way forward.
Therefore, it is our hope that the ongoing peace initiatives as well as the measures to curb the
recruitment and finance of terrorist groups result in opportunities to further promote peace and
development, as well as to strengthen human rights and to build more inclusive societies.
Only through constructive dialogue and peaceful means and solutions we can secure durable peace
and stability in our world. To this endeavour, we would like to emphasise the importance of strong
democratic institutions at national level, the impacts of regional cooperation and the role of the
United Nations.
Mr. President
As we gathered in this great hall, the world is once again lacing the threat of the dangers posed by
the proliferation of nuclear weapons that have become the most dangerous existential threat that
humanity faces in the 21 st Century.
As a country with a Constitution that values the principle of universal disarmament of all states
and the negotiated solutions of international conflicts, as well as the peaceful use of nuclear energy,
Mozambique notes with great concern the escalation of tension and the risk of nuclear
confrontation that is unfolding in the Korean Peninsula. The catastrophic impact of a nuclear
conflict demands a more restrained approach based on dialogue, skilful diplomacy and the political
will to de-escalate and to fully comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions. More than
anything, the resolutions signal our collective disapproval of the course of events in that part of
the world.
The lack of progress in the decolonization of Western Sahara, the sole African country still to
exercise the right to self-determination continues to be a cause for grave concern to Mozambique.
Regrettably, all the efforts deployed by the United Nations, the African Union and other actors to
bring about an accepted settlement aiming to grant the people of Western Sahara their inalienable
right to self-determination and independence has not yielded results.
We would like to seize this opportunity to call upon the Security Council, the General Assembly
and the international community to exercise their responsibility by implementing their own
resolutions, particularly regarding the principle of self-determination and right of freedom, as well
as to support the African Union and its Special Envoy to Western Sahara, Mr. Joaquim Chissano,
former President of Mozambique.
The principle of self-determination and right of freedom should also be a reality for the Palestinian
people. To this end, it is imperative that the relevant UN Security Council resolutions are
implemented. We believe that the solution relies in the two states principle, Palestine and Israel
coexisting side by side, in peace and security.
Mozambique followed with interest the efforts of Cuba and the United States of America to
stabilise the diplomatic relations between these two neighbouring countries, an important step
towards the normalisation of bilateral relations and to bring to an end to the economic, commercial
and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba. In this context, we
note with concern the latest developments and appeal to the United States of America to put an
end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo for it hinders the socio-economic
development of Cuba and the Cuban people. Therefore, Mozambique, once again, associates itself
with the overwhelming majority of countries in this hall to demand the immediate termination of
this unilateral coercive measure.
Mr. President
We live in a world confronted by challenges that demand global responses. The relevance of the
UN, the lodestar of multilateralism, over the last 72 years of its existence has always rested in its
ability to reform and re-invent itself to respond more suitably to the challenges of continuously
changing world it serves.
Therefore, Mozambique supports the Secretary-General to pursue his efforts to reform the United
Nations System to make it fit for purpose, and commends his demonstrated desire to fully consult
and seek consent of the UN membership at each stage of the process.
In addition to the ongoing reforms, we also need to urgently accelerate the reform of the Security
Council, another element that will contribute to reaffirm the role of the United Nations in the search
for sustainable solutions for the peace and security challenges facing the humanity.
The difficulties stemming from the lack of consensus among members to initiate text-based
negotiations to complete the reform of the Security Council constrain our ability to open a new
window of opportunity that would enhance the credibility of the organ by making it more
representative of the current reality.
The Security Council is one of the fundamental pillars for the success of the implementation of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Mr. President
I would like to conclude by reiterating the unconditional commitment of the Government of
Mozambique to continue to engage, in partnership with the United Nations and fellow member
states, in the search of sustainable solutions to the problems that affect the humanity.
History has shown us that humankind thrives when "we, the peoples" are able to share, collaborate,
cooperate, dialogue and care.
The UN General Assembly will always be the platform where we come to recommit to rededicate
ourselves to noble ideals on which this great organization was founded: "to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war" and "to promote social progress and better standards of life
in larger freedom". Let's all stay loyal to these lofty ideals enshrined in the UN Charter and work
together to transform our world.
Thank you very much!
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário