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Conflicts, geopolitical tensions, declining resources for development and the fragmentation of spaces for dialogue are testing the principles that have guided coexistence among nations. At the same time, democracy faces a twofold challenge the resurgence of authoritarian tendencies that seek to undermine the will of the people, and the spread of organised criminal networks that infiltrate institutions, corrupt justice systems, capture economies and territories, and erode public trust. Transnational organised crime is more than just a threat to public security. It is a direct threat to democracy the rule of law, and the ability of our peoples to freely determine their future. Criminal networks do not recognize borders. They are linked through drug trafficking trafficking in persons, illicit arms trafficking, smuggling, extortion, money laundering, environmental crime and other illicit economies. They exploit institutional weaknesses, inequality, and a lack of opportunities. Wherever the state is weakened, these structures seek to replace it, intimidate it, or bend it to serve private interests. In the face of these realities, the fundamental principles that must guide our collective action have lost none of their relevance. Preserving peace, combating hunger and poverty. Ensuring equal rights and opportunities, strengthening justice, protecting our planet, and consolidating democratic institutions remain shared responsibilities. The Sustainable Development Goals continue to provide an essential roadmap.
For 53 days there were blockages of roads in Bolivia, um blocking access to healthcare and education. More than 20 people died. And this was financed by narco terrorism and by drug trafficking and a helpless, defenseless state that was unable to generate economic and human resources to be able to fight that narco terrorism, narco trafficking, which was financing it, protest and the right to demand a better life is one thing, the right to demand a decent life, better healthcare, education and infrastructure. It is quite another thing to want to break the constitutional and democratic framework of our nations. That is why those mafias that do not have constitutions, that do not have laws and do not have to report their resources. They are mafias that are using organized crime and using resources, be it drug trafficking, smuggling, or gold. It doesn't matter the source of that money. What is important to them is destroying constitutions, destroying democracies, and destroying social stability. That is why Bolivia is fighting to overcome this crisis and be able to produce and export. We want investment, employment, technology. We want resources. We want to integrate into the world.
However, on this journey, we have learned something that I have come here to share with you: that is that no state can defeat an enemy that knows no borders by acting alone. The weapons that reach our streets, across several countries, the money that finances mafias is laundered far from where the crimes are committed, the routes of drug trafficking and people trafficking and illegal mining, across continents. Criminals have already globalized their cooperation. They share routes, logistics, finances, and technology without red tape, distrust, or delay. It's unacceptable that criminal organizations cooperate with one another more effectively than states do. This is the reality that the United Nations must recognize and rise to. For a long time, organized crime was dealt with as a law enforcement matter, but today we know that it's more than that. When it controls territories and infiltrates institutions, replaces legitimate authority, erodes the rule of law, and destabilizes an entire society. And when this happens in several countries at the same time, it's no longer just a domestic issue; it becomes a threat to international peace and security. I want to say this very clearly: we're not calling for other actors to act instead of states. We're calling for cooperation, with full respect for the sovereignty of each nation, and with results that we can measure. This is why Ecuador today is proposing three concrete actions. First of all, an international mechanism within the framework of the UN to trace and freeze the illicit financial flows from transnational organized crime. The money is the fuel of these networks, so let us stop it in its tracks. Second, a permanent platform of information exchange between police forces, prosecutors' offices, and financial intelligence units that enables states to anticipate rather than react once it's happened. And the third concrete action: that the UN80 initiative include transnational organized crime as a priority for conflict prevention, and provide the organization with the capacity to support states that request it. These are proposals that Ecuador is prepared to support and drive forward alongside all countries that wish to join us. Excellencies, security is not an end in itself; it's a condition for a country to be able to flourish. And today we are experiencing a crisis, a profound crisis. And recovering security means giving people back their future, for a young person to be able to choose university rather than being trapped by a criminal gang, for a family to open a business without fear, for a company to invest and create jobs, and for institutions to respond to the needs of citizens and not to illicit interests.
Confidence in international institutions is under strain. For small developing states such as ours, trust depends on institutions applying agreed rules, consistently honoring commitments, and ensuring that those most affected by decisions have a meaningful voice in shaping them. Transnational organized crime continues to pose a serious threat to the security and development of small island states. Small states face serious challenges from sophisticated criminal networks that move people, that move weapons, that move narcotics and illicit finance across national borders. For Trinidad and Tobago, this is not an abstract threat. These networks directly endanger our citizens. They endanger our institutions and endanger our development. Restoring trust and managing transformation, therefore, must ultimately be about results.
Mr. president, Brazil does not underestimate the challenge represented by organized crime. We are ready to face the criminal organization that terrorize our local communities. Workers are robbed. Mothers lose their children. Police officers do not make it back home. People are tired of violence. But we will not. We will not outsource the responsibility of defending its borders and guaranteeing our population the right to live without fear. We do not need aircraft carriers guarding our waters. We need cooperation to block the flow of weapons and money that feeds crime, organized crime. That's the spirit of the proposal that I personally handed to the US president. We want to fight money laundering carried out by Brazilian criminals abroad. For a long time, Brazilian states acted each in their own way. Crime made the most of the lack of coordination. But this is changing in Manaus, a city of the Amazon state. We created the Amazon International Police Cooperation Center, bringing together public safety authorities from nine Amazon region countries. In 2025, we carried out the biggest operation against organized crime in Brazil's history. We broke records of drug seizures as well as unlawful assets and resources. We are facing all levels of crime, including the crime tycoons, the anti faction bill that we just have passed. Establish heavier sentences for organized crime than those carried by terrorism, organized crime and corruption. Walk hand in hand. The fight against corruption shall remain relentless. No matter who it hurts. No one is above the law. Ladies and gentlemen, the pillars of multilateralism are being eroded. The World Trade Organization is being kept on life support. When governments capsulate vis a vis those who use tariffs as weapons of coercion and blackmail, consequences are harmful. In the age of misinformation, obscurantists resist the evidence of science.
Today, I convey to you the facts, the achievements, to go through the breakthrough we have achieved. Last year, I mentioned that Syria came back. Today, I say that Syria is rising. Ladies and gentlemen, in our journey, in the struggle between good and evil, the bloodshed was stopped. Destruction was stopped. Syria started the journey of reconstruction, of recovery. The country was united. We controlled arms. We rebuilt military and civilian institutions. Sanctions were lifted. Projects for reconstruction have continued. We have combated drug trafficking, and we focused on transitional justice. We have ascertained the fate of the missing. We turned our vision into practical action. We have forged partnerships, and we focused mainly on the future and on the welfare of our people. We focused on reconstruction. We relied on the free will of our people and our independence. This national vision relied on diplomatic efforts. Since liberation, more than 100 states started communicating with us through 4,000 communications. Our capital has hosted more than 60 diplomatic missions.
Allow me to share with you, ladies and gentlemen, some of the most pressing challenges that Peru is currently facing. The first major challenge we face is the frontal assault we must wage on our organised crime and petty crime. Peru is located on a continent in which there are no wars between nations. However, we are faced with another type of war that is, that declared by transnational criminal organizations, organizations that have sowed terror among our people. In this war, there are no battlegrounds, no fronts Indeed, no fronts have been defined. There are no international rules governing these conflicts. The enemy does not wear a uniform. The enemy hides among our people. There is no possibility to see surrender or to sign peace treaties in this context. Confronting this war as an isolated problem to be dealt with by each nation alone is not only mistaken thinking and a mistake that we've been making. Rather, it is an act of giving the advantage to transnational organised crime. To make that mistake allows them to grow stronger. They have huge economic and war mongering power, and they get that through crimes. And illegal businesses that range from smuggling, illegal mining, drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion and killing. Consequently, the first thing we must do is isolate or pinpoint and identify the enemy. These organisations, these enemies are terrorist groups and they must be tackled for as what they are. They are enemies of a democratic state and of fine, upstanding citizens. Clearly defining what who the enemy is and establishing a normative framework will allow the armed forces in supporting the National Police to act with resolve and tackle the threat to the domestic order posed by these organisations. Moreover, in addition to actively participating in the regional Santiago pact. Peru recently joined the shield of the Americas. That was a demonstration of its decisive commitment to working together and in concert with our partners in this challenge, which is of the utmost priority for Peru. In Peru, we will pursue crime and prosecute. It will go after the main one that commits the crimes and go after the network that supports him. We will not waver in the face of those that attempt to impose terror over and above the law, suppressing, repressing.
Transnational criminal networks are using our ocean as a highway for illicit drugs, undermining our sovereignty and national security, destroying young lives and tearing at the fabric of our communities. Behind every statistic stands a family, a community, a young life robbed of its promise. We will not allow criminal networks to profit from the vulnerability of our people. We are amending our Dangerous Drugs Act to introduce stiffer penalties as a deterrent, and we are strengthening law enforcement to prevent and detect these crimes and to hold perpetrators accountable. In August this year, Solomon Islands acceded to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, a clear demonstration of our resolve to confront this threat. These are costly and demanding undertakings, and no Pacific country can win this fight alone. We call for stronger international cooperation, greater information sharing, sustained investment in the capacity of our law enforcement agencies, and the support for prevention and rehabilitation. Our vision of a peaceful and secure Pacific extends beyond transnational crime. As enshrined in the Ocean of Peace declaration, our region must remain free of nuclear weapons and free from destabilizing external influence.
Since 2021, this organization has been working on recommendations and calling out illegal migration across the Darien and established a basis of humanitarian aid, and it looked like more of a concentration camp in the midst of the 21st century. However, in practical terms, the transit of people increased in 2022, and even more in 2023 and in the first six months of 2024. So it went from being uncontrolled migration and turned into huge illegal migration. People trafficking organizations linked to drug trafficking used and abused this space to transport more families, and the result of it was women and children, children ending up orphaned in one of the worst social disasters that my country can remember. In addition to this, we must add the ecological damage caused in a biodiversity reserve, the Darien Gap Reserve, and this has still not recovered. And this is a situation where there's more than a million people transiting across it, and since the first day I knew that we needed to resolve this issue individually, like I did, because this organization wasn't able to do it. And it's for this reason that at the beginning of my term I signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of the United States. This, at the end of the day, is a border issue for the United States also, but it was taking place in Panama. And so in the second six months of 2024, with colossal effort being made by my country, we managed to oversee a 50% drop compared to the first six months of the year. In 2025, when restrictive measures were implemented in the United States and we worked in better coordination with one another, we saw a 99% drop. So this means halting one of the worst humanitarian disgraces that Panama has ever seen in its history, putting an end to family separation, and also we stopped criminals profiting. This description is something that should not be seen as an isolated criticism, but rather as an inflection point to understand the increasingly widening gap between what citizens expect and what they are able to obtain from this organization on issues such as illegal migration, for example.
What has changed is the world around it. What has changed, first and foremost is Chile. For the vast swathes of the 90s and until the beginning of the 2000, Chile was a success story and a model for many regions and nations. Our country implemented economic policies that prioritized economic stability, openness to trade, and private investment in the Latin American context in which many nations were facing inflation crises and external debt. Chile distinguished itself because it continued to show fiscal responsibility, display high rates of growth and poverty reduction. What happened then? Chile ground to a halt. Things stagnated. It took bad decisions. Public policies were implemented that increased taxation, regulation and obstacles to entrepreneurship. We also weathered a very difficult juncture. In October 2019, Chile then fell to its knees in our streets. For months, there was an outbreak of violence. Chaos reigned and disorder prevailed. All of that brought consequences. With it, investment plummeted, employment ground to a standstill and homicide levels rose to an extent that Chile had never seen in modern history as a result of the rising tide of organized crime. And that all happened until very recently. Until now. Distinguished. I've come to this forum to tell you that Chile is back, and that is no slogan. It is the very reality of a country that today begins to stride towards development. Our government took office with one conviction. Order does not run counter to freedom. Order is one of the preconditions of freedom. The freedom to walk home worry free and to not be a victim of crime. The freedom to run a business and not be stymied by the action of the state. The freedom to invest and not find ourselves in a situation where the rules of the game are continually changing. We have been in government for six years and we're getting our house in order. Today, Chile is a safer, more competitive country and a nation with far less red tape.
The development of our countries and the stability and prosperity of our region. Mr. president, in pursuit of a stronger and safer region, Guyana is honoured to be a founding member of the shield of the Americas, launched by President Trump in March 2026. Since the founding of this initiative, Guyana has worked closely with the United States and 13 other like minded nations that believe in building a Western Hemisphere that values freedom, peace, economic prosperity, and a shared responsibility and commitment to fighting transnational crime and criminal networks. It has.
Every nation, regardless of population or economic power, possesses an inherent right to sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity. Today, however, sovereignty faces quiet, insidious threats. Transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing threaten our security, wreck our marine ecosystems, and steal from our people. Because these threats interconnected, our response must be equally integrated, stronger international intelligence sharing, expanded maritime surveillance, and practical law enforcement support. It is unreasonable to expect nations safeguarding vast oceanic domains with modest budgets to meet standards set by heavily resourced states, without providing them the tools to do so.
Today that is exactly what we're doing. We are equipping and strengthening our national police force and our armed forces. We're doing this because transnational organized crime does not respect borders. Drug trafficking networks and gangs operate in several countries at the same time, and no country can vanquish them alone. It is a matter of shared responsibility. Every nation must do its part. Democracies whose interests are aligned must unite and act together, quickly and with resolve. It is only in so doing that we will enjoy security and prosperity in our hemisphere.
In terms of risks, we continue to confront organized crime by cooperating with all friends. To repel the dangers of organized crime and to abort the cross-border drug trade. We call for more information sharing and international coordination to ward off this danger that threatens societies Amid these challenges, the well-being of the Iraqi people remains our ultimate objective and the focus of all of our efforts. Given the high proportion of young people in our society.
So it's up to the challenges ahead and building beyond multilateralism, with new coalitions and partnerships to address and solve complex problems. As a middle power, Australia is showing leadership and working with others on fresh ideas to tackle the big issues now facing the world in our region, the Indo Pacific. We are elevating relationships that help to build sovereign capability and offer nations sovereign choice free from coercion, so that our partners can address the big issues confronting them. Economic security, human development, energy security, transnational crime, sovereign capabilities, trade and investment, and science and technology. Whether it's our support for our Pacific family, our partnerships in South East Asia the elevation of our relationships with Japan, India and the Republic of Korea, or the deepening of our partnerships with Europe and Canada. This is our approach. We seek to amplify the voices of small and mid-sized states to ensure council decisions are informed by the widest possible perspectives. Working strongly together on issues that matter to us, to them, and to the world. Listening. Partnering. Protecting. We are developing these new partnerships while continuing to work closely with our principal ally, the United States, and our major trading partner in China.
And how can we make cooperation a genuine partnership among nations, rather than a carving-up of spheres of influence? We, in the Arab and Islamic world, and on our African continent, do not approach this question as observers, for we live its consequences every day. That reality unfolds before us at every moment in Palestine, whose delegation, we regret, has not been able to participate with us in this session. There, the plight of the Palestinian people continues to worsen after decades of occupation, repression, and alteration of their identity, yet they remain steadfast in their adherence to their right to life and to self-determination. These are rights guaranteed without discrimination by international law and international humanitarian law. All of humanity yearns for international instruments and resolutions to move from texts and promises to a reality, and for the right of the Palestinian people to their state to be realized in accordance with international law. The continued undermining of these prospects for its establishment not only squanders opportunities for peace; it also drives the region toward a widening cycle of conflict, the spread of extremism, and a search for alternatives amid major expansionist projects that extend beyond occupied Palestine to Syria and Lebanon. Neither the Islamic and Christian holy sites, nor civilians, nor civilian infrastructure in Palestine have been spared the ravages of this conflict. Its repercussions have extended to the Arabian Gulf, most recently in the attack against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We affirm our full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in safeguarding its security, its territorial integrity, its citizens, and its holy sites. We reject any targeting that threatens it or endangers Islamic holy sites. The security of the Kingdom and the Gulf, given their Arab and Islamic weight, is not a national matter, but it is a pillar of the security and stability of our region. The ongoing armed conflict in the Sudan, our brotherly neighbor, has made its people the victims of a devastating war for which they are paying a hefty price. In that war, interests and interventions collide, and its effects extend beyond the borders of Sudan, endangering the security and stability of the region and the unity of its states. The instability in the Sahel region represents an existential threat to the integrity of its states. That threat stems from the nexus of terrorism, organized crime, poverty, climate change, displacement, and migration, and from the widening of the cycle of armed conflict in the region.
Equipment is needed, and one needs to resolve to see the effort through. However, there is another security challenge that should compel us all collectively to act. The illicit trafficking in weapons and ammunition. These are weapons that are killing Haitians, that are sowing terror in our neighborhoods and cutting down innocent lives, and they're not being produced in Haiti. They are arriving here through transnational criminal networks that are fueling insecurity and strengthening the capacity of gangs to act, while threatening stability of our entire region. For as long as this traffic prospers, violence will find ways to perpetuate. Dismantling this traffic is a shared responsibility. We therefore need to move beyond advocating for Haiti.
We live in an interdependent world marked by growing uncertainty and by challenges that transcend borders climate change, transnational organized crime, terrorism, structural inequalities, the burden of debt, and insufficient financing for development continue to undermine our efforts towards sustainable development. Devastating conflicts also persist in several regions of the world, as do security challenges, particularly in the Sahel. In this context, Guinea-Bissau considers it essential to strengthen the international community's support to the most affected countries in the region. Ladies and gentlemen, the United Nations remains an essential pillar of multilateralism and a privileged forum for dialogue, cooperation and the search for collective solutions to the challenges facing humanity. It must be acknowledged, however, that in certain circumstances, the expectations that people have placed in it have not always been met with a response commensurate with their aspirations. This reality should not lead us to question the foundations of the multilateral system, but rather to strengthen the effectiveness representativeness and capacity for action of international institutions. It is incumbent upon Member States to renew their commitment to multilateralism that is more effective, more inclusive and more responsive to the aspirations of peoples. We also consider it urgent to reform the architecture of global governance, so that it reflects the geopolitical realities of the 21st century. It is essential that Africa have more adequate and effective representation in the international institutions that play a central role in shaping responses to the challenges of peace, security and development The reform of United Nations Security Council Council must reflect the legitimate aspirations of the African continent and ensure fairer, permanent and effective representation. In keeping with the principle of a more inclusive, equitable and representative international order, Guinea-Bissau welcomes the efforts of the United Nations to achieve achieve a lasting political solution to the question of Western Sahara. We welcome the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2797 of 2025 and view favourably the Autonomy Initiative presented by the Kingdom of Morocco as a basis for resolving this dispute. Ladies and gentlemen, on November 26th, 2025, during the electoral process, the constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau was interrupted and transitional bodies were established.
The principles of the charter, therefore, therefore matter to all of us. Human suffering cannot wait for diplomacy to succeed. People in conflict need food, medicine and protection. Now, Hungary will continue to provide humanitarian aid to people in danger, especially the most vulnerable in the Middle East. We call for full respect for international humanitarian law and for aid to reach those who need it safely and without interruption. Israelis and Palestinians Palestinians must be able to live in security and dignity. A lasting peace must give their families reasons to believe that their children can grow up without the fear that has marked so many lives for people forced from their homes by war and or persecution. Protection May 1st mean finding safety in another country. Hungary's own history gives us reason to understand that need. At the same time, every state has the right to protect its borders. Hungary will do do so in accordance with international law. We will fight illegal migration and the criminal networks that profit from it by respecting human dignity and the protection given to refugees.
As a current member of the United Nations Security Council Liberia is putting these principles into practice while confronting evolving threats across West Africa, including transnational organized crime, cyber war and illicit narcotics trafficking along the maritime corridors in the Gulf of Guinea Through our joint security forces, we are tightening the vice on transnational drug cartels. No nation can police global criminal network alone. So we call on international partners for targeted support in Coast Guard surveillance, intelligence sharing and port security technologies. Sustainable development and reforming the international financial system.
Africa is bearing the brunt of the decline of multilateralism and the difficulties the United Nations has faced in recent years. Due to a lack of support from certain partners and from the United Nations. Several African countries are struggling to find lasting solutions to conflicts and to bear the cost of various counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations. Meanwhile, violent extremism, transnational organized crime. And illicit trafficking of all kinds. Continue to destabilize a number of regions on the continent and in particular, the Sahel. Our experience and the realities on the ground demonstrate that no state can, on its own. Overcome such threats in a definitive and lasting manner. This requires greater regional cooperation and international solidarity in order to ensure appropriate responses. These threats also call for investment in conflict prevention and for addressing, at an early stage the vulnerabilities that fuel crises, including poverty, inequality, youth unemployment and all other forms of marginalization. In this regard we commend the efforts of the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS and all the partners. Working on security and stabilization efforts in our region.
In more than 80 years, no woman has led this organization. We trust that the Security Council and the General Assembly will rise to this moment. Ladies and gentlemen, renewing peacekeeping operations, without a shadow of a doubt, is our most urgent task. Today, transnational criminal networks control territories, they traffic arms and people, and they recruit children. Haiti, our neighbor, is the clearest example of this. Since 2021, the Dominican Republic has warned in each and every forum that this crisis is a threat to the peace and security of the region, and particularly for my country. A year ago, from this same rostrum, I called upon the council to act without delay. Six days later, the council adopted Resolution 2793 that authorized a banned suppression force with a strong mandate and with the support of a United Nations support office. I thank the United States and Panama for their leadership, as well as Canada and other donors for their support, Kenya for their commitment, and the commitment of all of the countries who today have their men and women serving in Haiti. However, the reality does not allow us to wait. One month ago, in the Haitian community of Kentscoff, in just one night, gangs murdered no less than 47 people, including 5 children. Close to a million and a half of Haitians have been displaced from their homes. Half of them are children. This assembly cannot resign to seeing massacres become the norm for the long-suffering Haitian people. What the council approved now requires the means to implement it. First, the deployment of the force that today is only funded up to a fifth of and only has up to a fifth, rather, of the troops authorized. Second, fulfilling the arms embargo and sanctioning those who are financing and protecting gangs. And thirdly, strengthening the police, the armed forces, and the Haitian justice system so that the security can be sustained. The mandate of the force expires on the 30th of September. It's for the council now to renew it and for the international community to contribute troops and the resources that are required. Renewing it without completing it would be prolonging a promise that's not fulfilled. None of this requires a new decision. The Dominican Republic has played its role. We will not practice a diplomacy of mere declarations, but rather a diplomacy of solutions. We will contribute to building the consensus that made a resolution possible, and we are committing our financial contributions that's proportional for the trust fund of the force and facilitating from our country transit, logistics, and a UN support office. We are cooperating with the sanctions regime and supporting the personnel of the mission in our hospitals. We are doing this because this is, above all, a question of national security for our country, and we must repeat this as clearly as possible: there is no Dominican solution to the Haitian crisis, and no state or organization can impose on our country to do it in their place. We will continue to protect our borders, to implement our migratory laws, and strengthen and equip our armed forces in exercise of sovereign equality that the United Nations recognizes for each state, and all of this fully respecting the international obligations that we freely assumed.
Africa must move beyond its historical role as an exporter of raw materials or greater value addition, manufacturing, technological innovation, and knowledge driven growth. Our abundant natural resources must become engines of shared prosperity rather than sources of perpetual dependency. Mr. president, no nation, however formidable its defenses, can secure itself completely against dangers sustained beyond its borders. Terrorism, organized crime, cyber attacks and illicit finance exploit the gaps between our national responses, drawing strength from the divisions that weaken collective action.
These are critical to the implementation of SDG 14. Our maritime domain is increasingly exploited by transnational criminal networks involved in illegal trafficking including illicit drugs moving through our region. Illicit drugs enter homes, harm young people, fuel violence and place increasing pressure on communities and essential services. Excellencies non-communicable disease represents one of the most serious development challenges to Samoa's public health and economic productivity. In response, we are shifting towards prevention through strengthening health literacy, reforming school nutrition and food environments, and early intervention programs. And this includes our early childhood development framework. Our multisectoral roadmap to ensure every child from pregnancy to age five receives nurturing, nurturing, care, protection, and early learning. Excellencies.
Our experience in southern Africa has taught us that dialogue is a shared fortitude and not a weakness. In the African tradition, the meeting place is not where courage is abandoned. It is where wisdom is summoned. Lessons can be drawn from the heritage based approaches to peace building and conflict resolution from communities across the world, including within Africa. Military action may alter the battlefield, but durable peace is built through inclusive political processes that restore confidence, address grievances and allow affected communities to shape their socioeconomic and political destinies. Mr. president, Zimbabwe's grateful for the confidence placed in us through our election to the Security Council for the 2027 to 2028 term, my country will assume this responsibility in January 2027 with humility, independency and a readiness to serve, guided by our foreign policy of being a friend to all and an enemy to none. Accordingly, my country will prioritize for priorities in the Council. Firstly, the promotion of preventive diplomacy, mediation, a peaceful dispute resolution while tackling the underlying causes of insecurity. Secondly, we shall advocate for the strengthening of cooperation between the United Nations and the regional organizations such as the African Union and its Peace and Security Council. In this respect, we call for the full implementation of resolution 2719 to ensure predictable, adequate and sustainable financing for authorized African Union led peace support operations. Thirdly, our nation believes that our rich heritage and natural resource endowments must advance industrialization, modernization and the green agenda for the prosperity of all and not to finance conflict As such, Zimbabwe shall support Africa silencing the guns agenda and strong action against terrorism, organized crime, illicit arms flows, and illegal resource trafficking. Finally, women and young people must shape peace. From the outset, the support of Zimbabwe will also be extended to the women and youth peace and security agendas. The current times demand peace keeping that is grounded in clear political strategies, realistic mandates and adequate resources. Those most affected by the decisions of the Security Council should not be the least heard. There is need not only give a voice, but consider the views of the countries and regions on the Security Council agenda towards our shared aspirations for enduring peace and sustainable development.
The same principle applies to illegal migration, which has caused mistrust in Europe and altered the political landscape in many countries. This situation is unacceptable and it cannot continue. The rule of law must be upheld and legal procedures must be followed. Our primary responsibility is to our citizens and it starts at our borders. We are not allowing uncontrolled migration and we are fighting the criminal networks that facilitate it. As an EU external border country, Croatia carries an additional responsibility and we will fulfil it with determination. Transformation is equally important in our own neighbourhood. South-East Europe remains the unfinished part of the European project.
Our most pressing threats are already reaching our shores. Transnational crime illicit drugs, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, cyber threats and unresolved consequences of nuclear testing and radioactive contamination remain. In this respect, our region is committed to directly utilising innovative technologies and working closely with our trusted security partners to address our security challenges. We are committed to protecting the rights of marginalised people and ending violence against women and young girls. This year, Tonga ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, reaffirming our commitment to the dignity and the equal participation of persons with disabilities.
And if there is one word that sums up much of our vocation as a country, that word would be peace. We do not view peace simply as an absence of war. We understand it as something that has to be constantly built. The possibility for people to live, to work, to educate their children, pursue their aspirations, and to look to the future without fear. Uruguay. With its virtues, but also, like every country with its darker times, has been a country that has sought to resolve its differences through institutions, through dialogue and through the quest for agreement. In this assembly, we reaffirm our enduring willingness to contribute to peacekeeping missions with a deep sense of responsibility and solidarity. Uruguayan men and women can bear witness to the value of this instrument in easing suffering and guaranteeing respect for the human lives of the most defenseless populations. You can continue to count on Uruguay here. We are not a country given to grand gestures We are a country of deeply held beliefs. And one of these beliefs is that peace building is never finished. We can't take it for granted. Every generation has the responsibility to build it anew They can't be peaceful some and another peace for others. No suffering matters more because it happens closer to home, and no lives are worth less because they were born in another country. When people suffer, humanity as a whole bears a responsibility. When a people is displaced, when a family loses its home, when young people can see no way out and their mental health is under threat. When a child grows up under the sound of gunfire, when millions of people live in poverty or without any opportunities, we can't stand indifferent to that, nor can we stand indifferent to the pain caused by a state of endless war. The fear and pain generated by organized crime, or the constant threat of terrorism, the repression born out of tyranny, or the suffering triggered by a rigid economic blockade such as that endured by the Cuban people. We don't believe that taking one side or another in a war, confrontation or dispute necessarily contributes to resolving it. Indeed, very often it only serves to further the divisions. We have a different commitment, that is, to seek paths towards understanding, to open spaces for dialogue, and to help to ensure that conflicts find a peaceful resolution. This doesn't mean indifference. It doesn't mean downplaying suffering. It doesn't mean overlooking responsibilities. It means understanding that peace demands something more difficult than merely taking sides. It means that we need to work so that that confrontation can be brought to an end as soon as possible. And to do that, we also have to recover something that at times seems to have been lost in international debate. Humility.
Without that capacity, sovereignty over the land, over the sky becomes just an illusion. And then comes the third layer: reach. For centuries, the great threat to freedom of speech was censorship. Today, freedom of speech is threatened by the weaponization of the freedom of reach. Speech is the right to express an idea. Reach is the power to place that idea before millions of people. Speech belongs to human beings. Reach can be purchased, automated, manipulated and secretly assigned by platforms, corporations, criminal networks and foreign states. The right to speak is universal, but there is no universal right to anonymous, unlimited and artificially amplified reach. When one lie can be multiplied a billion times, truth does not need to be censored anymore because it is simply buried. The citizen remains formally free to speak, but speaks into a storm that no human voice can match. Freedom of speech can therefore be defeated without banning a single book, without imprisoning a single journalist, without deleting a single post. The answer to bad speech remains more speech, but the answer to covert industrial amplification must come and must come sooner, more than it will be too late. And it's called exposure. Who created the message? Who paid for it? Was it spread by people or by machines? Why was the citizen targeted? Was the apparent public reaction authentic, coordinated or foreign directed? Defending democracy and defending a way of life and defending the freedom of each and every nation to live in its own way does not mean controlling what people are allowed to think. It means revealing the hidden powers, seeking to control what people are made to see. If we protect freedom of speech while leaving the control of reach completely opaque, we defend the door while surrendering the whole room. Some respond by demanding that artificial intelligence be slowed or stopped. We are too small, but we respectfully have to disagree. A pause by democracies will not produce a pause by dictatorships.
No human institution is perfect. All can be improved perfected, and the United Nations is no exception. There is one specific area that Colombia wishes to reflect on further. That is the international fight against terrorism. This organization has done significant work here. Since 1963, the international community has developed 19 universal legal instruments aimed at preventing different terrorist acts. However, after decades of discussion, there is still no legal definition of terrorism that is universally agreed by member states. The UN Office of Counterterrorism itself has recently flagged that the lack of a universally agreed definition begets legal uncertainty. Discrepancies among national laws and causes difficulties in international cooperation. The Republic of Colombia believes that the time has come to move ahead. We need a common international definition that is sufficiently clear and precise, compatible with international law and fundamental safeguards, but also useful enough so that states can cooperate effectively in combating acts of terrorism. A serious definition should avoid two extremes. On the one hand, a political disagreement being arbitrarily characterized as terrorism, and on the other hand, allowing an organization to hide murders, kidnappings, bombings, or deliberate attacks against civilians behind a political label in order to evade the legal consequences of its actions. Terrorism must be condemned regardless of the perpetrator, where it is committed or the cause they invoke. The United Nations has repeatedly reaffirmed that terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, represents one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. Now, a better definition is not enough. States need better tools to combat this phenomenon. We need faster mechanisms for exchanging information and intelligence. We need better judicial cooperation, effective tracing, freezing, seizing instruments for assets related to terrorist financing. And we need closer cooperation to deal with networks that operate simultaneously across different countries. Colombia stands ready to participate actively in that discussion. My country wants to see United Nations, where the effectiveness is measured less by the volume of documents it produces, and far more by the results that it delivers. A UN that is less inclined to multiply processes and more determined to translate international cooperation into concrete action. That is the sort of multilateralism that Colombia is ready to defend, one that respects the sovereign equality of states as the charter itself provides, but one that is also capable of acting effectively when threats recognize no borders, drugs, trafficking, terrorism, transnational organized crime and illicit economies are precisely those threats.
A supreme law that belongs to every citizen must belong to them. Also. Fiji's door is open this month. Fiji declared a national HIV emergency. Your excellencies 1 in 60 of adults is now estimated to be living with the virus. Fewer than 4 in 10 know that I say this plainly, because stigma and silence are now are how this epidemic grew and because of the late Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, a former head of state and UNAids goodwill ambassador for the Pacific, spent his last years telling us Though this is also a security. There is also a security question. Methamphetamine trafficking trafficked into our region. Region by transnational criminal networks is now driving transmission through injecting drug use, drug use. Our borders are ocean. Our populations are small, and the profits at stake exceed our national budgets. A country such as Fiji of under a million people cannot interdict a global supply chain alone. So Fiji asked three things that treatment and diagnostics reach small states at prices we can pay. Is that the Global Fund and UNAids be resourced at a level that does not force a triage between regions, and that our partners treat Pacific narcotics interdiction as the shared security interest. It is These are the same laws. A nurse who emigrates is a nurse. Fiji trained and will not have. Because they left a Fijian who died 35 of a treatable virus is the same subtraction made permanent with the cost of care left behind. Small states are not losing workers at the margin. We are losing the capacity to staff our own future.
Second, addressing climate change and its effects. Third, tackling regional challenges, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. The role of non-state armed groups that threaten the security and stability of states has grown considerably. Indeed, they now seek to control maritime corridors and straits and to threaten freedom of navigation. They also target facilities in a number of countries. At the global level, more than 200 million people live in areas under the control of armed groups or in contested areas. Moreover, more than 130 non-state armed groups have been identified as legally classified parties to armed conflicts. These figures clearly reflect the scale of the spread and proliferation of these groups. In a world that, over the past two decades has become less secure and less stable. Further, the close links between these armed groups and separatist militias on the one hand, and terrorist organizations and criminal networks, as well as mercenary elements, on the other hand, are evident to all. It is therefore a mistake to believe that some of these groups are peaceful or constructive, or that they can engage in the settlement of conflicts. All these groups use violence to impose a fait accompli and to serve the agenda of those who control them. They must therefore be dealt with firmly, and responsibility must be assigned to the states that sponsor Harbour Finance and armed them, and provide them with safe haven and support. The responsibility of these sponsoring states is not merely political, it is also legal, moral and historical. These groups and their sponsors alike cannot be allowed to become a means of evading responsibility or a tool for carrying out what states cannot do directly. Hence, deterrent sanctions must be imposed on these groups and their sponsors.
Your Excellencies, today, the three pillars amongst which the UN works—peace and security, development, and human rights—are under unprecedented pressure. In the realm of peace and security, we witness the proliferation of conflicts, the worsening of civilian suffering, and the spread of terrorism and the expansion of transnational organized crime. These challenges, amongst others, must lead us to strengthen compliance with the promotion of the mechanisms for prevention and peaceful resolution of conflict, as well as what we are going to do under international law in the light of the United Nations Charter, including respect for those sovereignty and territorial integrity of our states, the human rights, and international cooperation—factors that are, in fact, inseparable to being truthful. In this way, we will be able to address conflicts that persist around the world, including in some countries and regions of our continent, Africa. It is also this that underlies the support of our defense for solutions for two states for Palestine. Living side by side with peace and security with Israel has a legitimate and lasting path forward. The principle of self-determination of the people enshrined in the United Nations Charter as far back as 1945 remains so valid as ever. It is in this context that we reaffirm our principled position in support of the cause for the Sahrawi people.
We are on one side; that is the side of citizens of the world that are pursuing their happiness, their development, and their freedom. A great deal is said about Venezuela. Many people opine about Venezuela. Some attempt to interfere in the domestic affairs of Venezuela. I come to this rostrum to talk to you about a Venezuelan whose national life has been affected by a crisis that has disrupted political coexistence, a crisis that disrupted national life, and upset our relationships with the world. Interests alien to the common good of the Venezuelan people were pursued without our say-so. In 2026, Venezuela was forced to face two major painful tests to its life as a nation. One was the test that arose from the suffocation of its internal political life and a dispute with the United States of America, which was ratcheted up and became more extreme. Another test arose from nature's savagery; that was the double earthquake on the 24th of June. In spite of these "life's bitter blows," as they were called by the poet César Vallejo, for all Venezuela people, Venezuela's people, today Venezuela is being reborn. The idea of our country being reborn is, if you like, the expression of our country's attitude, the attitude that it has assumed in the face of the aforementioned events. We are transforming our political relationships, and these are now rooted in dialogue, negotiations, and diplomacy. We wish to have with the United States, with our neighbors, and with all countries on the continent, relations with the international communities. We wish to rebuild them and maintain them. They must be rooted in respect and equality. I wish, before the 81st General Assembly of the United Nations, to thank President Donald Trump and his government for their readiness to resume the course of diplomatic relations and cooperation with Venezuela. The last time that two presidents, the President of Venezuela and the United States, met together was in 2009. Today we are working solemnly to, through dialogue, settle our differences. But first and foremost, we are working to pave the way for cooperation in the field of energy, to promote security, and to fight together transnational crime. And we're looking to buttress economic cooperation for the benefit of our two peoples and the peoples of our continent, and the continent as a whole.
In Yemen, we're not confronting a purely local terrorist militia. Rather, we face an extension of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with which uses. Which is also using terrorist groups to threaten international peace and security. The Houthi militias use of the safety of navigation as a tool for blackmail threaten not only Yemen. It is taking hostage the entire global economy. Recent years have clearly demonstrated a truth that the international community must not dismiss, namely, that ensuring security at sea begins with eliminating the source of the threat on land. Protecting ships is important, but it only addresses the consequences and does not remove the threat. Therefore, we warn the world do not be reassured by false promises from a terrorist militia that has repeatedly made endless commitments, just as it failed to honor them. Its abstention from targeting ships today does not mean at all. It will not do so tomorrow. It is a strategic mistake. It is a strategic mistake to assume that maritime security can be sustained through assurances that can be walked back. A lasting maritime security in the Red sea, Bab el Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden cannot be built, while a non-state armed militia remains on the shores. Nor is the threat confined to Yemen and the Red sea. International reports have exposed growing cooperation between the terrorist Houthi militias and terrorist organizations, including in the Horn of Africa, through networks linking militias, terrorist groups, smugglers and organized crime networks, thereby undermining states and threatening security and stability. Ladies and gentlemen We say with full confidence, and we firmly believe that restoring the Yemeni state and restoring the security of Bab el Mandeb are inseparable. They are not two separate issues, but one and the same. Supporting the Yemeni government and strengthening its economic, security and military capacities is an investment in international peace and security. Protecting this strategic waterway is a shared regional and international responsibility which Yemen cannot shoulder alone. It is the responsibility of every economy that depends on secure supply chains, energy security, and freedom of navigation. In this regard, we commend the initiative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to establish a multinational maritime defense coalition. This initiative reflects a deep appreciation and understanding of collective responsibility to protect navigation, deter threats and combat smuggling. The path to a secure at sea requires a stable Yemen. There is no stability in Yemen without restoring the state, sustainable peace cannot be achieved while an armed militia remains above the law and outside state authority, restoring the Yemeni state is restoring. The Yemeni state is not just a national interest, it is a direct contribution to regional security and stability and to the protection of one of the world's most vital maritime corridors. Ladies and gentlemen our Yemeni people aspires to peace, but our people will not abandon their state. Our government is committed to peace, but it cannot accept that the armed coup becomes a fait accompli. There is no peace with arms outside state authority.
Everyone is aware of it. Its name is Venezuela. Before coming to New York, I visited Caracas, despite the fact that the diplomatic relations between Paraguay and Venezuela have been suspended. My decision to visit the Caribbean country, therefore, surprised many, and many people have questioned, sometimes harshly, my decision. I therefore like to use this forum to say it loudly and clearly: I didn't go to Venezuela to legitimize a regime. I did not go there to legitimize or validate anything whatsoever. No, ladies and gentlemen, quite the opposite. Paraguay cherishes democracy, and we believe that the Venezuelan people also deserve democracy. The reason I went to Venezuela is because, for 25 years, South American leaders have issued fine, lyrical rhetoric, resounding statements, and countless slogans on Venezuela. For 25 years, we watched, we waited, and we condemned, from the comfort of this distance, without doing anything for the Venezuelan people. We watched. We talked. But we didn't act. We did nothing. In the meantime, our Venezuelan brothers and sisters suffered. That is why I went to Venezuela a few days ago, to take a second step following the first difficult but extremely important step that was represented by the fall of the dictator Maduro. Because Paraguay can play a useful role in the second step: Venezuela's transition towards a pluralistic democracy. Venezuela is now facing a new reality. Defending our values cannot mean standing indifferent to that reality. That is why Paraguay has opened a channel of dialogue with the Venezuelan authorities and is already taking action towards a Venezuela in which power resides with its one true sovereign, the Venezuelan people. Dialogue doesn't mean abandoning our principles or forgetting the past. It means having the courage to look ahead and to act. We cannot wait for the United States or some northern power to resolve our problems. We have to resolve them ourselves. Venezuela, what I want, is what my own country achieved after 35 years of dictatorship in 1989: a real, lasting democratic transition. I don't want a photo opportunity. I don't want a communiqué. I want, we want, a transition. With institutions, with security, with an economy, and with a people that are once again integrated into the international community and, in our region, integrated into Mercosur. Paraguayan leadership doesn't confuse dialogue with indifference. Dialogue, talking, is one way of standing with the Venezuelan people. It's also a way of jointly combating transnational crime, which knows no borders and which harms our entire region. Today I call on all my Latin American brothers and sisters, but also on these United Nations. Let us come together to help Venezuela, this beautiful country, to reintegrate into the world and achieve a democratic government that respects human rights. To borrow the words of the Latin poet Publius: I am human. Nothing human is alien to me. The suffering of the Venezuelan people is also the suffering of the Paraguayan people. It is the suffering of us all. And what applies to Venezuela applies, perhaps even more so, to Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti, countries that have lived for far too long in the darkness of authoritarianism, violence, and sorrow. Let us bring light to these sister nations. For where there are free elections, there is hope. But we mustn't stop at words. We must act. Let us do so. Let us do so together. Of course, problems are not confined to my region. There are problems all around the world. Paraguay is noting with deep concern what is happening in the Persian Gulf when the Strait of Hormuz is closed. It is not the great powers or the wealthiest who pay the price. It is the least protected who pay the price, the most vulnerable among our citizens. Food and energy security, the food and energy security of millions of people, depends on keeping that passage open. Therefore, today I make an urgent appeal for the immediate cessation of attacks, for the full reopening of and freedom of navigation through the Straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, and a return to negotiations. Human dignity, dear friends, does not change when we move from one continent to another. It is always the same. And it is that human dignity that must guide not only our words but also our actions. Hormuz is the problem we face today. But I wish to tell you here that tomorrow's problem could be far worse, infinitely worse. I'm referring to the ominous clouds gathering over the Indo-Pacific, particularly over the Taiwan Strait. What happens there is not merely a regional matter. No, ladies and gentlemen. It affects Japan, the whole of East and Southeast Asia, and above all, it affects the global economy. It affects the microchips that power industry, defense, and artificial intelligence. Anyone pretending that this is far off or too distant to matter simply has not understood the 21st century. If oil was the fuel of the 20th century, microchips are the fuel of the 21st. The stakes of this potential conflict could scarcely be higher. The very future of humanity is at stake. And I want to make one thing clear here: Paraguay is not neutral on this issue. Paraguay stands, and I say this loud and clear, with Taiwan. Not out of expediency, quite the opposite. We stand with Taiwan because of the profound values we share: democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and peace. Seventy years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations are not merely a number or the product of a mere calculation. They are a testament to the real friendship between our peoples. That is why today I reaffirm our support for the full and meaningful participation of the Republic of China, Taiwan, in the United Nations and its specialized agencies. Taiwan has concrete contributions to make to peace, development, and human rights. Excluding it doesn't serve to strengthen the system. It deprives the system of capacities that could benefit us all. And it is a stain on the United Nations. But let's make no mistake: the problem is not Taiwan alone. What's happening there, in that part of the world, is simply too dangerous for us all. Dear friends, let us not stop at words or slogans. Let us move to concrete action. I assure you that at this negotiating table, at the table for peace and concord, Paraguay will be on the front row, ready to help. But the world's problems do not end in a single region or place. They go to the very heart of the international system.
The power fuelling climate chaos and the war on nature. And the power unleashed by artificial intelligence. Excellencies, The first great power test in the 21st century is peace and security. Peace is far more than the absence of conflict. It is the presence of restraint of power by law. It is the recognition, as enshrined in the UN Charter, that force cannot be the final arbiter of whose lives, rights and future matter. Today that principle is under profound strain. Across the Middle East, conflicts are cascading. So-called ceasefires have amounted to little more than “lesser fires” – with civilians continuing to pay the price. Enough is enough. I appeal to the leaders in this Chamber to maximize this High-Level week for de- escalation and dialogue. Together, let's send a clear message from this Hall: The fighting must stop. Humanitarian aid must flow. And navigational rights and freedoms must be fully restored in accordance with international law. Amid the turmoil engulfing the region, we must not lose sight of the devastating situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It is nearly three years since the abhorrent terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October. What followed was an onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza, with a scale of killing and destruction unlike anything I have witnessed in all my years as Secretary-General. The International Court of Justice has issued legally binding provisional measures in the case entitled: “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.” In an advisory opinion last year, the Court was clear that the United Nations needs to be allowed to perform our mandates in Gaza – and for our staff and humanitarian personnel to be protected. All parties must comply with international law and the Court’s orders. Meanwhile violence, displacement and settlement expansion by Israel in the Occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace and raising the spectre of ethnic cleansing. We cannot allow the two-State solution to disappear before our eyes. In Ukraine, Russia’s full-scale invasion has subjected a sovereign country to a brutal war in blatant violation of the Charter. Civilians continue to be killed far from the frontlines. Mainly in Ukraine, but also more recently in parts of Russia – homes, energy and water systems, and transport have come under repeated attack, threatening food and energy supply chains globally. In Sudan, a war for raw power fed by outside actors has become a war on civilians: Millions displaced. Hunger spreading. Drones striking hospitals and homes. Sexual violence and ethnically driven attacks escalating. And a country being torn apart as the world looks away. And in Myanmar, another crisis is at risk of slipping from global attention with: escalating violence; mass displacement; and expanding transnational crime. Excellencies, These and so many other conflicts show what happens when power gets out of control, force outpaces diplomacy, military budgets soar, and accountability goes out the window. The test before us is whether power will be exercised with the law – or beyond it. We must pass that test: We must defend the Charter without double standards. Protect civilians without exception. Ensure humanitarian access without obstruction. Shield humanitarian personnel without fail.
We look forward to your stewardship of this assembly, and we move to restore trust and indeed to carry reforms from proposals to implementation. But reform cannot be selective. We cannot move swiftly to reorganise offices and reporting lines while allowing the most consequential questions of power and representation to remain unresolved. Transformation and development. Peacekeeping and humanitarian aid cannot succeed if member states are unwilling to fund it Let's be very clear no organizational chart can overcome the refusal of states to respect decisions that they find inconvenient. We cannot continue to ask international organisations to do more, while failing to provide them with the resources necessary to fulfil the mandates that we ourselves have agreed. And if member states believe in the institutions that they have created, then we must also be prepared to sustain them. Barbados has consistently met that responsibility, and I give this body the assurance that we will continue to do so. Our commitment to multilateralism, to an international rules based order, must be measured not only by what we ask of these institutions, but by our willingness to support them. So yes, let us improve the machinery, but let us also reform the exercise of power. The Security Council still has 15 members, five of them permanent. And armed with that veto. Africa, with 54 states has no permanent seat. And you've heard speaker after speaker after speaker come to this platform to say that this must change. Small island developing states equally confront threats that now reach squarely into the council's mandate from climate and security and illicit armed arm flows to organised crime and displacement. And yet, despite constituting one quarter of the world's states, we have no assured representation within the councils. This, to my friends, must change. And the world we know has already changed. The council has not changed with it. But reform is not only about who sits at the table, it is about how power is exercised. Barbados is therefore joining 123 other member states in supporting the Franco-mexican initiative on the use of the veto in the cases of mass atrocities. Its principle is fundamental where populations face genocide, crimes against humanity, or large scale war crimes, the veto should not be allowed to paralyse the Security Council when action is most urgently needed. This is why people are losing trust in the United Nations and its council. Mr. president, it's not fair to the majority of member states who still believe in the promise of this body, even as we call for greater equity with the reform of the Security Council.
