New York, 5 October 2016. At the General Assembly debate on item: “Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization”, and after acknowledging the current Secretary General H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon’s concerns towards the promotion and protection of multilateralism, contribution to international peace and security and efforts for a better world, Ambassador Humberto Rivero Rosario, pointed out that for Cuba the consolidation of the principles and objectives of the UN Charter and international law continue to be key pillars of international security: full respect for sovereignty, States’ territorial integrity, the non-use of force in international relations and non-interference in the internal affairs of States.
The Cuban diplomat highlighted that within the efforts to leave nobody behind, it is indispensable to change the current international order; cease the implementation of unilateral coercive measures on developing countries; end colonialism and foreign occupation and cease the political manipulation of human rights. He also considered unacceptable the imposition of unique and imperfect concepts on democracy, following models that disregard the characteristics of each society and serve the centers of world power.
In the name of Cuba, he reiterated the nation’s commitment with the international efforts to attain the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, along with the support to the recommendation of holding an International Conference in 2017 for the negotiations of a legally binding instrument aimed at the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons. In like manner, he hoped such instrument be formally adopted in 2018, on the occasion of the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament.
At the end of his statement he underlined: “Proud to belong to a Zone of Peace, as Latin America and the Caribbean was proclaimed by the II CELAC Summit held in Havana in January 2014, Cuba reiterates that co-existence rules based on friendship, cooperation and respect are indispensable in international relations among States and to make true the right to peace and development of its peoples”. (Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations).