Chile

Dear Madam President, members of the United Nations General Assembly, inhabitants and peoples of the world:

Eighty years have passed since the creation of the United Nations. Eighty years have also passed since Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean woman raised among the hills of the Elqui Valley, received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her voice — as a poet, a teacher, a diplomat — still resonates in our homeland and in the world.

And it was right here in New York, in 1955, that the Chilean ambassador José Maza read the Message on Human Rights, written by Gabriela Mistral, which said: "I would be happy if your noble effort to secure human rights were adopted with full loyalty by all the nations of the world. This triumph will be the greatest achieved in our time."

Have we achieved this triumph?

The answer is categorical. No.

At this point, I no longer know what to say about Gaza, because many have already said everything, from this podium and from others. But above our words, whoever they come from, resound the lifeless gazes of those who, being innocent, have lost their lives. Today, in 2025, thousands of innocent human beings are losing their lives simply for being Palestinian, just as 80 years ago millions lost theirs simply for being Jewish.

So, rather than speak of figures, condemnations, or demands that echo within these walls, I would like today to speak of humanity.

Gaza is a global crisis because it is a crisis of humanity. And in this hall, and those listening to us in their homes, in their delegations, in their various countries, we are, precisely, all human beings. That is why, when children lie beneath the rubble, there is genuine pain in our homeland, in Chile; and I know it is shared by the great majority of the world's countries.

One of the problems we face as humanity is that pain often breeds hatred. But we must confront it and fight hatred with all our strength. We must transform the urge to hate into a desire for justice, making no concession to violence. I do not want to see Netanyahu destroyed by a missile along with his family; I want to see Netanyahu and those responsible for the genocide against the Palestinian people brought before an international court of justice.

In another context, the war in Ukraine also does violence to us. But some may ask, what does what is happening in a country so far away, whose language we do not understand, have to do with Chile? Some criticize us with these arguments in our own country. We answer them that it has just as much to do with us as the Palestinian mother gunned down while searching for food. Or the Ukrainian boy or girl abducted today in Russia. Again, it has to do with the fact that we are all human beings.

One of the reasons we gather here, perhaps the main one, is that we still have faith in humanity. Our hearts cannot, we cannot, allow ourselves to stop being moved in the face of pain, in the face of the needs of others like ourselves. That is precisely why we have given ourselves rules — rules that are civilizational advances born from the lessons of the greatest tragedies we have faced as humanity. And those rules, it must be said from this podium, and we must act accordingly, are not being respected today. Let us say it forcefully: it is not right to invite a neutral country to negotiate and then assassinate your counterpart, violating that country's sovereignty, as was done in Doha, Qatar. It is not right to bomb a country's nuclear facilities, just as it was not right, in the past, to invade Iraq on the grounds of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. It is not right to invade a sovereign country like Ukraine and then impose a negotiation on the basis of a fait accompli, expecting us all simply to resign ourselves to it.

As the French writer Albert Camus reminded us, reflecting on the experience of the Second World War, if we believe in nothing, if nothing has meaning and we cannot invoke any value, then everything is permitted, there is neither good nor evil, and nothing matters. If we were to accept that, we would have to admit that reason lies only with whoever succeeds, and that the rule by which we judge humanity would be efficacy alone — that is, the law of the strongest.

I want to tell you that, ultimately, this reasoning is the justification for murder. In such a world, the life of a man, a woman, or their children would always depend on chance or on arbitrary benevolence — or malevolence. In such a world, all who live without condemning it with all their strength are, in a way, as much killers as the one who drops the bomb or pulls the trigger. Especially those of us who have the voice and the power to say "enough," as precisely all the leaders in this hall do: we bear a greater responsibility.

We refuse to grant reason to those who hold force or money, and when we say this, we are labeled utopians. But what is history if not a permanent utopian journey? There will be those who prefer to undertake only the tasks that yield short-term results, but generally, shortcuts lead to precipices. And the truth is, one does not need to succeed in the sense that success is understood today, at least in the Western world, in order to keep fighting for a fairer world. Because we know that it is precisely this persistence, which we share, that has made it possible to change the world so that there is more justice, more freedom, more equality, more inclusion, more solidarity.

That is why, dear friends, when we are invited to submission, when it is claimed that intelligence is unnecessary, when some, as has happened from this very podium, try to show us that one can lie to gain advantage, let us tell them no. Let us not give in to cunning, nor to violence, nor to passivity.

I can and must respect someone who prefers blue to red, someone who professes a faith different from mine, someone who believes taxes should be raised or lowered depending on circumstances. Fundamentally, I can and must respect diversity of opinion.

But while I respect the diversity of opinion of those who think differently, I confront the insolence of those who lie, especially when that person is aware of doing so. For example, it has been claimed, from this very podium, today, that there is no such thing as global warming. That is not an opinion, it is a lie, and lies must be fought. We can certainly discuss the best ways to address global warming, or who bears greater responsibility than others, but we cannot deny it. We can discuss how the Nazis came to govern a large part of Europe, but we cannot deny the Holocaust. We can study the side effects of a vaccine, but we cannot claim, without evidence, that vaccines cause autism.

The world needs genuine dialogue. Dialogue among those who differ, among those who hold different worldviews. That is precisely why these United Nations were created. To dialogue and to decide that barbarity is not acceptable. That human rights must be respected regardless of the ideology of either victims or perpetrators. That international law is the guarantee that reason will always prevail over force.

The opposite of that dialogue is lies and silence. And both lead us to the deepest solitude.

So, what is our task today? To chart and walk toward the future we want as humanity, and to work for a United Nations that leads us along that path. From Chile, we are moved by this shared vision around democracy, human rights, social justice, equity, unrestricted respect for freedom of expression, and climate action — all of these standing as pillars of hope and action to make our way through the difficult times we face.

Today the world needs strong and clear voices that defend the commitment to Democracy, always! Without nuance, without excuses.

That is why, this week, together with Brazil, Spain, Uruguay, and Colombia, we convened the second Meeting for the Defense of Democracy, a collective effort that began right here at the UN a year ago. We want to build bridges to identify democracy's shortcomings, seek ways to correct them, and improve the quality of life of our peoples. We are not content simply to point out what we dislike about the world, we are not content to say "this does not represent us"; we want to propose and defend, in a positive way, what we do believe in.

Having said that, I would like to pause briefly on a particular topic.

I come from Chile, a tricontinental country with an intimate bond with the ocean; we have more than 7,600 kilometers of coastline, and as a country that looks toward the ocean, we are proud to have been the first in the Americas and the second in the world to ratify the BBNJ Agreement to expand ocean governance beyond national jurisdiction, which in recent weeks also reached the sixty ratifications needed for it to enter into force, and therefore its first conference of the parties must be held next year, hopefully in the first months. I want to reiterate here our offer for its Secretariat to be established in our "pearl of the Pacific," our city of Valparaíso, because we believe this agreement is an opportunity to bring ocean governance closer to the global South.

Chile is also a country with an Antarctic vocation — that continent of science and peace — and we have demonstrated leadership through scientific research, logistical support, and campaigns on the white continent. Many of you, when you have traveled to Antarctica, have done so through Chile. In two weeks, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources will meet again. That is why I make a call today to its states parties: it is time to approve the proposal for a marine protected area in Domain 1 of the Antarctic Peninsula, presented jointly by Chile and Argentina.

We cannot devote ourselves to exploiting resources if we do not adopt adequate conservation measures, since that results in the destruction of marine life, on which we too depend. Let us not forget that we are part of the same ecosystem. Sustaining life on Earth is a task we must undertake with urgency and responsibility: for those who came before us, for those who today share life with us in the world, and for the generations yet to come.

Dear friends: in this scenario of tensions, prolonged conflicts, climate crisis, and humanitarian crises, the process of selecting and nominating the next Secretary-General of the United Nations takes on special relevance.

I come to this Assembly convinced that, always, even under the most adverse conditions and circumstances, there is room to act with clarity, collectively, transformatively, humanely. That human tragedy is never inevitable. We will not give up hope that the changes the world and the United Nations need can happen. Because it depends, precisely, on us.

I want to tell you that regional balance must be respected in this process. This is the time for Latin America and the Caribbean: we are a region without wars, with a rich diplomatic tradition, a builder of consensus, and an unwavering commitment to the United Nations Charter since its founding.

Addressing the historic gender imbalance at the United Nations, where a woman has never been Secretary-General, is also an outstanding matter. Eighty years of history without a woman having been Secretary-General of the United Nations. The UN must reflect the world's progress and recognize that a woman at the helm is not only a symbol of equity, but represents and makes real the fact that women, being half — more than half — of the population, can occupy every space in the world, and that no space is off-limits to them.

Chile wants to actively contribute to this collective effort, and it is therefore a tremendous honor for me to announce from here that Chile will nominate our former President Michelle Bachelet Jeria as a candidate for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations, who is also accompanying us at this session.

Michelle Bachelet is not only a widely known and respected figure on the global stage. She is a woman whose life story is deeply consistent with the values that inspire this organization. She has been Head of State of Chile on two occasions, and, notably, the first woman to hold that office. She was also Minister of Health and of Defense, Executive Director of UN Women, and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Michelle Bachelet has governed, negotiated, healed, and listened. Her life's trajectory combines empathy with firmness, experience with openness, and all of these with the executive capacity to decide, to act.

In times of fragmentation and mistrust, I am convinced, and I know this is shared in my country, that Michelle Bachelet represents a figure capable of building bridges between North and South, between East and West, between the urgency of solutions and the defense of principles. With her leadership, the United Nations can recover credibility, effectiveness, and purpose in facing the challenges of our time, building of course on the legacy of António Guterres, who I know has given his very best for the dignity of all humanity from this institution.

With humility and conviction, from Chile we present this candidacy with the certainty that Michelle Bachelet can decisively help make the United Nations, once again, a space for encounter, solutions, and active hope for the entire world.

Dear friends: it has been eighty years. Looking back over these decades, we appreciate the enormous progress that international governance has achieved; despite the disasters we face, we can also say we have advanced. But we are also gripped by the sense that this progress is in danger. Who will be the ones who draw the maps of the world of the future?

We want to believe it will not be those who attack, who discredit and weaken multilateral institutions, who humiliate the weakest. We want to believe it will be, together, all the peoples of the Earth. That together, represented in this Assembly, we will manage to chart the definitive paths toward a future that is not only possible and viable, but dignified and respectful of every person.

And to achieve this, this organization, which emerged, let us remember, from the ashes of the Second World War, after the failure of the League of Nations, this organization is fundamental; and its renewal, its changes, are fundamental and urgent. That is why, renewed and reformulated, but with the same purpose: that, in its plurality, the international community may work united, in the words of Víctor Jara, that tremendous Chilean singer, Chilean artist: "for that love of the land that has helped us live, love of peace to enjoy life, love of freedom for all, so that my daughters may exist, and my home, and the neighborhood, the city and the towns, free of yokes of our own and yokes from abroad."

Let us walk, dear friends, together, free and equal, diverse and alike, on the shared path of seeking truth, beauty, happiness, and justice.

Thank you very much.