Costa Rica

Madam President, Excellencies,

Costa Rica congratulates you on your election to preside over the eightieth session of the General Assembly. You can count on the firm and unwavering support of my country in contributing to the success of your tenure.

Eight decades ago, we embarked on the journey to San Francisco to save humanity from the abyss of war.

Together, throughout this journey, we codified human rights and built an international system based on the rule of law.

We established the foundations of our collective security system and generated global processes for environmental protection and the development of nations.

We achieved the decolonization of more than eighty territories and mediated hundreds of conflicts.

Today, however, this mission faces three significant challenges: nuclear weapons, the triple planetary crisis, and the governance of artificial intelligence.

In the same year we founded this Organization, humanity crossed a threshold when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were reduced to ruins in an instant by atomic bombings.

Today, the risk of nuclear conflict is the highest it has been in decades.

Trust is eroding.

Geopolitical tensions are widening.

The shadow of the use of nuclear weapons looms once again.

Nuclear weapons are once again being considered by their possessors as central to national security strategies and are wielded as tools of coercion.

Any nuclear detonation, whether intentional or accidental, would have irreversible humanitarian and environmental consequences.

There is no possible humanitarian response.

There is no margin for error.

55 years after the entry into force of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and looking ahead to its 2026 Review Conference, nuclear-weapon States will have a new opportunity to reaffirm their adherence to the Treaty and to the obligations and commitments they have undertaken as States parties, particularly Article VI.

We also urge you to recognize that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) strengthens and complements the NPT, and that it represents a decisive step toward fulfilling the very first resolution adopted by this Assembly and an essential element of the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime.

Costa Rica reaffirms that the only effective guarantee against the risks of nuclear weapons is their complete, verifiable, and irreversible elimination.

At a time when military spending has reached its highest level since the Cold War, behind every dollar spent on weapons—on all weapons—we see a political choice that privileges force over dialogue, weakens trust in multilateral institutions, and contradicts the spirit of the Charter.

And this, precisely when we are facing the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, with more than 300 million people in urgent need of assistance.

Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine are clear examples.

Only 190 million people will receive aid.

115 million will have to wait, if life grants them the time.

This is not a lack of resources, but of will.

The means exist, but priorities lie elsewhere.

We cannot ignore that humanitarian assistance, however vital it may be, is also the bill we pay for failing to act in prevention.

The consequences of arriving too late, far too late, are reflected in every refugee camp, every food distribution, and every field hospital.

Humanitarian and refugee crises transcend human tragedy and become direct vectors of insecurity in our region.

Costa Rica observes with concern how these crises fuel the power of drug trafficking and organized crime—organizations that exploit institutional gaps and operate across borders in the absence of effective multilateral coordination.

Our country, as both a host and transit State, experiences firsthand how criminal networks transform migration routes into illicit corridors, taking advantage of the vulnerability of those seeking international protection.

Isolated responses are insufficient. They simply shift these networks to territories with less capacity to respond, expanding transnational organized crime, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, while creating new epicenters and hotspots of criminal activity.

Costa Rica calls on the international community to recognize that humanitarian security requires a multidimensional response and an integrated regional architecture.

It requires real-time information sharing mechanisms, harmonized regulatory frameworks, strengthened institutional capacities, and shared responsibility with coordinated action to preserve the stability our peoples deserve.

Madam President, Excellencies,

Preventive diplomacy costs millions; repairing its failures costs billions.

We in the Americas know that price well.

In Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti, we see the consequences of arriving too late.

We could have acted in time.

We could have prevented the repeated and systematic violations of human rights and the exodus of millions who now seek refuge and other forms of international protection—but we did not.

The multiple crises across Latin America and the Caribbean—in democracy, human rights, security, migration, and development—bear witness to our own shortcomings.

And it is always the most vulnerable who pay the price, those who demand protection and justice.

The triple planetary crisis is another of the greatest existential threats of our time.

The sea is rising, the ocean is acidifying, and millions will be forced to migrate.

A temperature increase of only 1.1 degrees Celsius already puts food security, health, and peace at risk.

Costa Rica suffers from devastating hurricanes, droughts that affect our farmers and energy sources, and economic losses in the billions.

But for decades, instead of contributing to the problem, Costa Rica has been part of the solution.

We doubled our forest cover.

We generate nearly all our electricity from renewable sources and protect almost one-third of our territory.

The great challenge remains that no country can face the triple planetary crisis alone.

It is a global problem.

And therefore, we must all accelerate the energy transition, finance climate action, and respond with justice to the loss and damage suffered by countries like Costa Rica that endure the devastating consequences of climate change.

Confronting these crises requires joint action, science-based decisions, adequate financial resources, and compliance with our international legal obligations.

Without excuses. Without pretexts. Without delay.

This triple crisis is also an ocean emergency. That is why Costa Rica is driving the conclusion of a binding treaty on plastic pollution that covers its entire life cycle, advancing scientific research, calling for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, and urging the full implementation of the BBNJ treaty with conservation at its core.

Time is running out to respond to these borderless threats.

Time is also running out to close the digital divide and confront a technological revolution driven by artificial intelligence that is advancing at high speed.

Artificial intelligence can strengthen our national economies and our collective efforts to achieve development.

It can optimize resources, accelerate medical research, and democratize access to knowledge.

But it can also divide us—between those who have access and those who do not.

Artificial Intelligence also poses risks to international peace and security.

It can become a vector of mass disinformation and enable cyberattacks that paralyze critical infrastructure.

It also challenges our ability to maintain meaningful human control over life-or-death decisions, as military automation advances without adequate regulatory frameworks.

Establishing such frameworks is urgent, and time is running out.

One application of AI that deserves special attention is autonomous weapons systems.

Costa Rica urges the conclusion, before 2026, of a legally binding instrument that establishes prohibitions and regulations for autonomous weapons systems capable of identifying, selecting, and attacking targets without meaningful human control.

No algorithm should ever make life-or-death decisions.

Madam President, Excellencies,

Costa Rica has demonstrated for decades that our impact in this Organization is not determined by our size.

Small States lead through action.

We build bridges and forge consensus that once seemed distant.

That is how we move forward.

That is how we prove that together we are stronger, and that this is our common home.

Just this year, Costa Rica:

In the face of the most devastating humanitarian crisis since the founding of the United Nations, together with 150 States launched a "Call to Action" while chairing the Humanitarian Affairs Segment of the Economic and Social Council.

Faced with the grave humanitarian consequences of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, will host the Second International Conference on the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians, to be held in San José from 18–20 November.

In light of the risks and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence, together with Spain, led the process that established the Independent International Scientific Panel and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, to be launched tomorrow. Its adoption by consensus is a milestone in itself.

Faced with the urgency of protecting the environment and the ocean, co-organized with France the UNOC3, where we reached significant political and financial commitments for ocean governance and health.

In confronting the persistent inequalities that limit the dignity and rights of women and girls, together with Cabo Verde, achieved the consensus adoption of the Political Declaration marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

And, with great responsibility and commitment, assumed the presidency of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Madam President, Excellencies,

The person who will hold the office of Secretary-General as of January 2027 must have the leadership and vision required to face the three great global challenges.

The vision that comes from experience, and the courage that only years of service at the highest level can provide.

The authority that is born of integrity.

It must be a person who embraces with wisdom and conviction the three pillars of this Organization.

Someone who forges consensus and inspires hope, even in the most difficult circumstances.

Someone with the determination to renew and strengthen this Organization.

We are confident we will find that person.

And we are also confident that we will find them in our region—because it is the turn of Latin America and the Caribbean!

The world has changed, and our Organization must change with it.

But what cannot change is our commitment to the spirit of San Francisco, and the determination that took us there.

I thank you.