It is an honour for me to
address the General Assembly at its sixty-first session
on behalf of my country, Jamaica.
I would like to congratulate Ms. Haya Rashed
Al-Khalifa on her election as President of the
Assembly. It is a particular pleasure for me today to
acknowledge that achievement, as she is one of only
three women in the history of the General Assembly to
have occupied that post, and — significantly — the
first since 1969, nearly 40 years ago.
I would also take this opportunity to express deep
appreciation for the work carried out during the sixtieth
session of the Assembly by Mr. Jan Eliasson, under
whose leadership so much was accomplished in an
extraordinarily challenging year, notably the adoption
of the World Summit Outcome Document.
As we begin this new United Nations year, we
ask ourselves, “What is the state of our world?” We ask
this particularly in the context of the determination and
resolution of our leaders in 2005 to urgently address
the issue of the storm clouds which were threatening
the vast majority of humankind, particularly in the
developing world. We see a continued challenging time
ahead for development, for peace and security, for
democracy and social institutions and for
multilateralism. We see an environment in which the
credibility of the international system to deliver fairly
and equitably is being increasingly questioned.
These were the very issues and circumstances
which world leaders sought to address at the beginning
of the sixtieth session in 2005. Their Summit Outcome
Document contained a raft of resolutions, commitments
and recommendations to deal with fundamental issues
and constraints, and was intended to give political
momentum to achieving the commonly agreed
development goals, including the Millennium
Development Goals. The leaders, while recognizing
that development, peace and security and human rights
are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, reaffirmed
that development is a central goal in and of itself.
Jamaica remains deeply committed to the three
pillars of the United Nations, but considers
development to be at the very core. For this reason,
Jamaica is concerned about the fact that we have not
discerned any significant focus on implementation in
the area of development over the past year — a year
dedicated to implementation. The implementation gap
has been greater in this area than in either of the other
two areas.
Increased, albeit still insufficient, attention is
being accorded to those who live in extreme poverty —
those living on less than $1 per day. The Secretary-
General cited some startling statistics in his report on
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the work of the Organization. I would like to refer to
two examples: 10 million children die before their fifth
birthday, and women in developing countries are 45
times more likely to die during pregnancy than women
in developed countries. That is irrefutable evidence
that the situation remains in absolute and comparative
terms, deeply unsatisfactory and unsustainable in an
interdependent world.
Jamaica and other developing countries
consistently argued in all the debates leading up to and
during the 2005 Summit that, in addition to the poorest
countries, the situation of vulnerable middle- and
lower- middle-income countries, especially small
island and highly externally dependent economies,
needed to be addressed. A number of potentially very
useful provisions were incorporated into the Summit
Outcome document to address their particular
circumstances. But, frankly, Jamaica has seen little
resolve on the part of the international community to
implement those commitments. We have seen no work,
for example, to implement the commitment to support
the development efforts of middle-income developing
countries to help them meet, among other things, their
financial, technical and technological requirements.
Nor have we seen any effort to develop a framework
for providing significant debt relief or restructuring for
middle-income developing countries with
unsustainable debt burdens that are not part of the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative, or to
comprehensively address the debt problems of those
countries. Thirdly, there has been no effort to
implement the development dimension of the Doha
Work Programme, in particular the World Trade
Organization’s Work Programme on Small Economies.
We recognize that there was a welcome increase
in official development assistance from $69 million in
2003 to $106 million in 2005. Much of the additional
funding was targeted to a small number of admittedly
very deserving countries — mainly for debt relief —
and to peacekeeping. There was little new money for
investment in development projects, even in the
poorest countries.
It has always been recognized that many of the
resources for financing development must come from
trade. That was clearly stated in the Monterrey
Consensus (A/CONF.198/11) and repeated in the 2005
Summit Outcome Document (resolution 60/1). In the
Outcome Document, leaders of developed and
developing countries committed to work expeditiously
towards implementing the development dimensions of
the Doha Work Programme. They also emphasized the
need to address weak and volatile commodity prices
and to support the efforts of commodity-dependent
countries to restructure, diversify and strengthen the
competitiveness of their commodity sectors.
Instead of expedition and facilitation, we have
seen stalemate and breakdown in the Doha round of
negotiations. Perhaps even more significant is the fact
that, in the negotiations that did take place, the
development dimension — especially as it relates to
small and vulnerable economies such as that of
Jamaica — was conspicuously absent from the debate.
These issues must be addressed in any effort to restart
the negotiations.
Jamaica strongly supports the view that
fundamental to a viable and equitable trade regime is
the need to take account of the wide disparity in
structural characteristics and approaches to economic
policy among the many members of the World Trade
Organization, and the consequent need for flexibility.
We would add, for clarity, the need to include the
differences in levels of development among economies
and the asymmetries existing between developed and
developing countries.
As a small country with a debt burden of more
than 125 per cent of its gross domestic product; a
country whose exports have been falling in value and
whose markets are threatened by the current uncritical
approach to globalization and trade liberalization; a
country dependent on imported petroleum for more
than 90 per cent of its commercial energy and whose
energy bill was more than $1 billion in 2005; an island
vulnerable to a range of natural hazards and still
working to recover from major hurricanes and droughts
in 2004 and 2005; and a country whose skilled
professionals — doctors, nurses, teachers and scientists
in particular — are targeted by some major developed
countries, Jamaica understands the need for a
collaborative and facilitative international environment
and for coherence in policies. Successful
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals
cannot be assured in the face of those challenges.
Jamaica recognizes that there can be no sustained
development, no poverty eradication and no lasting
peace without the advancement, equality and
empowerment of women. Women’s advancement is a
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priority of our national policy, and we support all
international initiatives to that end.
We are encouraged by action aimed at
implementing some of the mandates agreed at the 2005
Summit. In the area of international peace and security,
the Peacebuilding Commission has been established,
with an emphasis on addressing post-conflict
situations. Jamaica has the honour to be a founding
member of that body and will be actively involved in
the achievement of its objectives. With regard to
human rights, the Human Rights Council has been
established. In the field of humanitarian affairs, the
Central Emergency Response Fund has been
established, and an agreement has been reached on the
protection of humanitarian personnel. We welcome the
finalization of the draft Comprehensive and Integral
International Convention on Protection and Promotion
of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
and look forward to its formal adoption later this year.
We welcome also the 2006 Political Declaration on
HIV/AIDS (resolution 60/262), adopted at the High-
level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. We urge the full
implementation of those decisions to comprehensively
tackle this scourge in the most seriously affected
countries and regions. For the Caribbean region,
HIV/AIDS is a major human, social and economic
challenge.
The recent High-level Dialogue on International
Migration and Development, convened in keeping with
the mandate of the 2005 World Summit, and the
publication of the United Nations Population Fund’s
2006 State of World Population report have been very
timely. They highlighted, among other things, the
multidimensional nature of international migration, its
importance in the globalization process and the
potential for further widening of the development gap
between rich and poor countries. They raised a number
of critical issues for the attention of the international
community.
Jamaica is particularly concerned about the
selectivity in the policies of developed countries, their
deliberate targeting of critical skilled professionals of
developing countries, accompanied by the tightening of
their general immigration laws against the unskilled
and the young, and their systematic and wholesale
repatriation of those who run into difficulty with their
laws — especially hardened criminals, many of whom
have little or no connection, if they ever did, with the
receiving developing country. Those policies are
inconsistent, counterproductive and, with all due
respect, frankly wrong. They demand the urgent
attention of the international community. We look
forward to these issues being studied and given the
required attention at the follow-up meeting to be held
in Belgium in March 2007.
We note the continued emphasis on the
strengthening of the United Nations and the adoption
of reform measures aimed at improving accountability
and transparency and at enhancing the effectiveness
and efficiency of the work of the Secretariat in
implementing the programmes mandated by Member
States. We stress that reform should ensure the
strengthening of the United Nations. That should be
our motivation. We should never allow reform to erode
the fundamental institutional framework of the United
Nations or the right of each Member State to be fully
involved in the Organization’s decision-making
processes and to contribute to advancing its goals and
ideals. That right has been the fundamental strength of
the United Nations and what sets it apart from many
other multilateral institutions. It is and should remain
the standard.
Geopolitical realities have changed significantly
since the establishment of the United Nations. It is
therefore logical that the Security Council should be
reflective of the contemporary international community
as a whole, on the basis of equitable geographical
representation and greater representation of developing
countries. How can it be that less than 5 per cent of the
membership of the Organization continues to wield
inordinate power over the rest of us? That is
undemocratic and, ultimately, unsustainable. It is on
that basis that Jamaica supports expansion in both
categories of Council membership, with increased
representation for all regional groups.
Jamaica underscores the vital importance of
coherence in policy action and advice among the
United Nations and other international institutions,
including the international financial institutions, as
well as regional organizations, in the effort to facilitate
and encourage development, especially that of the
small, vulnerable and otherwise disadvantaged
countries.
Over the years, Jamaica has experienced more
than its fair share in terms of the adverse impact of
incoherent international policies and advice. I will
provide just three examples. First, Jamaica has been
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forced to hold a large fund of international reserves in
developed countries. At the end of August 2006,
Jamaica’s net international reserves stood at
approximately $2.2 billion, or 18 weeks of imported
goods and services, while the country needs foreign
exchange to facilitate investment projects.
Secondly, Jamaica has entered into international
commitments under the Millennium Development
Goals, inter alia to expand education and health care,
to enhance environmental protection, to strengthen
rural development and to improve housing and
sanitation. These are all labour-intensive activities. The
International Monetary Fund, without providing any
analysis, is giving advice and insisting that Jamaica
reduce its public service drastically.
Thirdly, Jamaica is forced to compete with the
salaries being offered by developed countries such as
Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States to
large categories of employees, including teachers and
nurses, while seeking to reduce its fiscal deficit. This is
one of the major difficulties that the Government is
facing in its current wage negotiations with the
members of some of these categories, with a view to
completing its second memorandum of understanding
with public sector workers.
The United Nations has a major responsibility to
lead in the quest for coherence in international
economic programmes and policies. Jamaica believes
that a fortified United Nations, in particular a
strengthened Economic and Social Council, is vital if
that role is to be effective.
We continue to live in very turbulent times.
Global peace, security and stability continue to be
elusive. All the multilateral gains that we have made in
recent years will come to little if existing conflict
situations are not resolved and if new military
interventions, acts of terrorism and other debilitating
threats to peace, security and development arise.
We must continue to emphasize the critical
importance of multilateral diplomacy, even-handedness
and maximum restraint. We must reinforce the
mutually beneficial relationships among us as a
community of nations. We must equip the United
Nations to act, and act decisively, when necessary. In
that regard, we welcome Security Council resolution
1701 (2006) and look forward to every effort being
made to build on this new platform to secure a lasting
peace in the Middle East.
We cannot remain indifferent to the tragic plight
of the people of Darfur, the Sudan. History has
repeatedly demonstrated that indifference emboldens
those who seek to act with impunity, resulting in even
greater atrocities and humanitarian crises. The
international community must act urgently to promote
human security and to protect the lives of innocent
civilians.
Disarmament and non-proliferation go hand in
hand. It is only through the total elimination of nuclear
weapons and other weapons of mass destruction that
international peace and security can be assured.
Jamaica is therefore disheartened that the international
community failed to seize the opportunities provided
by the 2005 Review Conference of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and by the
World Summit to make significant progress on this
issue.
Jamaica and other countries in the Caribbean
region have to confront major security concerns as a
result of the ease of access to illicit small arms and
ammunition and the linkages to transnational organized
crime, including drug trafficking. Jamaica feels a deep
sense of disappointment that the 2006 Conference to
Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the
Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and
Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light
Weapons in All Its Aspects failed to conclude an
outcome document which would have introduced
improvements in the implementation of the Programme
of Action. Jamaica will continue to advocate for the
creation of a legally binding instrument which more
strictly controls the illegal trade in small arms and light
weapons and ammunition.
The recent adoption of the United Nations Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288) is a
very clear demonstration that the international
community can come together to confront major threats
to civility, the rule of law and international peace and
security. This should be our modus operandi.
We have been particularly encouraged by
developments in Haiti, which have led to the
democratic election of the Government of President
René Préval. In July, Haiti was able to again take its
rightful place in CARICOM. Coupled with the renewal
of the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization
Mission in Haiti until February 2007, attention can
now be focused on institution- and capacity-building,
25 06-53615
as well as on reconstruction and other initiatives for
economic and social development in that country.
The bicentenary of the abolition of the trans-
Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire will be
marked in 2007. For all CARICOM countries this is a
special anniversary based on shared history. To
symbolize the occasion, CARICOM members will be
introducing a draft resolution at this session of the
General Assembly with the expectation that the
Assembly will appropriately recognize the event. We
look forward to the support of all delegations.
Jamaica strongly reaffirms its commitment to the
United Nations and the multilateral process. Our
continued commitment at all levels, including our
support for the work of the International Seabed
Authority, remains firm.
Before closing, I would like to take this
opportunity to pay special tribute to the Secretary-
General for his outstanding leadership in guiding the
work of the Organization over the past 10 years. He
has faced the challenges of our times. He has re-
engineered the position of Secretary-General to
become the face, voice and conscience of the
international community. He has brought civil society,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector
into the United Nations. He has leveraged and brought
into international service high achievers in a range of
disciplines. And he has increased opportunities for
consultation and dialogue. We wish him the very best.
Jamaica looks forward to a transparent and
inclusive process to provide our Organization with a
new Secretary-General who enjoys the confidence of
the full membership.