I would like to extend
my congratulations to Her Excellency Ms. Haya
Rashed Al-Khalifa and to her country, Bahrain, on her
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-first session. I am confident that she will ably
build upon the legacy left by her predecessor, His
Excellency Mr. Jan Eliasson of Sweden. Mr. Eliasson
deserves special recognition for the competent and
dedicated manner in which he presided over the
sixtieth session and facilitated the positive outcomes
that we have witnessed so far in the United Nations
reform agenda.
Let me also pay tribute to His Excellency
Mr. Kofi Annan for his distinguished career as an
international civil servant, specifically his 10-year stint
as Secretary-General. His wisdom and his unwavering
commitment to multilateralism have contributed
immensely to a revitalized United Nations. He will
most certainly be remembered for his steadfast
promotion of human rights, for creating space at the
United Nations for civil society and the private sector
and for his visionary outlook for the future of the
United Nations in the current global dispensation. We
wish to thank him for his invaluable service to this
Organization and its Member States, and to extend our
very best wishes to him in his future endeavours.
The World Summit last year started us on the path
of re-engineering the United Nations to make it more
relevant and responsive to the many challenges that
threaten peace and security in the world at the
beginning of this century. The Summit Outcome clearly
reflected a historic compromise by Member States on a
number of core principles and attendant actions to face
squarely the myriad problems confronting the planet.
Most importantly, we reaffirmed the commitment we
made at the beginning of the millennium to confront
the scourge of poverty and to improve the living
conditions of millions of people living in abject
poverty. Our challenge today is to clarify how the
international community can more effectively
contribute towards the global goals of poverty
alleviation, peace and development for all humanity.
The dynamics of today’s world, conditioned by
immense forces of change, have forced us to accept the
stark reality that no nation can prosper alone and that
the problems we face demand global consensus.
Consequently, all of us must emphatically reaffirm
central role of the United Nations in the cooperative
management of the world’s problems. Dominica firmly
supports a rejuvenated United Nations and universal
application of its ideals, in particular the maintenance
of international peace and security, the protection of
human rights and fundamental freedoms and the
promotion of international cooperation in solving
economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.
We welcome progress towards realizing some of
the commitments made by world leaders last year.
Creation of the Peacebuilding Commission now
06-53615 26
presents a great opportunity for ensuring a tangible
connection between conflict resolution and
development. It is our hope that the new Human Rights
Council will remain focused on its mission and avoid
becoming entangled in the politicization that
contributed to the eventual demise of its predecessor.
The Human Rights Council has made a commendable
start with the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples, which in turn gives great
impetus to the aspirations of the Second United
Nations Decade of the World’s Indigenous People,
which the Commonwealth of Dominica has steadfastly
supported, as one of the few Caribbean countries with
a thriving indigenous Carib population. We, therefore,
call on the General Assembly to give full support to the
adoption of this declaration by consensus.
The Commonwealth of Dominica, located as we
are in the hurricane belt, in an earthquake zone and in a
volcanic region, particularly welcomes the
establishment of the Central Emergency Response
Fund, which we believe will significantly enhance the
capacity of the United Nations to respond more
effectively to the increasing frequency of natural
disasters brought about by climate change and global
warming. We, the Member States, now have an
obligation to contribute to the building of the Fund,
while at the same time taking steps to put in place
measures to combat climate change and reduce our
emission of greenhouse gases. Member States must be
commended for the movement in a few important areas
that will contribute to a revitalized United Nations. The
first relates to progress in the area of Secretariat and
management reforms, which we hope will contribute to
greater transparency and accountability in United
Nations operations. The second is the finalization on
26 August 2006 of the new treaty protecting the rights
of persons with disabilities, and I am pleased to
announce that my Government is committed to signing
and ratifying that treaty. We believe that that
convention provides a solid basis for breaking down
the discrimination directed towards people with
disabilities.
The next area is the adoption by the General
Assembly on 8 September 2006 of a United Nations
Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Through this
action, we have in a small way honoured the numerous
victims of international terrorism and demonstrated our
resolve to combat the scourge of terrorism wherever it
exists. We must continue to work towards a counter-
terrorism convention.
My country is continuing to make progress
towards realization of the Millennium Development
Goals, despite the many challenges with which it is
confronted. In the aftermath of the devastation wreaked
upon our economy by the rulings of the World Trade
Organization disputes settlement mechanism, which
resulted in the virtual dismantling of our banana
industry, we had to undergo stringent fiscal
adjustments to deal with unsustainable debt. The great
sacrifices of the Dominican people resulted in modest
economic growth and helped to consolidate our
economic recovery. Spiralling oil prices, however, are
seriously threatening the modest gains we have made.
National effort is, therefore, focused on developing
alternative, renewable energy sources, such as hydro,
wind and geothermal.
Recent global events have not been encouraging.
The collapse of the Doha Development Round further
threatens to marginalize small island developing States
like Dominica in the global trading system. Trade is
one central element in the international agenda that can
foster sustainable economic growth, reduce our
dependence on declining aid and contribute to
realization of the Millennium Development Goals and
the development aspirations of the small vulnerable
economies.
The global trading system must recognize,
however, that there is no such thing as a level playing
field, even among developing countries, as there are
varying levels of size, vulnerability and development.
There are large developing countries, there are small
developing countries and there are very small
developing countries. In addition, there are the least
developed countries, which may be large or small.
Where the very small developing countries are islands,
their vulnerability is multiplied several fold. In
addition to market access, therefore, small island
developing States require increased development
finance for trade and productive capacity enhancement
combined with trade rules that are responsive to their
development aspirations. In this regard, small
vulnerable economies and the least developed countries
urgently need a trading system that acknowledges their
vulnerability and grants them the necessary special and
differential treatment. This will ensure that they benefit
from their participation in the global system and lead
to greater equity and fairness in the process.
27 06-53615
Increasingly, South-South cooperation has
become vitally important to countries like the
Commonwealth of Dominica, as the developed nations
retreat from fulfilling their commitment to contribute
0.7 per cent of their GNI for development assistance.
South-South cooperation from China, Cuba, Libya,
Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela is
contributing positively to our human resource
development, revitalization of our infrastructure and
implementation of our public sector investment
programme. We believe that the developed countries
can make a greater effort to assist us in realizing the
commitments made under the Barbados Programme of
Action and the 2005 Mauritius Strategy for the Further
Implementation of the Programme of Action for the
Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States. We in the Caribbean Community and Common
Market (CARICOM) understand the critical
importance of deepening regional integration and that
is why we agreed this year to move towards the
CARICOM Single Market and Economy. That
development, we believe, is an important pillar in
maximizing regional trade and development and in
minimizing the negative impact that is likely to be
inflicted upon us, as small vulnerable economies, from
the forces of globalization. We look forward to the
support of the donor community in this important
endeavour.
Good neighbourliness is an important plank in
our foreign policy, and through this approach we seek
to continuously build and strengthen relations with all
the countries of the greater Caribbean Basin, including
Cuba, the United States of America and Venezuela. We
believe in harmonious and friendly relations with all
our neighbours. We should not be expected to choose
one over the other, but should be seen more as a bridge
across the Caribbean Basin. Maritime and border
disputes within our region, and particularly between
CARICOM Member States and our neighbours in
Central and South America, are best resolved in an
atmosphere of friendship and cooperation, using the
good offices of the United Nations, the Organization of
American States and other forums that can bring about
resolution to such disputes.
The year 2007 will mark the bicentennial of the
abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the former
British Empire. We anticipate a commemorative event
in the General Assembly to mark this historic occasion.
The Caribbean Community and Common Market
(CARICOM) Group of nations will table a resolution
in the General Assembly to mark the occasion and
expects the support of all Member States of the United
Nations in this regard.
We welcome the return to constitutional
government in Haiti, the first country to declare its
independence from colonialism and slavery. We
commit ourselves to work closely with President René
Garcia Préval and his Government in their
development efforts. We also welcome the recent
announcement of commitments to Haiti by the
Government of the United States of $492 million over
three years, and by the Government of Canada in the
amount of $100 million annually. We appreciate greatly
the many pledges of assistance for Haiti’s
reconstruction from various bilateral and multilateral
donors and wish to emphasize the necessity for these
pledges to be disbursed on a timely basis to provide the
Haitian Government with the capacity to bring about
improvements in the physical and social infrastructure
of the country and the quality of life of the people of
this CARICOM member State.
The situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon,
Darfur, and the Middle East continue to occupy our
attention. Regarding the unfortunate devastation
caused by the war between Israel and Hizbollah, we
believe that Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) is
a good basis for a future peaceful relationship between
Israel and Lebanon, and we urge both countries and the
neighbouring States to abide by the provisions of that
resolution. The Commonwealth of Dominica has stated
before in this forum that the only solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the establishment of a
sovereign and independent Palestinian State alongside
the State of Israel, both with secure and defensible
borders recognized by the international community.
The situation in Darfur is very troubling and the
international community must take action now. We
commend the African Union for renewing the mandate
of the African Union Peacekeeping Force, and urge the
Sudanese Government to reconsider its opposition to
the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force
to bolster the efforts of the African Union to provide
protection and security for the people of Darfur, which
is a prerequisite for a lasting solution to the underlying
problems giving rise to the state of conflict.
In conclusion, let me express my delegation’s
wish for a successful sixty-first session under
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Ms. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa’s leadership. It is our
hope that the development agenda will once again
assume the highest priority of the General Assembly
and that we can more effectively promote peace and
security, eradicate terrorism, and above all promote
poverty alleviation. We must also focus on moving
forward with the reform agenda of the United Nations
system, including Security Council and Economic and
Social Council reform. We can prevail if we act
responsibly and together. Support for multilateralism
and the ideals of the United Nations must remain our
priority.