Barbados

It is a pleasure for me to congratulate Mr. Ganev on his unanimous election to the presidency of the Assembly at its forty-seventh session. I am confident that our deliberations will benefit from his wise leadership. I also commend his predecessor, Mr. Samir Shihabi, for the outstanding stewardship he provided during the course of the last year, and I take this opportunity too to extend my personal welcome and good wishes to our new Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. I am pleased to greet the many new Members that have joined the United Nations family since the beginning of the last session and to offer them the full cooperation of the delegation of Barbados as we work together to shape the international order for the twenty-first century. The old world order has disintegrated at an astonishing pace. Assumptions and doctrines based on the cold-war balance of power have lost their relevance. At the same time, ambitious expectations have been created for the emergence of a new world order based on peaceful coexistence, economic equity and social justice. The transition, however, has proved more traumatic and destabilizing than the propitious circumstances would have suggested. The energies for revolutionary change need to be positively directed so that prospects for international peace are not threatened by the resurgence of ancient ethnic and tribal conflicts and the violent clash of nationalistic rivalries. Regrettably, there are alarming manifestations of that new threat in Yugoslavia and Somalia. Barbados is appalled at the savagery with which the protagonists of ethnic strife in what was once Yugoslavia are pursuing their misguided notions of nationalism and sovereignty. Such barbarism, including the horrendous practice of "ethnic cleansing", has no place in our modern world. Its perpetrators must be made to understand the outrage of the international community at their actions. My country fully supports the regime of sanctions imposed by the Security Council and the dedicated efforts of the European Community and the United Nations to create the conditions for a peaceful settlement and to bring relief to the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian victims. Equally disturbing is the desperate situation in Somalia, which, regrettably, has only recently attracted the international attention it deserves, and then only at the sharp prodding of the Secretary-General. Barbados supports regional and international efforts towards the convening of o conference on national reconciliation and unity in Somalia and towards creating secure conditions for humanitarian action. My country commends the Secretary General's report "An Agenda for Peace" to the Assembly for its careful study. A number of its recommendations are consistent with the views contained in my statement to the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session, namely, the need to strengthen the capability of the Secretary-General for preventive diplomacy; the need to put into place the permanent enforcement tools required under Article 43 of the Charter to deter, and in the last resort, counter aggression; and the need to make full use of the appropriate regional and subregional security arrangements under Chapter VIII of the Charter. We also support his call for greater recourse to the International Court of Justice for the peaceful adjudication of disputes. My delegation supports the view of the Secretary-General that there is an urgent necessity to put peace-keeping operations on a sound financial footing. His recommendations and other positive suggestions should be given Priority study. A number of small countries have been unable to play a part in traditional United Nations peace-keeping simply because they have lacked the logistical military capability for so doing. The expanded dimensions of peace-keeping, however, provide the possibility for participation by small States in other fields in which they have expertise, such as electoral supervision, human-rights monitoring and the supply of police and civilian personnel. Such participation should be encouraged and facilitated by the Organization. In this regard, my delegation has noted with interest the Norwegian proposal for the establishment of a special United Nations institute for education and training in peace-keeping and related activities as a means to respond to these new dimensions. While we cannot fail to recognize the indispensable nature of United Nations peace-keeping operations, my country is nevertheless concerned at the dramatic escalation in their costs and would wish to see more stringent controls and oversight in place to ensure efficient use of the billions of dollars now involved. An agenda for peace requires a supportive economic environment. A new world order must be developed around the central priority of closing the gap between North and South, '.'his requires courageous leadership on the part of the North to create the opportunities for sustainable economic and social development in the South through genuine trade liberalization, meaningful debt-relief strategies and positive resource transfers. It also requires responsible management; sound, people-oriented development planning; and the creation of the appropriate environment for development on the part of the South. The United Nations is a critical forum for the resuscitation of the international economic dialogue. Barbados welcomes the serious debate now taking place on reforming and strengthening the economic and social mandate of the United Nations. Any such reform must be consistent with the provisions of the Charter and seek to ensure universality and accessibility. Care must be taken not to exclude the small and powerless from the process. Regrettably, however, the emphasis currently given to developmental issues within the administrative structure of the Organization does not reflect the priority accorded to those issues by the majority of Member States. My delegation accepts that the maintenance of international peace and security is a major responsibility of the United Nations. We strongly support the view that peace and economic and social well-being are indivisible and that issues relating to development must be given emphasis equal to that given to issues relating to peace. It is important that the United Nations be a forum for constructive consensus-building, where all points of view no matter the size of their proponents or how much influence they wield are given equal attention and respect. A new world order cannot evolve except in an atmosphere of free and open dialogue, consultation and transparency in decision-making. There is considerable merit in the argument that the Security Council in the post-cold-war era should be updated to reflect the new international political and economic realities, as well as the balance and diversity necessary for its decisions, if it is to command universal acceptance and respect. A very topical issue in this forum in recent times has been the dialogue on what the Secretary-General has termed "the democratization of international relations and the participation of all States in developing new norms of international life". There have been calls for the redefinition of the concept of State sovereignty in international law, and many States have accepted as a matter of policy the notion of the right to intervene on humanitarian grounds and for the protection of human rights, and have advocated the universal application of such a principle. My country has always been outspoken on the universal need to protect and strengthen the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental human rights. We have consistently condemned abuses, wherever and whenever they have occurred, and long before the resurgence of democratic values in our region and elsewhere made it popular or safe to do so. Our actions have always been motivated strictly by principle and objectivity, and not by ideological considerations that have served in the past to politicize the debate. The disappearance of ideological polarization gives the international community an unprecedented opportunity to influence the dialogue on this vital issue in a balanced and constructive way. There is need to ensure respect for fundamental human rights; out there is equal need to take care to promote impartial standards for measuring adherence to, and for guarding scrupulously against manipulation of, the debate to suit the narrow foreign policy interests of particular States. What is needed in the ensuing dialogue is the sensitive and sensible application of universally agreed standards, not the imposition of new forms of conditionality devoid of all historical or cultural context. The World Conference on Human Rights, scheduled to be held in Vienna in June 1993, will present a unique opportunity not only to review the progress made in human rights since 1948, but also to formulate recommendations aimed at charting the course of human rights well into the twenty-first century. The tragic situation of the people of Haiti remains a major preoccupation of the Government and people of Barbados and of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as a whole. We have made clear our outright condemnation of the usurpation of the authority of the legitimate government of President Aristide, and have collaborated with our regional partners in CARICOM and the Organization of American States (OAS) in the effort to restore that government. We have supported the OAS-imposed embargo and the Protocol of Washington. It is clear, however, that no lasting solution can be found, except in a context that neutralizes the power of a brutal and lawless military, which continues with impunity its flagrant abuses of the human rights of the Haitian people. The international community has a special obligation towards the people of Haiti, whose electoral process was monitored and authenticated at every step with direct United Nations involvement. If such a process can be overturned with impunity, what message are we sending to the world of would-be dictators, and what assurance are we providing for the fledgling democracies in our region? It is imperative that the United Nations take action to internationalize the embargo and to contribute, in whatever ways are considered appropriate and useful, to OAS efforts towards the restoration of the Aristide government. Barbados is greatly encouraged by the decision reached by the De Klerk Government and by Mr. Mandela on 26 September 1992 to resume negotiations with a view to establishing an interim government and a constituent assembly in South Africa. The release of 150 political prisoners and the promise by the South African Government to release the remaining political prisoners by 15 November 1992 represent a significant development that satisfies an important condition of the United Nations Declaration on southern Africa. Barbados deplores the violence that has been a major obstacle to reform in South Africa, and holds the De Klerk Government fully responsible for failing to curb it. The role of the United Nations remains critical to reform efforts in South Africa. We therefore welcome the deployment of 50 United Nations observers in South Africa to assist with the implementation of the National Peace Accord, and hope that the size of this contingent will be increased, if necessary. We urge all the parties to collaborate in maintaining an environment free of violence and to participate in peaceful negotiations aimed at achieving a non-racial, democratic South Africa. We are also encouraged by the current dialogue in the Middle East. We hope that all parties will make every effort to achieve a just and lasting peace. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June this year, was perhaps the most ambitious and far-reaching United Nations-sponsored gathering ever held. It served a vital purpose in focusing world attention on the interrelationship between human development and the environment, and in fostering global awareness of the importance of the concept of sustainable development to the future survival of our planet and all its inhabitants. Barbados cannot pretend to be fully satisfied with the results of the Rio Conference. It was, however, an important beginning in the process towards an international blueprint for sustainable development in the twenty-first century. The creation of a high-level sustainable development commission is an important element in providing serious follow-up to the decisions of Agenda 21. Care must be taken to ensure the widest possible access to, and participation in, the work of the Commission by the full membership of the United Nations. Barbados has signed the Conventions on Climate Change and on Biological Diversity, and is taking the necessary steps at the domestic level to ensure their early ratification. We reiterate, however, that there is an urgent need to begin work on a protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change that specifically addresses stabilization and reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. My country is heartened that one of the significant achievements at UNCED was the recognition given to the special environmental and development needs of small island developing States, leading to the inclusion in Agenda 21 of a specific plan of action for the sustainable development of small island developing States. In this regard, my delegation wishes to place on record its deep appreciation of the sterling efforts of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), whose contribution to the success of the Conference cannot be overstated. As part of the plan to identify and address the special needs of this category of States, a global conference will be convened in 1993. Barbados is honoured to reiterate its offer to host that Conference. The vulnerability of our environment and the fragility of our marine ecosystems require constant vigilance to guard against deliberate or accidental degradation. In this connection, we echo the concerns of the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis about the possible passage through our region of plutonium or other hazardous material. The opportunities provided for shaping a truly harmonious new world order are enormous. The danger of failure is, however, equally great, unless the redefinition of our future takes place with equal participation by all the members of the global family. Never before has the power of the few over the destinies of the many been so apparent, and never before has it been so vital to the survival of the majority of small and powerless States that make up the United Nations for that power to be used responsibly.