At the
outset, I wish to extend heartiest congratulations to
the President on his election to the presidency of the
General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. Antigua and
Barbuda looks forward to his leadership and guidance
throughout this session. I also offer congratulations
to his predecessor, His Excellency Ambassador John
Ashe, on a job well done and on his unrelenting service
to the United Nations community, particularly small
island developing States.
I stand before the Assembly as, perhaps, the newest
Head of Government at this sixty-ninth session of the
General Assembly. The political party that I have the
honour to lead was democratically and overwhelmingly
elected as the Government of Antigua and Barbuda a
little more than three months ago. I am probably also
among the youngest of the Heads of Government at
this gathering. However, although I may be relatively
young and my Government new, I have been a steadfast
believer in the value of the United Nations from the
first moment of my adult consciousness. The idea
that there could be a world without a machinery for
leaders to gather in one place, with the single purpose
of improving the lives of all humankind, conjures
up images of chaos, carnage and catastrophe too
frightening to contemplate. While some may argue that
the United Nations has not always lived up to its noble
purposes and that chaos, carnage and catastrophe have
scarred our planet, I am profoundly aware that, without
the United Nations, the viciousness and the wounds
would have been significantly worse.
However, even as I rejoice in the existence of the
United Nations, I also lament that its largest and most
powerful nations have too often used their privileged
positions to weaken the authority of the Organization in
advancement of their own narrow interests. It has also
been a grave sadness that in the past powerful States
have circumvented this body in pursuit of their national
goals, even in defiance of the solidarity of the larger
family of nations.
For those reasons, my Government and the people
of Antigua and Barbuda strongly support the reform
of the Organization. We would like to see reform
that democratizes the United Nations so as to give a
greater voice to those countries, such as mine, that
are marginalized in decision-making because we are
considered too small to make a difference. We would
also welcome a comprehensive reform of the Security
Council that ends the anachronism of the veto power
of the five permanent members — a system that has no
legitimacy in fairness and in the global balance and that
has often prevented the Security Council from acting in
a manner that would command worldwide support and
acclamation.
It is paradoxical that such nations, particularly
those that most fiercely advocate respect for democracy
and the rule of law, implement those principles at home
but decline to implement them abroad. Respect for the
rule of law and for the democratic principle that gives
nations rights that are as inalienable as those of the
individual in powerful States must become integral to
the process and systems of governance by which the
world’s affairs are managed. Indeed, small States, such
as mine, rely on the strength of the United Nations and
on international respect for democracy and the rule of
law to protect us from incursions on our sovereignty and
disregard for our rights. Centuries ago, the philosopher
Aristotle spoke a compelling truth when he said of the
State:
“A State is not a mere society, having a common
place, established for the prevention of mutual
crime and for the sake of exchange ... Political
society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not
of mere companionship.”
Aristotle’s observation concerning the State
remains valid and legitimate in today’s international
system of States, which the United Nations represents.
Every State within the international system must
recognize that noble action is one of the purposes of a
political community.
In this regard, I draw the Assembly’s attention to
the fact that 10 long years have passed since my small
country, with a population of under 100,000 and an
economy of $1.1 billion, received a favourable decision
by the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) in a complaint against the United
States, a nation of several hundred million inhabitants
whose economy is valued in the trillions. Despite the
favourable judgment, against which the losing party has
appealed without success, the United States Government
has not seen fit to perform the “noble action” of settling
with my small State in a manner consistent with the
harm done to our economy. My country has been
denied income that, had we continued to earn it, would
have contributed significantly to the welfare of my
people, and to the capacity of our economy to cope with
the grave effects of climate change and the financial
crisis to which we became a casualty. I stress that when
my country took the United States before the WTO’s
Dispute Settlement Body, we did not do so as an act of
hostility to a neighbour with whom we have enjoyed a
long and friendly relationship; we did so because we
had a duty to care for our people.
My small State was the victim of a trade violation.
In good faith, we sought relief within the international
system and the democratic principles and rule of law
that it is meant to uphold. To be fair, the system delivered
justice. But in so doing, its weakness was exposed when
justice could not be enforced because the powerful
party that was found against would not settle with the
small country that was injured. However, if democracy
and the rule of law are to prevail in our international
system, they have to be upheld and respected by the
powerful and cannot simply be imposed upon the weak.
Otherwise, there will be resentment, discontent and
possibly conflict.
Yesterday, speaking in this very forum, the
President of the United States, Barack Obama, said
that “right makes might... bigger nations should not be
able to bully smaller ones” (A/69/PV.6, p. 11). If this
universal truth is a guiding principle of his Government,
then the United States cannot continue to approbate and
reprobate on this principle. The noble thing is for the
United States to settle this long-outstanding judgement
fairly and expeditiously. In another context, but voicing
a similar principle, President Obama said the following
a year ago:
“[T]he principle of sovereignty is at the centre of
our international order. But sovereignty cannot
be ... an excuse for the international community to
turn a blind eye” (A/68/PV.5, p. 16).
President Obama was perfectly right. That is why I
believe he will agree that sovereignty and power should
not be a shield against the fulfilment of obligations
independently assessed, or an excuse for not settling
this very vexing issue.
I am sure that President Obama would also agree
that the international community cannot turn a blind
eye to the blockade imposed on Cuba. Antigua and
Barbuda supports the preservation of the sovereignty
of every nation. We are very proud of our long-standing
relationship with the Republic of Cuba. We therefore
join with the international community and condemn any
discriminatory and retaliatory policies and practices
that serve to prevent Cuba from exercising its right
to freely participate in the affairs of the hemisphere.
My Government firmly believes that any application
of unilateral and extraterritorial coercive laws and
measures that conflict with international law and the
principles of free navigation and international trade is
wrong. We therefore urge our long-standing friend, the
United States, to respect and take note of the numerous
calls by the United Nations to immediately bring an
end to the unjust economic, commercial and financial
blockade imposed on our neighbour Cuba.
My small country has no military might, no
economic clout. All that we have is membership of the
international system as our shield and our voice in this
body as our sword. That is why we will continue to
uphold the value of the United Nations vigorously, and
why we will join the effort for its reform to make it the
guardian of all nations and all peoples.
I want to express my Government’s full agreement
with the President’s decision to make the theme of
this General Assembly debate, “Delivering on and
implementing a transformative post-2015 development
agenda.” It is well known now that the Millennium
Development Goals Gap Task Force has reported
mixed progress in the achievement of key targets.
Among the targets on which there has been insufficient
acceleration has been official development assistance.
I congratulate those countries that have reached the
pledged target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income.
However, the developed world is still not meeting the
target of $315 billion. Indeed, it is not even reaching
half that amount.
My own country and the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) region as a whole have witnessed a decline
in bilateral assistance from larger and richer nations
within our own hemisphere, and we have relied on
non-traditional sources, such as the People’s Republic
of China and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
In regard to energy, the high cost of which cripples
our country, the Venezuelan Petrocaribe arrangement
has been a lifebelt in a sea of turbulence. We are also
grateful for the contributions of our other international
partners, including the European Union. However, as we
go forward, there is clearly a need for increased global
engagement with respect to development assistance,
including the presence at the table of recipients as well
as donors.
In addition — and as a most urgent matter — the
international financial institutions must be urged to stop
penalizing small Caribbean States on the basis of their
flawed per capita income criterion. Our countries are
denied access to concessional financing because we are
classified as middle-income countries. This obdurate
attitude of the international financial institutions in
not devising better criteria for assessing the eligibility
of our small economies for concessionary financing,
forces us into the commercial lending market. The
consequence of this is that our debt is rising and many
of us are among the most highly indebted countries in
the world on a per capita basis.
But I ask, “What is the alternative?” Rhetorically,
I ask again, “What is the alternative?” It is said that
six years after the global economy collapsed, jobs are
being created, global financial systems have stabilized
and people are once again being lifted out of poverty.
But I say here this afternoon that this is not a universal
truth. In the case of small States in the Caribbean, the
global economic crisis in 2008 in whose creation we
played no part, sent our economies into a tailspin. We
have yet to recover fully from its impact, and we will
probably never recover the development ground that we
lost. Incredibly, a significant number of our educated
young people are unemployed. If we fail to satisfy their
aspirations, we condemn them to a life on the margins of
society at best, or a life of crime and violence at worst.
No nation can opt for so devastating an alternative.
There is now an urgent need for this United
Nations body, through one of its appropriate organs, to
address the large debt that CARICOM countries have
accumulated owing to declining aid, poor terms of
trade, the high cost of regulating financial services, and
expenditure on curbing drug trafficking and stopping
refugees.
Those countries in the Caribbean, including my
own, that are now increasing their debt are not doing so
because of poor policies or because we are not focused
on increased productivity and growth, nor are we doing
so because of high expenditures on vanity projects or
unsustainable ventures. We are doing so to build the
socioeconomic infrastructure to facilitate revenue
generation.
The fact of the matter is that the global crisis that
began in 2008 has set our economies back to pre-1974
levels. While we are tightening our belts, forging
relations with the private sector and energetically
seeking foreign direct investment in productive
enterprises, we are scraping our way uphill, having
been pushed downwards by a deluge of external factors.
The United Nations cannot step back from those
realities, and it would be wrong, as it has been wrong
for some time, for this Organization to abdicate its
responsibility for action to multilateral organizations
whose membership is made up only of a few, however
powerful they may be. Indeed, it is precisely because
the members of those groups are powerful and because
they reach into a network of economic and political
decision-making bodies that can easily impose their
will on the weak and vulnerable that the United Nations
should not abandon its responsibilities to the weak, who
depend on this Organization.
I cannot leave this rostrum without addressing the
war on terror and the issue of the dreaded Ebola disease.
The threat of Ebola requires a global response, and we
urge the international community to act collectively
and swiftly in combatting what could become a global
pandemic with grave socio-economic consequences for
small States, especially our fragile, tourism-dependent
countries in the Caribbean. Antigua and Barbuda
commends the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for
its pledge of $5 million towards Ebola eradication and
the Republic of Cuba for sending 165 doctors. We call
on the members of the international community to
continue to contribute towards that effort.
Antigua and Barbuda condemns the savage and
cruel acts of the jihadists of the Islamic State, who have
beheaded three civilians. On behalf of the Government
and people of Antigua and Barbuda, I express our
deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and
to the people of the United States, France and the
United Kingdom for those atrocities. There can be no
justification for such barbaric behaviour. We cannot
afford a world that slips back into the dark ages when
violence, wars and barbarism were the stock-and-trade
of religious intolerance and ethnic divisions.
Yet, as we survey the global scene, there are deeply
troubling instances of such behaviour in Europe, Africa
and the Middle East. In all this, the role of the United
Nations becomes critically important. What is required
is not unilateral acts that will embroil specific nations
in cycles of violent retaliation. What is required is a
United Nations whose Member States, particularly
those on the Security Council, act together to defend
peace and security.
After only 100 days in office, my Government
has demonstrated its commitment to building an all-
inclusive, all-empowering and egalitarian society by
promoting the protection of women’s rights, gender
equality and the rights of the disabled. We see those
issues not only as human rights issues, but as essential
components of sustainable development, peace, social
justice and security. At our first session of Parliament,
my Government ratified the Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities. We have gone further and
have appointed a distinguished son of the soil, who is
visually challenged, to serve as our representative to
the United Nations. We have also appointed a plethora
of women to serve in the Upper House of Parliament
as ambassadors and in other key positions within
the public sector. It is my Government’s pledge to
continue to work towards full gender equality and the
advancement and empowerment of women.
When the President of the General Assembly opened
the Assembly’s sixty-ninth session, he remarked that
“to say that we are living in tumultuous times would
seem an understatement” (A/69/PV.1, p. 3). He noted that
the entire world is facing challenges such as poverty,
hunger, climate change and rising sea levels, persistent
unemployment, armed conflicts and the Ebola virus
epidemic. He called on this global body to tackle those
challenges “with dedication, single-mindedness of
purpose and compromise” and “a sense of resolve and
resilience” (ibid.) He was right to do so.
Crises are staring human civilization in the face,
including climate change, the Ebola virus and the threat
posed by the Islamic State. As a result, we all face a
future where those challenges can only be dealt with
through joint international action. The United Nations,
the parliament of parliaments, is the place where such
joint action is to be decided and implemented. We need
to strengthen the United Nations capacity for such
action, whether military or humanitarian. There is no
substitute for the United Nations. Antigua and Barbuda
pledges its continued support of and participation in the
work of the United Nations.