Barbados

It is my special pleasure to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti, as the honoured representative of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, on his election to preside over the fifty- third session of the General Assembly, and to extend to him the full cooperation of the Barbados delegation. I wish also to express our deep appreciation to his predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, for his effective leadership and management of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly — the reform Assembly. This fifty-third session, which is coming to a close at the dawn of the twenty-first century, compels us to focus on the preparedness of the United Nations for the challenges of the new millennium. It could well be a historic session, if it resolves to equip and re-energize the Organization to seize this great moment. The process of global reform is under way. Barbados strongly supports the proposals of the Secretary-General, particularly those aimed at improving the Organization?s efficiency and effectiveness. My delegation is pleased with the encouraging start to this process. We would caution, however, against reforms that are driven unduly by staff reduction targets or predetermined by budgetary constraints. To do so could well jeopardize implementation of the very Programmes of Action of the global conferences — from Rio to Rome — which constitute the global priorities endorsed by Member States. Meaningful reform also obliges us to come to terms with the financial crisis which has constrained the Organization far too long, injuring its integrity and necessitating the use of creative accounting methods to keep it afloat. Prolonged non-payment of arrears by the largest contributor is not a proud legacy to the United Nations of the twenty-first century. Let us put this Organization on a sound financial footing through prompt 29 settlement of arrears, without conditions, consistent with our Charter obligations. Reform of the Security Council is also a key imperative if the United Nations is to remain relevant in the twenty-first century. In particular, the Council must better reflect the Organization?s current membership, and it must conduct its deliberations with greater transparency. The growing threat to global peace and security has put the Organization?s capacity to cope under considerable stress, underscoring the urgent need to streamline and modernize its peacekeeping machinery. We envisaged that the end of the cold war would usher in a new era of peace and stability, but the changed nature of conflict has found the Organization?s traditional machinery ill-equipped and the political will to act severely constrained, even in the face of unthinkable crimes against humanity. That is why my delegation hails the successful outcome of the recent Conference of Plenipotentiaries held in Rome, resulting in the creation of a permanent International Criminal Court. This landmark Statute is a fitting complement to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose fiftieth anniversary we celebrate this year. We are pleased to recall that it was the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago that introduced the item on the creation of an international criminal court at the forty-fourth session of the Assembly, in 1989. The post-cold-war world has not become a safer place. New eruptions of strife and the intractability of old conflicts have worsened the fragile political situation in many developing countries. Such instability has diverted energies and resources from the policy priorities of sustainable development and poverty reduction. Ninety percent of today?s conflicts take place within countries, not between countries. And the majority of casualties are civilians, not soldiers; thus the heightened international concern with the loss of life and disability of thousands of innocent victims every year. Barbados therefore joined 121 States in Ottawa last December in signing the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti- Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Its entry into force by 1 March 1999 will come not a moment too soon. Barbados recognizes the growing danger under which United Nations peacekeepers carry out their duties and laments the recent loss of life at a number of stations. We appeal to all parties to conflicts to respect the neutral role of these brave and dedicated servants of peace, and turn to reconciliation and compromise; only then will they be able to foster the domestic stability that is so critical for sustained economic growth and for improving the living standards of their people. The widening scene of strife and instability threatens global peace and security on a number of fronts. Stalled negotiations between Israel and Palestine have renewed our anxiety about the prospects for peace in a region weary of conflict. The arm of terrorism has now reached countries hitherto spared from this scourge. International trafficking in illegal drugs and arms — in particular, small arms — poses the most serious threat to democracy and society in small States. Nuclear tests have created new fears about the proliferation issue. We will continue to support the goals of non-proliferation, leading to the elimination of all nuclear weapons. Barbados will continue to condemn, in the strongest terms, all acts of terrorism. We will work assiduously with regional partners, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, and the international community to implement the Barbados Programme of Action to fight the scourge of drug-trafficking. The lesson of this security situation is clear. Remedies are beyond the capacity of individual countries, even the most developed. The reality of global interdependence demands a greater commitment to collective security goals and better coordination of actions against the global security threat. I now turn briefly to another dimension of the global security problem — namely, human security. In this connection, let me acknowledge the debt of gratitude which developing countries owe to the distinguished Pakistani economist, the late Mahbub ul Haq, my friend and colleague. More than any other, he made the human condition central to modern development thinking, especially through his pioneering work in the Human Development Report series of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). His intellectual contribution to the debate on sustainable development and poverty reduction was substantial. It focused policy attention on people, and in particular on the plight of more than one fifth of the world?s population that lives in conditions of poverty and hopelessness. This concern with the right to development for all people should be a central component of the discussion on globalization and liberalization and the impact of these 30 phenomena on developing countries, especially the poorest countries. We believe the United Nations must be the conscience of the international community on behalf of the poor and vulnerable in this global conversation. My delegation therefore welcomed the recent high- level dialogue of the General Assembly on the social and economic impact of globalization and interdependence and their policy implications. We found the discussions instructive. There was broad agreement that the process of globalization has opened new possibilities for faster economic growth and improved living standards through the free flow of capital across borders. However, many developing countries have not yet shared in the fruits of this process. And while the benefits are obvious, the associated risks, though grave, are less evident. Who would have envisaged that the East Asian economies would be engulfed by a financial crisis of such a scale, and to such a degree of volatility and dislocation as to threaten the very fabric of their societies and, indeed, the global economy? While many questions have been raised about the pros and cons of unrestricted capital flows which underlie this crisis, and the role of the Bretton Woods institutions in this global order, reassuring answers are few. Clearly, the crisis points in part to deficiencies in the global architecture and governance of finance. We discern a world economy so radically altered from that of even a decade ago that we are obliged to focus on the deficit in our understanding of how it works, and on how to design a new structure for its orderly governance. Since there is as yet no settled approach to adjustment policy towards globalization — in particular, measures to protect the poor and vulnerable groups — the voice of the United Nations must be raised in debate on these critical areas of enquiry. Small island developing States, given their vulnerability to both environmental and economic shocks, are following with much anxiety these developments in the global economy. We welcome a number of ongoing studies on the vulnerability of small island developing States. In December 1997, an Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Vulnerability Indices for Small Island Developing States, convened by the United Nations Secretariat, concluded that as a group, small island developing countries are more vulnerable than other groups of developing countries. More recently, a high-level committee established by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, and chaired by The Right Honourable Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, held consultations with key international agencies, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), on the vulnerability of small island developing States, particularly in the current global situation. As if to reinforce this reality, just a few days ago hurricane Georges dealt us a brutal reminder, wiping out in a matter of hours economic growth which took years to accumulate. We lament the heavy loss of life and the widespread destruction of property in a number of our sister islands of the Caribbean, as well as in the southern United States. We join in the appeal for urgent international assistance. Barbados shares with developing countries the growing concern about the impact of globalization and liberalization, given its limited resource base and technical capacity. We recognize that adaptation to this irreversible process is an imperative, not an option, and that countries will pay a high price for policy of inaction. Barbados is therefore implementing a broad program of social, economic and institutional reform to better manage rapid global change while deepening its integration into the regional economy, especially the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The recent conference of heads of Government, held in Saint Lucia from 30 June to 4 July, marked the silver jubilee of CARICOM, and gave further impetus to the process towards a single market and economy. In response to the increasing policy demands of globalization, CARICOM States have established technical machinery, under high-level political direction, to underpin regional negotiations under way within the hemisphere. These negotiations will lead to a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in 2005. This will be the largest and most differentiated of regional trading blocks. We recognize that technical support will be required on an ongoing basis to ensure that small States develop the capacity to negotiate effectively, share equitably in the benefits of trade and secure transition arrangements on entry that will minimize economic dislocation. At the wider international level, Barbados was pleased to host in May 1998 the sixty-seventh session of the Council of Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), as well as the meeting of the twenty-third joint ACP-European Union (EU) Council of Ministers. These consultations focused on future ACP-EU relations, in particular, the structure of cooperation following the expiration of the Lomé Convention in the year 2000. Following those gatherings, Barbados assumed the presidency of the ACP Council of Ministers, which will 31 today, 29 September, launch formal negotiations for successor arrangements to the Lomé Convention. Here again, the participation of CARICOM will be bolstered by the technical work and direction of the regional negotiating mechanism. CARICOM States will seek opportunities for fruitful cooperation and information-sharing with other ACP members during the course of these critical negotiations. Even a passing reference to ACP-EU relations triggers our concern about the long-standing and still unresolved issue of banana exports from CARICOM States to the European Union. The WTO decision on this matter, if implemented, will have a devastating impact on affected countries? economies and on the livelihood of large sections of their populations. Moreover, it would create uncertainty about investment and the overall prospects for development in the region. CARICOM States remain deeply seized of this question and hope that a satisfactory solution of this grievance can be reached soon. My delegation looks forward to the special session of the General Assembly in September 1999, at which the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States will be reviewed. Within the framework of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), we will participate actively in the preparatory process, including the planned donors? conference in February 1999. We believe that conference will provide a useful opportunity to foster support for a portfolio of priority projects that will boost implementation of this Programme over the next several years. We attach similar importance to the meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development scheduled for April 1999, which will help deepen our preparation for the special session. That meeting will focus on sustainable tourism and oceans, the virtual lifeline of small island developing States. It will underline our concern with the preservation and sustainable management of our marine resources and highlight our anxiety over the use of the Caribbean Sea for the trans-shipment of nuclear and other hazardous materials through this fragile marine ecosystem. That is why CARICOM States will seek recognition of the Caribbean Sea as a special area in the context of sustainable development. The special session will be an important landmark in the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action. Barbados is proud of this international Programme that bears its name. It remains a sound blueprint for policies which support the sustainable development of small island developing States, taking into account their special needs and vulnerabilities. We believe that with the continued cooperation and support of our international partners we can strengthen the implementation of the Programme of Action and consolidate its long-term viability. Let me conclude by saying that the fifty-third session of the General Assembly has before it many critical issues for consideration. My delegation believes, however, that none has higher priority than renewed commitment to this indispensable Organization and to the strengthening of its capacity to meet the challenges of the new millennium. Small island developing States believe deeply in the United Nations. It has placed their vulnerability firmly into the consciousness of the international community. But more than that, this is the only institution which embodies the goals of peace and security, sustainable development, democracy and social justice, which define our common humanity. Barbados pledges its full commitment and support to this universal mission.