Saint Kitts and Nevis

I have the honour to address the General Assembly at its sixty- second session on behalf of the Government and people of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. I extend heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Kerim and his country, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, on his assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I assure him of my delegation’s full cooperation as he endeavours to chart the course of positive interaction and coordination in this international arena. I would also like to welcome the new Secretary- General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, who is assisting at his first general debate of the General Assembly as Secretary- General. My delegation supports him in his all-too- important task of managing the affairs of the United Nations. Small island developing States such as Saint Kitts and Nevis rely on the United Nations to level the playing field in international discourse so that we can interact, contribute and benefit on an equal footing with other members of the international community. Twenty-four years ago, Saint Kitts and Nevis took the bold step of joining this body. We pledged then to do all in our power to pursue peace, security, human rights and development. Twenty-four years later, my beautiful country can boast that it has kept faith with our people and the international community. It has achieved much, and the pace and nature of its development set an example for other small island developing States. Today, the human development index of the United Nations Development Programme ranks us fifty-first out of 177 countries evaluated in the world. Saint Kitts and Nevis has indices on per capita gross domestic product, health and educational enrolment comparable to those of many in the developed world. Pleased as we are with our progress, we are all too aware that the journey is not yet ended. Much work needs to be done. Poverty in our Federation and in the Caribbean is still at an unacceptable level, and the turbulence of the global climate vitiates our continuing development. We are almost at the mid-point of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If we were to evaluate ourselves as a whole, we would have to acknowledge that many of the commitments have not been met. Aid has fallen off, official development assistance has been limited, and we have seen competing initiatives divert the drive of fulfilling the MDGs. Today, Saint Kitts and Nevis calls upon all States, be they in the North, South, East or West, developed or developing, to do all in their power to ensure the realization of the fruits of our united vision that proposed the Millennium Development Goals. United Nations Member States are not all equal in endowments. Those that have more resources must allocate more to the global development agenda. The developed world must meet its financing commitments, as agreed at the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development. That Conference represents a landmark because, for the first time, the developed world agreed that we were jointly responsible for development and that it had a special role in financing for development. That commitment, regrettably, has not been matched by real resources. The United Nations will hold a follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development. The State of Qatar has generously offered to host that meeting. We applaud that country for its commitment to the cause and we again call upon all countries to implement the commitments they made at Monterrey. Saint Kitts and Nevis acknowledges that the HIV/AIDS pandemic constitutes a threat to our development and, indeed, our security. Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, in his capacity as Caribbean lead spokesman for health and human and social development has often stated that this matter requires serious and dedicated monitoring and action. The fight to eradicate the scourge of HIV/AIDS must continue, and we must dedicate ourselves to that task. No matter the merits and demerits of the debate concerning issues in relation to intellectual property rights, the evidence has shown that only with cheaper antiretroviral drugs can the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the minimum be managed and its threat to humankind reduced. Therefore, there is a need to address the issues related to the cost of these drugs so that they can be available to all who need them. The book of Genesis reminds us that man was made to coexist peacefully with his environment. The planet Earth is not an inheritance; rather, it is a loan from our children and grandchildren, who hope that one day we will return to them a clean and wholesome Earth. We must be careful, then, that our production and consumption patterns and behaviours do not surpass the environment’s capacity to sustain them. The matter of climate change is of continuing and great interest to my Government. Indeed, we view the associated problems of the high frequency of abnormal weather, sea level rise, global warming and coastal degradation as matters affecting the economic and environmental security of small States such as Saint Kitts and Nevis. We are indeed heartened by the priority being accorded to this matter by the new Secretary-General. This year, Saint Kitts and Nevis signed the Kyoto Protocol, which signalled my country’s commitment to doing all that it can to reduce its carbon emissions. We urge other States to sign the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Indeed, Saint Kitts and Nevis will never shirk its responsibilities as a global citizen. We believe that global environmental management and multinational efforts could resolve many issues particularly at this time, when all of us have experienced environmental deterioration. We call on developed countries to provide greater support to small island developing States in combating the adverse effects of climate change. In addition, we urge far greater South-South cooperation on the important matter of climate change. We live at a time when disasters are occurring with a rapidity not previously felt. Within CARICOM, we felt the impact of the passage of Hurricane Dean, during which lives were lost, livelihoods were threatened and, in the case of Jamaica, an election was postponed. That same hurricane moved on to wreak havoc in Mexico and was followed very closely by other, equally destructive hurricanes. Over the past year, nearly every region of the world has endured some form of natural or man-made disaster. My delegation believes, therefore, that we need an increase in humanitarian and disaster relief assistance. No country escapes the need for such assistance. In addition to supporting the existence and the role of the Central Emergency Response Fund, we encourage Member States to commit to that and similar initiatives. I now turn to United Nations reform. During the course of the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, the issue of reform of the United Nations and, in particular, system-wide coherence received extensive attention. Saint Kitts and Nevis believes that reform is necessary. My delegation’s position, therefore, is that the time has come for agreement on the issue and on the way forward. We need continued dialogue, of course. But, most important, Member States need to agree on a plan of action and its implementation, as well as on the need to get on with the job. If we do not agree, or if we remain inflexible regarding one another’s concerns, we will all be at a disadvantage. Therefore, the dialogue among civilizations must continue, and implementation must occur, if true reform of all aspects of the United Nations is to come to fruition. The United Nations must remain open to membership for all States. In that regard, experience has shown that United Nations membership is not a deterrent to unification; consider, for example, the former East Germany and West Germany. Nor is it a panacea for fragmentation, as some have argued, citing the deconstruction of the former Soviet Union. What has always been clear is that the United Nations has extended a warm welcome to all States and respected the equality of all States. In the context of the principle of universality, my country renews its call for Taiwan to become a Member of the United Nations. It is of grave concern that the 23 million people of Taiwan have been denied the right to participate in the United Nations and its related bodies. During the sixty-first session, that exclusion and isolation were pursued even more aggressively. We, the friends of Taiwan, implore the United Nations family to recognize that the people of Taiwan are a disenfranchised people. Many of us were once also disenfranchised and unrepresented; but, through international recognition of our inalienable right to participate, we are here today. My delegation wishes to see the same right enjoyed by the people of Taiwan. Taiwan has shown that it can be a true partner in development. In our view, the international community has been deprived of the gift of that partnership at a time when Taiwan’s assistance could have been so useful to many States in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. In March of this year, the United Nations observed the bicentenary of the abolition of the trans- Atlantic slave trade. My Prime Minister, the Honourable Mr. Denzil Douglas, had the distinct honour of addressing this body on behalf of CARICOM. One of the significant results of the commemoration exercise has been an acknowledgement that the injustice of slavery still exists in one form or another and that there is a need to address that problem. Child slavery and economic slavery impact the societies of the international community, and we need to mobilize our collective resources to combat those scourges. Only when that has been accomplished will we be able to feel that the battle waged more than 200 years ago to abolish the trans-Atlantic slave trade and all elements associated with it has been won. Finally, as we look ahead to the rest of the sixty- second session, I wish to reiterate my country’s pledge of cooperation, commitment and dialogue to address the many challenges that we will encounter in ensuring that the United Nations remains the relevant forum for international relations. The United Nations must continue to be a beacon of hope for countries in search of peace, self-determination, respect for human rights, progress, development and, very important, justice. It is not too late for this body to go and enchant the world.