It is an honour and a privilege to return to this rostrum this year. This is my tenth appearance here. I am proud to be back to this most important forum, but doubly so because a son of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the wider Caribbean region sits as its President. I therefore wish Ambassador Dennis Francis well, and suffice it to say that the Bahamas stands ready to assist and support him.
The Bahamas National Statistics Institute reported this year in the national census that there are now 399.314 people living in the Bahamas — let us call that 400.000. We are a small country of 700 islands, cays and reefs — that is clear. We have 4.000 square miles of land in 100.000 square miles of ocean — that is clear. We are therefore a small island developing State — and that is very clear. Our Prime Minister Philip Edward “Brave” Davis says that the number one foreign policy issue for the Bahamas is climate change. He has expressed the existential fear we face along with other island peoples, in the Atlantic and the Pacific alike, as to whether we will become climate refugees or face a watery grave. Tonight I am wearing a gift from the people of the Marshall Islands to share our solidarity with those in the Pacific.
Given that our Prime Minister has expressed those sentiments in many forums around the world throughout his years in office, it was indeed shocking to hear the national position of one of our developed- nation partners on reparations for loss and damage from climate change. He stated that there would be no such reparations under any circumstances. Small island developing States such as the Bahamas have been negotiating for loss and damage for more than 30 years. That therefore raises the question: how much are 399.314 lives worth?
The word “reparations” means so much in another context as well. Millions of African peoples were ripped from the continent of Africa, brought to the West and worked for free for 200 years. In the British Empire, they were so-called “freed” in 1834 and worked for another four years under an apprenticeship scheme for free. The British Government paid £20 million — then 40 per cent of the national budget — to the slavers for the loss of their property. That is £17 billion in today’s money, and we are advised that the bonds were just paid off in 2015. Yet not one penny was paid to the slaves or to their descendants. And not even an apology has been offered for the moral tragedy that slavery represents. That means a “no” to reparations on climate damage and a “no” to reparations on slavery — “no” over and over again.
However, the generation of our leaders that came before us did not accept no for an answer. That is why we are freer today than we were a generation ago. just as they were freer than the generation before them. When Prime Minister Michael Manley of Jamaica stood before this very rostrum after his historic victory at the polls in 1972 and demanded a new international economic order (see A/PV.2049). his call for economic and social justice did not at first succeed, but it has been taken up by his successors, who continue that call throughout the Caribbean. Mr. Manley was taking up the call by Marcus Garvey of Jamaica before him and Joseph Robert Love of the Bahamas, who belonged to the generation preceding Mr. Manley. Moreover. Marcus Garvey was taking up the calls of W. E. B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson, who had Bahamian roots, before him. Lynden Pindling. our founding Prime Minister, did not accept “no” when the Nassau Accords were forged to say “let Nelson Mandela go”. Clearly, then, “no” is not an acceptable answer to give an unfree people.
We in this generation take up the call — Brave Davis and the Bahamas say that “no” is not an acceptable answer. Therefore, the Bahamas wants the world to know that, whether it be on reparations for slavery or on climate change, “no” is not the correct answer. We must use our collective voices to reject the gospel according to “no”. As long as we have our voices, we will pass our message on to the next generation, and so on. until we succeed and justice is served.
We do not accept the gospel according to “no” when it comes to Haiti. As the first Black republic and the first independent Caribbean State. Haiti has paid dearly for daring to declare and assert its independence from colonial rule back in 1804. First, they were forced to pay some $20 billion in today’s money to be let alone by their former colonial masters. Then, in the twentieth century, they were ruled for two decades by an invading military that took all the wealth from their treasury and forced the payment of sums back to Washington. D C. And today we wonder why the situation is as dire as it is. The Western world owes Haiti and the Haitian people, and we must fight to help them resolve their issues.
The security situation in Haiti today is untenable. I thank all the Governments in both the developed world — namely, the United States and Canada — and in CARICOM for their work in trying to resolve the political and security issues there. I urge the people of Haiti, especially the leaders of Haiti today, to do all that they can to continue to work towards a Haitian-led political settlement, and it will require compromise to do so.
In response to this humanitarian crisis in our region, the United Nations has received many humanitarian pledges that can barely meet the humanitarian needs of the Haitian people on the ground. We must approve without delay a Security Council-backed draft resolution on a multinational force for Haiti, first. I would like to thank the Government of Kenya for pledging to lead a multinational force to improve the security issues in Haiti. We in the Bahamas plan to join them, as does Jamaica, and other Caribbean countries have pledged humanitarian support. They, along with all other States, have pledged support, but a Security Council resolution is required to take action. As I said, both the Bahamas and Jamaica have pledged troops, and other CARICOM States have pledged humanitarian support.
A geopolitical settlement must also be possible in Cuba. What a magnificent country, with a rich heritage and a smart people who have suffered from economic measures that seem imposed upon them, externally grounded in ideology. However, if one can do business with Viet Nam. there is no logic that prevents doing business with Cuba. The irony of the situation is that money in United States dollars is difficult to process across Cuban borders, yet nine or more flights per day leave Miami for Havana and fly back again, and the largest Embassy in Havana is that of the United States. We appreciate all the steps that have been taken by the present United States Administration to revert to the status quo ante to 2016 as a starting point, but the most sensible thing to do is to drop all the restrictions and normalize relations with Cuba post-haste. The continuation of the status quo represents a security problem for the Bahamas.
Finally. I wish to repeat a favourite theme of our Prime Minister, and it is this: the pathologies resulting from the asymmetric relationship between our trading partners in the European Union and the Americas on the question of financial services. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union have arrogated to themselves to be the moral police of the world on taxation issues. The result is that free trade no longer exists, but a tax process is being imposed by our former colonial masters, making banking so difficult within our domestic spheres, and international trade is made even more difficult. Moreover, they have gone one step farther by now imposing the requirement for what they call an electronic travel authority for one to enter their countries, even when they say there is no visa required for entry.
The Prime Minister therefore joins other developing States in supporting a United Nations convention on tax that will govern standards on taxation frameworks, including financial services. The OECD cannot declare legitimacy for developing universal outputs while decision-making and membership remain exclusive. Therefore, in our view, the United Nations is the appropriate and universal body to design and build an equitable and inclusive international tax administration architecture with representation on equal footing.
The Bahamas is 50 years old this year. On 10 July 1973. we became independent, and this year. 50 years later, it was a very proud moment for our citizens. At the Sandilands Primary School in my constituency in Nassau, if one says the words of a popular song, even the little children know the song, and I bet members of the delegation know it as well. A man named Elkin Outten sang this song, and it says. “Nassau is the capital”, and the children say. “Bahamas”; “Bimini is the gateway”, and the children say. “Bahamas”; “1492. Columbus landed”, and the children will reply. “Bahamas”. “1973. we were free”. — “Bahamas”. Happy anniversary. Bahamas — golden jubilee. Bahamas. We are proud of our country. I leave the song with all present and invite them to come visit us. Eight million people will join us as tourists this year — we are 400.000 strong. Stay and enjoy our beauty; understand our climate vulnerability. In our work, we ask all to join us to help reverse the tidal rising. Now. more than ever, we need the United Nations.