On behalf of the Government and the people of Jamaica. Mr. President. I extend warmest congratulations to you on your election. We are proud to see a son of the Caribbean presiding over this pivotal seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly. We share your vision of a world in which trust is rebuilt, global solidarity is reignited and action is accelerated for the benefit of all our peoples. You can count on our fullest support in that endeavour.
We meet at a time when the need for deliberate action is urgent on several global fronts. The Secretary- General has sounded the alarm and issued strong appeals for greater ambition and action. Young people all over the world have been expressing their frustrations and have been calling for more from us as leaders. We must act now if we are to meet the hopes, dreams and aspirations of present and future generations.
Jamaica has long been committed to ambition and action beyond our size. Notwithstanding our limitations as a small island developing State, and even in the face of enormous challenges, we have made significant strides in recent years in the delivery of peace, prosperity and progress for our people. That has not been easy. It has required bold, strategic, inclusive and steady leadership, sustained commitment, hard decisions and great collective sacrifice. We are a country with a strong track record of peace, democratic traditions, political stability and respect for human rights. We are also now an economy that is growing in resilience and sustainability, having emerged from the pandemic in acceleration mode — a place where businesses can easily be started and can thrive, and where jobs are being created for women and men. Inspired by our motto. “Out of Many. One People”, we are building a cohesive society with opportunities for everyone to achieve their full potential.
Peace is not merely the absence of conflict. It is a social condition defined by mutual respect and the acknowledgement of our shared humanity. It permits our societies to channel our collective energies towards building a better future for ourselves, our children and generations to come. In our own journey towards peace, as we tackle the twin-headed monster of crime and violence. Jamaica has invested heavily in the men and women of our security forces and the technology and infrastructure needed to support their work. Improved working conditions, increased mobility and the use of forensics and new legislative tools are delivering results. In that regard, we welcome a 22-per cent reduction in serious crimes since the start of the year.
We know there is much more to be done. We are committed to using every lawful tool to save lives and to ensure social cohesion, inclusivity and respect for the inherent dignity of every human being. Those elements are now embedded in the training and capacity-building of our security forces. Furthermore, we await the report of the Violence Commission appointed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to make recommendations for fundamental, holistic and inclusive solutions to the multifaceted challenges of crime and violence.
We simply cannot, however, win that fight alone. Small island States like ours, with porous borders, rely on global partnerships to combat trafficking in persons, arms and drugs. Jamaica does not manufacture guns or ammunition. Countries that do and which serve as major consumers of drugs must do more to prevent their outflow and to fight those elements of transnational organized crime, which have massive impacts on developing countries like ours in the Caribbean region. Last year in this very Hall. Prime Minister Holness called for a war on guns comparable to the war on drugs (see A/77/PV.9). As he also said more recently at the International Drug Enforcement Conference XXXVII. which Jamaica co-hosted.
“[t]he war on drugs must be reciprocated, complemented and fought in parallel with the war on guns... Our joint efforts not only seek to combat illegal firearms and drugs, but also to fortify international collaboration, reinforcing our pursuit of justice and security”.
We also recognize the threat posed to peace and security in the digital space, and therefore continue to work to advance our domestic capacity, as well as multilateral efforts to address cybersecurity. We are also honoured to lead the work of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) work towards the conclusion of a United Nations convention on cybercrime to buttress global measures. Those are not only high-flown concepts; all have direct implications for the efforts of Governments of developing countries, like Jamaica, to deliver safe communities — real and virtual — in which families can live. work, go to school and achieve their dreams.
On the matter of international peace and security. Jamaica firmly believes that dialogue, diplomacy and cooperation are the most effective pathways to resolving competing interests. Jamaica therefore calls on all nations to prioritize the pursuit of peace over the perpetuation of conflict and aggression. We reiterate our call for an end to the war in Ukraine and urge parties to regional and civil wars to choose dialogue and coexistence over conflict, as it is ordinary people and the most vulnerable people who suffer the devastating consequences of war.
We are proud that Latin America and the Caribbean remains a declared zone of peace and a nuclear-free zone. We are. however, gravely concerned about growing global tensions and risks associated with nuclear proliferation, safety and use. Jamaica reiterates our long-standing position that all States must heed the call for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and refrain from the testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons.
I must use this opportunity to reiterate Jamaica’s and CARICOM’s call for international action to restore order and security in our sister nation. Haiti. It is critical that we all fully support all meaningful efforts to contribute to Haitian-led solutions to the multidimensional and multifaceted challenges with which that country is faced. Let me be clear — there are no easy fixes. But let me be equally clear — doing nothing is not an option.
Jamaica supports the call for a multinational security support mission to bolster the Haitian National Police in their efforts to vanquish ever-strengthening criminal gangs. Prime Minister Holness has made clear, that subject to the relevant Security Council resolution.
Jamaica will contribute personnel to such an effort. We listened in Port-au-Prince when the CARICOM mission visited earlier this year. We have also heard the clear call of the majority of the Haitian people, as reflected in the polls conducted in Haiti by reputable local civil society and international agencies. We therefore urge the permanent members of the Security Council to put aside geopolitical sensitivities and to answer the call of the majority of the Haitian people and their brothers and sisters in the Caribbean region.
A Security Council resolution under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, authorizing a multinational security support mission, must be adopted without further delay. We join CARICOM’s commendations of President Ruto for Kenya’s steadfast commitment to leading such a mission and welcome the offers from other countries, including from our own region. We call on other capable countries and other capable regions to lend their, financial, human, logistical and in-kind support to ensure that the mission on which we must embark will be effective in delivering peace and stability for the people of Haiti.
Despite the many competing issues. Jamaica could not be clearer. Ordinary Haitians are suffering. Humanitarian support cannot be distributed in insecurity; hospitals cannot deliver care in insecurity; children cannot go to school in insecurity; men and women cannot go to work in insecurity. Candidates cannot offer themselves for election in insecurity, and people cannot vote in insecurity. The situation can and will become even worse if we do not act without delay. Peace and reasonable stability are indisputably necessary preconditions for each and every aspect of support and short-, medium- and long-term development in Haiti, including the holding of free and fair elections. We may rest assured that only chaos will reign if the international community remains distracted and fails to act. We must meet the moment.
Jamaica will also continue to lend its support to the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group as it works with the Haitian Government and stakeholders towards a Haitian-owned solution to the political and governance crisis that has gripped the nation. Having hosted the first meeting of the Group with stakeholders in Kingston in May. we remain unwavering in our commitment to working towards a sustainable political outcome. We want Haiti — the first independent black republic — to be able to deliver, for its people, the prosperity they have always deserved.
Jamaica itself has been undergoing a significant transformation over the past several years, fostering a growing sustainable economy. From farm roads to bridges and highways, from wind turbines to solar panels, from fibre optics to satellite connectivity, increased investment in infrastructure is playing a pivotal role in that transformation. Our efforts to diversify and modernize critical industries such as tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, and global services, including business process outsourcing, have yielded substantial results. We have not only increased economic growth but also created new employment opportunities for our citizens. This year. Jamaica achieved its lowest unemployment rate on record, at 4.5 per cent.
Fiscal responsibility and prudent economic management have been central to our achievements. We have paid down our debt, expanded revenue by including more people in the formal economy and improved tax collection. We have established an independent central bank and legislated fiscal rules, ensuring a stable macroeconomic environment. We recognize the need, however, to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between macroeconomic performance and social cohesion so that as many people as possible benefit from growth and stability in the economy.
Since April 2022. we have granted the largest increases in minimum wage in the past 20 years, cumulatively amounting to 86 per cent. We have conducted the largest and most comprehensive public sector compensation review, implemented a social pension for the elderly, and increased the benefits under and expanded student beneficiaries of our social safety net programme. We have also broadened coverage of our national health fund and are investing in health infrastructure. Despite several external shocks, our people have remained resilient and we remain poised for even greater growth and development.
We have invested heavily in our young people, establishing a new coding academy, providing scholarships in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to students and student teachers at tertiary institutions, and removing all fees from our national skills training agency up to associate degree level. We are partnering with the private sector for internships and employment to ensure that our young people are not only catalysts but beneficiaries of sustained economic growth.
Jamaica also remains committed to women’s economic empowerment, the achievement of gender equality and the elimination of violence against women and girls, and has embarked on an extensive process of policy and legislative reforms. In February. Jamaica established a Bicameral Caucus of Women Parliamentarians to bolster our efforts to coalesce around women’s issues and ensure that the needs of women and girls are adequately reflected in our legislative framework. On 1 July, the new Sexual Harassment Act came into effect and sensitization sessions have now started. The Government has also ramped up the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the development of its policies through the institutionalization of gender focal points across the public sector.
Jamaica is working to demonstrate its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in action. As a small island developing State (SID), an enabling global environment is essential for Jamaica to build on that foundation. We are proud to have led and participated in global efforts to pursue reform of the international financial architecture and to improve access to affordable financing for development, including climate finance. More work, however, is needed in that regard to facilitate inclusiveness and equity for all States, and particularly for highly indebted and vulnerable small island developing States. We will therefore continue our advocacy to build momentum towards ambitious and pragmatic solutions. The multidimensional vulnerability index is urgently needed to address the vexed issue of graduation on the basis of per capita income only, and its implications for access to concessional finance and grant funding are critical. We look forward to the report of the High- Level Panel on the Development of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for Small Island Developing States and its early adoption by the international financial community.
The pandemic taught us many lessons that we cannot afford to forget. For developing States, it exacerbated previously existing inequities and inequalities within and among countries. In terms of trade in services, global tourism and its related sectors were disproportionately impacted as the pandemic exposed the vulnerability of those industries. Massive global disruptions and unemployment were the result.
Jamaica, as a leading tourism destination, recognizes the value of resilient tourism for economic. social and environmental development. Last year from this very rostrum. Prime Minister Holness issued the call for the declaration of an annual global tourism resilience day. I humbly express our sincere gratitude to all Member States for answering that call with the General Assembly’s designation, by consensus, of 17 February as Global Tourism Resilience Day. We look forward to collaborating with them on innovations to deepen the resilience of the sector.
A strong, robust and inclusive multilateral system, with the United Nations at its centre, remains the single most effective means of ensuring international cooperation towards a sustainable future. It is the forum in which small States have an equal voice and equal participation in global decision-making.
Unfortunately, the multilateral system itself has faced significant challenges over the past few years: the pandemic, a war in Europe, shifting geopolitical tides and a stubborn resistance to the realities of climate change, to name a few. Defying the odds, however, our collective endeavours resulted in the adoption of the agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction in June. As a sustainable ocean economy, the seat of the International Seabed Authority and the home of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Jamaica actively participated in the negotiations and looks forward to its early entry into force and effective implementation towards the sustainable use and conservation of our invaluable ocean resources.
Jamaica also welcomes the adoption of the Kunming- Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which will catalyse action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. That hard-won victory for sustainable development highlights our shared commitment to protecting 30 per cent of terrestrial, coastal and marine areas by 2030. Both those landmark agreements, attained through multilateral action, will make an impactful contribution to furthering our shared objective of benefiting from our natural resources now. but in a way that ensures their sustainability for future generations.
As we look forward to the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28). we recall the breakthrough agreement secured at COP27 to establish a Loss and Damage Fund. The work of the Transitional Committee will be vital to ensuring that the Fund
can be properly structured and operationalized. SIDS are counting on meaningful progress in that regard. We also expect that all States will commit to the achievement of net zero fossil fuel production and to keeping 1.5°C alive.
We are playing our part through our more ambitious nationally determined contributions to bolster our society, economy and country against the existential threat of climate change. In that regard, we are working assiduously to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions; to increase reforestation, including through our 3 million trees in 3 years project; to reduce plastic waste, including in the marine environment; to accelerate the energy transition towards renewables; and to address coastal erosion and risks to biodiversity both on land and at sea.
Notwithstanding our efforts, the responsibility for effective action is a global one. as the wide-ranging consequences of inaction are equally global. Having just completed the Climate Ambition Summit, we urge major and emerging economies to elevate their ambition and to deliver on their commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. That is a matter of survival for all our countries and peoples, especially small island developing States.
Therefore, as we prepare for the fourth International Conference on SIDS, to be held in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2024. we look forward to assessing the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of previous plans of action. The Conference will also set the agenda for the programme of action for the sustainable development of SIDS for the next 10 years. Jamaica looks forward to having tangible outcomes focusing on the climate crisis, biodiversity and issues related to debt.
As we mark the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we must channel our fullest efforts towards accelerating achievement of the SDGs through partnerships and a whole-of-society approach. At the SDG Summit last week, we recognized the mutually reinforcing and cross-cutting nature of the SDGs and that we must turbocharge our efforts to attain the transformation we need for people, planet and prosperity.
As we all work towards the attainment of the SDGs. Jamaica joins the international community in the unanimous call for ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed against Cuba.
Our shared commitment to achieving progress, prosperity and sustainability for all cannot be fulfilled until we have definitively closed the chapter on slavery and its legacies in our global history. The residual impact of the immorality of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade has lingered for far too long, and justice and accountability are long overdue. The systemic imbalances caused by centuries of exploitation constitute the foundation of the persistent underdevelopment that countries like Jamaica have worked hard to overcome.
Jamaica therefore reaffirms its determination to further the call for the international recognition of reparatory justice as a necessary path to complete healing, the restoration of dignity and progress for people of African descent. Together, we must stride confidently forward in good faith, building on the lessons of that horrific past and moving purposefully towards a common future. Furthermore. Jamaica supports the call for an extension of the International Decade for People of African Descent, as insufficient progress has been made to address racial injustices worldwide.
Complex global problems demand comprehensive global responses. As we work during this seventy-eighth session to achieve and maintain lasting peace, to attain and build shared prosperity and to accelerate meaningful progress and sustainability. Jamaica will remain hopeful that, together, we can overcome the major challenges that stand in our way. Genuine political will and innovative thinking are required to not only identify solutions but to also pursue them diligently and consistently until the desired results are achieved. I assure you. Mr. President, and all delegations of Jamaica’s unwavering commitment, support and partnership in that noble effort.