It is perhaps fortuitous
that my own Deputy Prime Minister happens to be
presiding over the Assembly at the time when I address
the Assembly for the very first time. But it is not true,
as someone suggested to me just before I came to the
rostrum, that we have come to the sixty-third session of
the General Assembly believing that we are still at the
Olympics in Beijing. Neither is it true that my name is
Usain Bolt. My name is Bruce Golding.
I offer Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann my
congratulations on his presidency and I ask you,
Mr. Vice-President, to convey those congratulations to
him. He has assumed that office at a time when the
world faces challenges of crisis proportions. Much will
be demanded of his leadership, and I want you, Sir, to
assure him of Jamaica’s full support and cooperation in
all of his endeavours.
21 08-52272
We have convened amid worrying global
developments. The hopes of the new millennium are in
danger of fading as the ideals of international harmony
and shared global prosperity remain elusive.
Globalization, despite its promise of expanded
production and trade, has been uneven in the spread of
its benefits and, for many countries, marginal in its
impact. Indeed, the gap between rich and poor has
widened within and among countries.
The global economy now appears to be headed
for a severe downturn. Developments in the global
financial system, the painful increase in oil and
commodity prices and the escalating food crisis
threaten to plunge vast sections of the world’s
population deeper into poverty. Fiscal challenges and
the crippling burden of debt render many countries
incapable of responding to the crisis. Countries like
Jamaica are called upon to respond within our limited
capacity to protect the most vulnerable.
In the long term, however, our hopes for survival
will require huge investments, improved productivity,
better access to the world’s markets and human
capacity-building. Developing countries cannot be left
to find their own solutions. The situation requires a
collaborative, coordinated and global response. That is
not mere altruism. It is an indisputable truth that, if
developed countries assist developing countries to
improve their economies, their productive capacity and
the purchasing power of their people, they will expand
the markets for their own goods and services. It is the
interdependency that we share and that is manifested in
so many other areas, from climate change to global
epidemics, organized crime and human trafficking.
Solving the problem of developing countries
requires more than mere liberalization of trade, more
than mere privatization of the economy and more than
the mere free flow of capital. It requires a sincere and
sustained effort that focuses on the limitations that
bedevil developing countries. Global development, not
just global markets, must be at the centre of our
priorities.
Poverty and wealth should not have to coexist.
Poverty can be eradicated. The tools of development
exist and are capable of transforming the world,
empowering the poor and enabling them to rise from
their poverty. We must therefore commit ourselves to
creating a world in which not everyone may be rich,
but no one has to be poor.
In 2001, we committed ourselves to achieving the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015. We are now
at the halfway mark and we are behind schedule. It is
time to take stock to see where we are, who is falling
behind, and what must be done to make up lost ground.
A critical success factor must be the partnership
between developed and developing countries as
defined in the 2002 Monterrey Consensus on financing
for development, integrating aid, debt relief, market
access, good governance and foreign direct investment.
Those initiatives were carefully calibrated. Proceeding
with some elements without the others will not achieve
the goals we have set. Indeed, it might make it worse.
We must all pull up our socks if we are to reverse
the slippage we have suffered. Developing countries
must ensure that their priorities are properly structured.
Developed countries must live up to their commitment
to devote 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to
official development assistance. That is a modest
amount, yet only five countries have so far done so.
The focus of development cooperation cannot, I
submit, be too narrowly defined. The varied economic
and social profiles of developing countries require a
more flexible response that recognizes investment in
human capital, infrastructure and the transfer of
technology as critical elements in reducing poverty in a
sustained way.
That is particularly important to developing
countries that are classified, based on per capita
income, as middle-income countries. That
classification deprives them of access to concessionary
financing and creative measures to reduce the crippling
debt burden that afflicts so many of them. If we are to
reduce poverty, the peculiar circumstances of those
countries cannot be ignored since that is where more
than one third of the world’s poor are to be found.
We call on the international community to devise
strategic programmes to address the peculiar needs of
middle-income countries with deep pockets of poverty.
Because of those factors and because of our exposure
to frequent natural disasters, which in the matter of a
few hours can reverse gains that took years to
accomplish, Jamaica and its Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) partners are proposing the international
recognition of CARICOM States as a special category
of small vulnerable and highly indebted middle-income
countries.
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The international financial system, designed more
than 60 years ago in the context of those times, has
undergone very little change in its governance,
structure and practices. However, the world has
changed and that requires a re-engineering of the
global financial system. Jamaica supports the call for
reform of the existing financial infrastructure to reflect
the new global realities and make it more proactive and
responsive to the needs of the entire world community.
I want to suggest, however, that it must involve more
than merely expanding the membership of an exclusive
club. It must be development-driven, recognizing that
poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity elsewhere. It
must include mechanisms to detect signs of global
crises and must be able to institute preventive
measures.
The crisis currently rocking the world’s financial
markets reflects the inadequacy of the regulatory
structures that are essential to the effective functioning
of any market. But it is more than that. It represents the
failure on the part of the international financial system
to facilitate the flow of resources into areas where they
can produce real wealth, not paper wealth. The world is
not short of capital. What it lacks are the mechanisms
to ensure the efficient utilization of that capital.
I want to suggest that another urgent task is the
creation of a viable and equitable international trading
system. Jamaica is deeply disappointed that the Doha
Development Round has failed to deliver on the
promise of an open, fair and predictable multilateral
trading system. We urge all parties to resolve the
outstanding differences, particularly on the removal of
trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, and to address
the need for special safeguard mechanisms for
economically challenged countries.
The need for more concerted action on global
warming is impatient of debate. Developing countries
are the most vulnerable, but they are also the least
capable of mitigation measures. Countries that are the
major pollutants must bear the major share of the
responsibility for corrective action. They must make
binding commitments to fulfil that responsibility. The
purchase of carbon credits, especially from developing
countries, must not exculpate them from that
responsibility.
Jamaica calls for a fair, equitable and balanced
long-term scheme to bind emission caps within a new
international framework beyond 2012, when the Kyoto
Protocol expires.
The impact of climate change on agricultural
output, and the frequency and intensity of natural
disasters to which countries like Jamaica are
particularly vulnerable, point to the need for a global
environment management structure that establishes
clear standards and enforces compliance.
Jamaica is concerned that political instability in
many parts of the world, often fuelled by extremism
and intolerance, continues to threaten regional and
international peace and security. They are neither
limited in scope nor confined to national borders.
Resolving those conflicts requires effective diplomacy
and global cooperation, and the United Nations must
continue to use its good offices to secure just and
peaceful settlements.
Our intense focus on combating terrorism and
transnational organized crime, and eliminating nuclear
arms and other weapons of mass destruction must not,
however, marginalize the need for decisive action to
curb the illicit trade in small arms, which facilitate
internal violence in many of our countries and result in
high levels of homicide. Jamaica supports the
establishment of an arms trade treaty to impose strict
controls on the illegal trade in small arms and
ammunition.
The persistent humanitarian crisis in Darfur
continues to be a matter of serious concern to all of us.
We are disappointed that the African Union-United
Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur is not yet fully
operational. We urge all parties to desist from actions
that could deepen the crisis, jeopardize the safety of
the civilian population and of United Nations personnel
and prevent access to humanitarian relief.
Jamaica remains irrevocably committed to
finding a just, lasting and peaceful solution to the
Middle East conflict — a solution that must ensure the
security of Israel and the establishment of a viable
Palestinian State.
The United Nations must continue to play a
pivotal role through its peacekeeping missions in the
creation of sustainable peace in post-conflict situations.
Jamaica will use its membership in the Peacebuilding
Commission to underscore the importance of sustained,
long-term economic development in rebuilding and
23 08-52272
transforming countries that have been wracked by
conflict.
The devastation wrought in Haiti by recent
hurricanes has aggravated the already harsh conditions
under which the Haitian people are forced to live.
Much more needs to be done not only in providing
emergency relief, but also in addressing the long-term
social, economic and development needs of that
country, as a sustainable solution to the fragile
humanitarian situation that exists there. Haiti needs and
deserves the support of the entire international
community.
We are gathered here this week as Members of
that union we call the United Nations. What is the state
of that union? We must not ignore the cynicism that
exists in some quarters about the continued value of the
United Nations. Those cynics have not bothered to
contemplate what the world would be like if the United
Nations did not exist. But we have contributed to that
cynicism, so often bending the facts to suit our own
design, breaking the rules to secure a particular
advantage and making commitments without the will to
honour them.
Reform of the structure and procedures of the
United Nations is an imperative whose time has long
come. Let us not bury it in procrastination and
incessant squabbling. It is time for constructive,
consensus-building dialogue. The need for changes in
the structure and scope of the Security Council has
been under discussion for almost 15 years, bogged
down in polarized, adversarial positions.
We have a compelling duty to put in place
systems that can secure peace and prosperity for the
future. We therefore welcome the unanimous adoption
of decision 62/557, contained in paragraph 23 of
document A/62/47, which, we hope, will provide
resolve for the early commencement of
intergovernmental negotiations within a specified time
frame and in the context of an informal plenary
meeting of the General Assembly.
The sixtieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights serves to remind us of
the central role of the United Nations in promoting
human rights and fundamental freedoms. Those are
essential components of the environment required for
sustained development. It was consistent with that
principle that we launched the initiative to erect a
monument to honour the victims of slavery. I thank the
Secretary-General and the members of the committee
for their support and assistance. I also thank Member
States that have made or pledged contributions. We
invite other States to do likewise.
Six decades ago, the founding fathers of the
United Nations agreed that the Organization should be
a mechanism for harmonizing the actions of nations in
the achievement of our common goals: peace and
prosperity throughout the world, respect and tolerance
among the powerful and support for the weak and
vulnerable. That remains our mandate, our unfinished
business. Fulfilling that mandate and advancing that
mission will require a more proactive United Nations,
one that is more responsive to the needs of Member
States and gives equal attention to issues of peace,
security and development. The hopes of people
everywhere in the world depend on us, the leadership
that we provide and the will that we exert for the times
in which we live. We must not fail them.