On behalf of my
delegation, I am pleased to join the speakers who have
preceded me in congratulating Mr. Ali Abdussalam
Treki on his election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. He may rest
assured of the full support and cooperation of Barbados
as he carries out his important duties. I wish also to
take this opportunity to express appreciation to his
predecessor, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, for his
leadership of the sixty-third session.
We meet at a pivotal moment in the history of the
United Nations. Never since the founding of this
Organization has our community of nations been tested
by a confluence of so many devastating crises as we
have witnessed in the recent past. It is therefore with a
sense of honour, fully recognizing the responsibility
entrusted to me and to all of us here, that I address this
General Assembly for the first time in my capacity as
Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs and Foreign
Trade of Barbados.
Barbados commends Mr. Treki for his choice of
theme for this year’s general debate, given the myriad
crises that we face and the need for effective global
responses. Indeed, the world is facing major economic,
political and social upheaval. The threat of food and
fuel scarcity, the worst economic and financial crisis in
decades, the challenge of climate change and the
influenza pandemics have all assumed an international
and multidimensional character. Together, these have
undermined the very foundations of our multilateral
system, exacerbating already existing disparities.
The approach of the developed economies to this
crisis has been to create national stimulus packages and
to bail out their failing industries — in short, to turn to
policies which address their domestic interests almost
exclusively. Developing countries are suffering the
brunt of the effects of the financial crisis created by
greed and poor regulation in developed countries.
Faced with stagnating or falling economic growth due
to factors beyond our control, we are now left to deal
with declining economic activity and a resulting rise in
unemployment along with its resulting problems at a
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time when we are forced to battle increasing debt and
decreasing external trade and foreign investment
revenues.
While we welcome the initiatives to create rescue
packages for the least developed countries, there is a
clearly demonstrated need to expand these initiatives to
include a wider group of developing countries.
Barbados is one of a small group classified as small,
highly indebted middle-income countries, which has
been overlooked, but which is deserving of
international attention and assistance from bilateral
partners and the multilateral institutions alike. As we
discuss the effects of the global crisis and propose
assistance for affected countries, there is a need to
ensure that countries like Barbados are recognized
within the broad category of small vulnerable
economies.
Multilateral agencies such as the World Bank
have established through empirical research and their
ongoing interventions that these countries are unique in
the openness of their economies and in their
susceptibility to external shocks. However, this group
continues to be excluded from concessionary financing
and debt relief. Focus continues to be placed on per
capita income data, which is a poor indicator of
economic sustainability and national vulnerability. Our
countries are in need of adequate support mechanisms
with revised eligibility criteria in order to prevent the
derailment of our development processes.
This crisis presents an opportunity for the
developed economies and the international financial
institutions to address the existing failures and
shortcomings of the current financial system. The time
is right for the crafting of a new, more transparent
architecture that is supportive of development
objectives.
Barbados, for its part, is extremely proud that
despite its handicaps it has managed — through good
governance and the observance of democratic
principles, human rights and the rule of law — to
provide an adequate standard of living for its people.
However, this does not negate our inherent
vulnerabilities, our limited resources or our restricted
capacity to respond to the vagaries of the economic
environment.
One of the major positive consequences of the
current crisis is the increase in South-South
cooperation, which has played a quiet but important
role over the years in promoting trade and investment
among developing countries. This has served to
enhance the value of such cooperation and presents
great potential for future growth and development.
At the national level, an important lesson learned
is that development requires the active involvement of
communities, the public and private sectors and civil
society. This has been clearly demonstrated in the
implementation of our social partnership agreements, a
strategy that has been very successful in the Barbadian
context since the early 1990s and has been used as a
model in other developing countries.
Recent world events have highlighted the
importance of taking a multilateral approach to solving
global problems. The United Nations is perhaps the
institution best suited to the task of mobilizing global
responses. Regrettably, over the past year the United
Nations has been relegated to a subordinate role in the
search for solutions to the ongoing economic and
financial crisis.
Barbados will not be complicit in any effort to
marginalize the United Nations, which has a unique
and legitimate role in global economic decision-
making and rule-setting. We will not join the sceptics
in questioning the relevance or legitimacy of this vital
multilateral organization. However, we will continue to
be at the forefront of calls for its reform to ensure that
it is fully equipped and empowered to assist Member
States in confronting global challenges.
To date, efforts to reform the United Nations have
been piecemeal in nature, largely uncoordinated and at
times even conflicting. The extraordinary challenges
we face demand comprehensive reform. This will
require a level of transformation that equips the United
Nations for the twenty-first century. At this session,
priority needs to be given to securing commitment at
the highest level to finalizing the reform agenda.
Security Council reform must be prioritized if
effective change within the United Nations system is to
be achieved. It is evident that the structure,
composition and working methods of the Security
Council fail to reflect current global realities. Barbados
believes that membership in the Security Council
should be expanded in both the permanent and the
non-permanent categories. Our goal must be to ensure
that the Council is more representative, democratic and
accountable to the full membership of the United
Nations without placing its effectiveness in jeopardy.
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The reality of global interdependence is that our
destinies are inextricably linked. We cannot retreat to
isolationism or radicalism. We must, with a sense of
urgency and purpose, create the multilateral
infrastructure necessary to manage a complex and
interdependent world. This new quest for a better and
more effective multilateralism must be shared by all.
Our collective effort must also seek to restore the role
of the United Nations envisaged by its founders: “to be
a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations”.
In his address to the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session, the Prime Minister of Barbados
(see A/63/PV.12), The Honourable David Thompson,
reaffirmed his belief in the positive role that small
States can play in advancing the cause of international
peace and equitable social and economic development
and emphasized the importance of building an
international system that operates on the principle of
multilateralism and that respects the sovereign equality
of States and the tenets of genuine non-alignment.
Barbados is concerned by the growing tendency
of limited-membership groups to assume decision-
making powers on issues affecting the entire
international community without the consent or
involvement of that community. We stand to squander
the opportunities to create a fair and more equitable
system of global governance if responsibility for rule-
and decision-making remains vested in limited-
membership groupings which are accountable only to
themselves. No exclusive group of countries, no matter
how big, powerful or rich, has a monopoly on
solutions.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change and the International Criminal Court
were all championed by some of the smallest members
of the United Nations and represent just a few
examples of the invaluable contribution that small
States have made to strengthening multilateralism and
providing solutions to complex global problems. Small
States can be effective partners in the search for global
solutions to the ongoing crises, and those countries
must have a seat at the table when decisions are being
made on issues of global concern.
In this regard, the targeting of small offshore
jurisdictions in the wake of the global financial crisis
on the pretext that these jurisdictions in some way
contributed to the crisis represents an injustice worthy
of the strongest possible condemnation. For those who
would wish to rewrite history, we must recall that the
financial crisis had its origins in the developed world
and resulted from excessive risk-taking, corruption,
fraud and ineffective regulatory controls and oversight
in those countries.
Barbados fully supports the proposal of the States
members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to
build upon the existing programme already in place
within the United Nations to address issues related to
international financial services. Specifically, we call
for the Committee of Experts on International
Cooperation on Tax Matters to be transformed into an
intergovernmental subsidiary body of the Economic
and Social Council. The central goal of the proposed
intergovernmental committee would be to give
developing countries an effective voice when issues of
cooperation on tax matters are being decided by the
international community.
Small democratic States like my own are
convinced of the need to ensure adherence to the rule
of law and respect for constitutional norms. We are
therefore compelled to register our deep concern at any
interruption of the constitutional order of any
sovereign State and the dangerous precedent this could
create if left unchallenged by the international
community. Barbados fully supports the position of
CARICOM and the Organization of American States,
which calls for the immediate reinstatement to office of
the legally elected President of Honduras.
Barbados is equally concerned to ensure that, in
our hemisphere, the relics of a past cold war era give
way to a new spirit of regional partnership, in which
diverse political systems can coexist in harmony. We
are therefore heartened by the positive developments
with respect to the reintegration of our sister Republic
of Cuba into the mainstream of hemispheric affairs. We
are hopeful that the renewed dialogue between the
United States and Cuba will lead in the near future to
the complete removal of the embargo and the
normalization of relations between those two countries.
Barbados welcomes the support provided by the
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
(MINUSTAH), which has been a vital tool for
capacity-building in Haiti in the key areas of
governance, the strengthening of the rule of law, and
human rights. We therefore call upon the Security
Council to extend the mandate of MINUSTAH so that
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the international community can continue to provide
support to the people of Haiti in their quest for
sustainable peace and development.
As a small island, Barbados is aware of the grave
dangers posed by climate change. The damage done to
our coastline and coral reefs illustrates the potential
threats that flow from the phenomenon of global
warming. Such threats are not peculiar to Barbados,
but are posed in myriad ways to nations across the
globe, both developed and developing.
In three months we will meet in Copenhagen to
decide on a course of action to address this global
threat of unprecedented proportions. We know the
catastrophic consequences of failing to reduce global
greenhouse gas emissions. What is required is a
massive transformation of the way energy is generated
and used to propel economic growth and development.
In Barbados we have committed to reducing our
dependence on imported oil and have significantly
increased our use of renewable energy. Furthermore,
we have identified transitioning to a green economy as
a national priority. We have established a number of
key milestones and indicators to assess progress
towards the achievement of that goal. We have
undertaken those activities with minimal support from
the international community, utilizing our own
resources. We have been forced to divert an increased
share of our national budget to finance adaptation
measures. According to World Bank estimates, the total
annual impact of potential climate change on all
CARICOM countries is estimated at $9.9 billion a
year, or around 11.3 per cent of the total annual gross
domestic product of all CARICOM member States and
associate members.
The international community has a moral and
ethical responsibility to support urgent and ambitious
global action to provide adaptation funding for small
island developing States. In the Caribbean, our ability
to address climate change has been severely hampered
by the effects of the global financial and economic
crisis. An essential measure of success at Copenhagen,
therefore, will be the extent to which the decisions that
we take serve to ensure the survival and continued
viability of small island developing States.
Before closing, permit me to seek the support of
the General Assembly on an issue that has emerged as a
crucial health challenge for many countries, including
those of the Caribbean. Chronic non-communicable
diseases have become one of the major causes of
morbidity. We believe that that issue must be included
in the global discussions on development. We therefore
support the call made by the Prime Minister of Trinidad
and Tobago for a special session of the General
Assembly on that issue (see ).
Finally, in these difficult times we have a number
of challenging issues before us for consideration.
Despite our various agendas and differing priorities,
we share an ultimate common goal: to achieve peace,
security and development for all the peoples of the
world. Until that becomes a reality, no country is truly
secure. I reaffirm Barbados’ commitment to working
with other Member States to attain that goal.