Bahamas

I wish to say, before my printed remarks begin, some words not circulated in the text. It is a particular privilege and honour to represent my country in this forum, having returned here through the magic of democracy after five years. For the first time since the general election in May, our country now reaffirms its re-engagement in and with the world community. We are part of the larger Caribbean region, and in that context we took part in a meeting with the Secretary-General of this body. We thank him for his courtesy. However, it is important that the representation of the Bahamas on regional engagement with the United Nations not be misinterpreted as a complaint about lack of attention by the Secretariat. It was not based on petulance but on the simple fact that the United Nations in all its organs and manifestations must live up to its creed that all nations in this body are equal, and not create the impression that some are more equal than others. Our delegation will continue to ensure that the guiding principle of that equality and equity is adhered to strictly. I would like to congratulate Mr. Vuk Jeremić on his assumption of his duties as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session and to assure him of my delegation’s support and cooperation throughout. I also commend his predecessor for his stewardship over the previous session. I also wish on this occasion to express thanks for the stellar work and contribution to our country of our Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Paulette A. Bethel. The Bahamas commends the United Nations for the convening and the outcome of the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels last Monday. The Bahamas has committed itself to the principle of the rule of law and to ensuring the continuation of good governance for the benefit of the entire populace of the Bahamas. The Bahamas is committed also to adhering to the rule at law at the international level and to upholding the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The Bahamas commends the convening in June 2012 of the third biennial review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The Bahamas unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterates its commitment to the fight against terrorism and to the Strategy’s full implementation. The Bahamas renews its call for the timely conclusion of negotiations on a draft comprehensive international convention for the elimination of terrorism. The Bahamas condemns in the strongest possible terms the violence that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other United States diplomats a few weeks ago. We in the international community must commit wholeheartedly and sincerely to creating a culture of peace throughout the world, underpinned by tolerance and understanding, that precludes such outrageous occurrences and their causes. The level of armed violence and crime plaguing our society — due in large part to the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and trafficking in narcotics, neither of which our country manufactures or supplies — is increasing and cannot be allowed to continue if we are to save successive generations from a life steeped in violence and lawlessness. It has been more than a decade since the adoption in 2001 of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Yet there has been no abatement in the level and intensity of armed violence impacting our country. The Bahamas welcomes the recent convening and successful outcome of the United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. The Government reiterates its unwavering commitment to the full implementation of the Programme of Action. The lives of too many of our young people are being destroyed by the use of illicit weapons in our country. Now is the time to act. Creating a safe Bahamas is a top priority for the Government. We are committed to the creation of a national intelligence agency and a national firearms control strategy, including the establishment of a firearms department and database, as well as to the enhancement of the operations of the country’s Defence Force so that it can more effectively control the porous borders of the Bahamas. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean for their support and provision of equipment and capacity-building assistance in the area of firearms destruction and stockpile management. The Bahamas was pleased to conclude an agreement with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs last April and to have participated in a number of regional training programmes and workshops sponsored by the Regional Centre on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and the strengthening of border controls. The Bahamas joins other delegations in expressing our profound disappointment at the outcome of the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty held in July and the failure of Member States to agree on a text despite six long years of protracted negotiations. The Bahamas supports the views articulated by the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago on behalf of the Caribbean Community during the month- long Conference. What we say to thousands of innocent victims is that their voices must be heard. But what do we say to them and their families, who are suffering as a result of the irresponsible and unregulated international transfer of conventional arms? Commitment and a reassessment of human life and dignity versus profit are critical if we are to prevail in our fight against the scourge of armed violence and terror plaguing our societies. We look forward to a successful outcome in the next round of negotiations. The Bahamas solemnly reaffirms its commitment to the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Advancements continue nationally in important areas pertaining to the protection of our biodiversity and development of policies to promote renewable energy. Some argue that finding out how to provide reliable and affordable energy may be the single largest factor affecting the future development of the Bahamas. The issue of energy is so important that the Prime Minister has made it as a personal mission to seek to solve the issue. We know that we must do it sustainably. The Bahamas has enacted legislation to foster the sustainable use and management of ecosystems through better land-use planning. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, we have initiated actions to preserve our fish stocks by introducing penalties for overfishing. We have also taken action to ban long-line fishing, to establish the Bahamas as a sanctuary for sharks and to establish and expand marine protected areas. For the Bahamas, it is imperative that those sustainable development strategies be complemented with appropriate actions taken by the international community. In that connection, we view the historic outcome of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) as offering significant opportunities, particularly for small island developing States (SIDS). We are encouraged by the international community’s call for continued and enhanced efforts to assist SIDS in implementing the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation. The Bahamas also welcomes plans to convene the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States and will participate actively in the upcoming General Assembly consultations to determine the modalities of the meeting with a view to ensuring a successful outcome. The Bahamas is also encouraged greatly by the decision taken at Rio+20 to undertake work on universal, action-oriented, sustainable development goals. In that work we must take into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and must respect national policies and priorities. The Bahamas hopes to work in the context of the open-ended working group for the development of the sustainable development goals as well as in the intergovernmental committee on financing, agreed at Rio+20, to ensure that our special concerns are fully addressed. In that connection, the Bahamas looks forward to the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s High- level Panel on global post-2015 development planning and commends the level of female participation therein. The convening of the Panel offers a major opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past and build a vision for global development beyond mere crisis management. The Panel must be seen to operate with open transparency. It should also incorporate the views of geographical and economic anomalies such as those of the Caribbean subregion, and be innovative and forward-looking. The Bahamas welcomes the acknowledgement at Rio of the need to address the adverse impacts of climate change. The Bahamas believes that the United Nations has a central role to play in global economic governance. The Bahamas welcomes the efforts of the Group of 20 (G-20), particularly Mexico in the role as current Chair, in helping to translate G-20 deliberations into effective actions on a global scale through broad consultation among Member States and with the United Nations itself to find solutions to many of the major challenges of our times, most particularly with respect to strengthening the international financial system. The Bahamas also envisions a greater role for the United Nations in the area of international cooperation in tax matters. The Bahamas, along with the wider Group of 77 and China, continues to call for the conversion of the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters into an intergovernmental subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, in keeping with the Doha mandate. We also continue to deplore the use by some States of their domestic laws for extraterritorial effect in such areas as human trafficking, financial services and drug smuggling. We continue to believe that those laws with extraterritorial effect are misplaced and put an unfair burden upon small States and that they may be interpreted as a departure from the international norms of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. In order to reverse current economic trends, one of the core imperatives of the Government of the Bahamas is the strengthening of the domestic economy and the attendant creation of jobs, the broadening of Bahamian ownership in the economy and the attainment of a higher standard of living. Creating job opportunities and reversing the unacceptable unemployment situation in the country, which currently is at a high rate, have been identified at the highest political level as the most critical near-term priorities for the Government, especially in relation to young Bahamians. I wish to speak especially on their behalf today. The young Bahamian sector of our country has been most severely affected by the unemployment problem, and the rate of unemployment is unacceptable and cannot continue. We are committed to solving youth unemployment. The Bahamas underscores the need for enhanced policy dialogue and international cooperation on the question of building green economies, which will indeed require new investments, skills formation, technology development and transfer and capacity-building. The gross national income of the Bahamas is significantly affected by a small population of wealthy expatriates whose high incomes skew the measure away from the true economic realities. The construct of per capita gross national income, therefore, takes on a unique interpretation in the context of developing countries like the Bahamas and, I would daresay, the Caribbean subregion. The Bahamas continues to be deserving of considerations that will not deny us the right to develop sustainably, supported by financial, human and technological resources. Gross national income per capita should not be used as a pretext to restrict our access to financial assistance. The General Assembly is set to consider, during this sixty-seventh session, the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping operations for the period 2013-2015. The Bahamas takes this opportunity to reiterate its long-standing position that per capita gross national income, for the reasons given, should not be accorded overriding weight in determining capacity to pay. A representative, transparent, responsive, accountable, democratic and inclusive Security Council, predicated on an increased membership in both the permanent and non-permanent categories, as well as on modification of its working methods, is overdue. My delegation sincerely hopes that the next round of negotiations on Security Council reform during this session will result in tangible progress aimed at making the Council all that it can and should be. Our desire for the realization of unfulfilled potential also extends to our regional partner, the Republic of Haiti. The Bahamas has been unremitting and consistent in its support for the people of Haiti and their aspirations for peace, security and development. The Bahamas commends the important role of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti in providing security in Haiti and in laying the foundation for its long-term recovery and stability. Pledges made toward Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction must be honoured and fulfilled so that the required work can be undertaken and completed. The Bahamas welcomes increased dialogue on improving international cooperation with respect to international migration and development. Illegal migration from Haiti is a vexing issue for our country. We agree that proper cooperation can certainly help to ensure that migration occurs through safe and regulated channels and to leverage the contributions that migrants can make to the development of our country. The Bahamas will continue to participate constructively in the process leading to the second High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, to be held by the General Assembly in 2013, with a view to addressing those and other related issues so crucial to our development. Given the events over the past year in the Bahamas with regard to illegal migration, some of which have been tragic, as well as poaching in our seas by illegal persons from south of the country, the Bahamas will be taking stronger measures over the next year to put a stop to those illegal activities. We appeal to all nations in the region to prevail upon their citizens to cease and desist from those unlawful activities. We intend to work both bilaterally and with the broader international community to stop these assaults on our national and economic security. The Bahamas has made significant strides in the areas of maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS in this, the fiftieth year since women obtained the right to vote in the Bahamas. We are committed to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, as was affirmed by the Minister for Social Services during the consideration of the report on Bahamas by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its fifty-second session, held in July. The Bahamas, nevertheless, remains concerned about the increasing incidences of non-communicable diseases among the population, in particular women, who are disproportionately affected by such preventable diseases. We can draw much strength, wisdom and inspiration from the remarkable successes of our nations’ athletes nationally and subregionally at this year’s Olympics. On behalf of my delegation, I would like to pay tribute to the youth of the world for their stellar displays of camaraderie and talent at the recent Olympics. In this forum, I wish to salute in particular the gold medal athletes of the Bahamas, namely, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu, Chris Brown and Ramon Miller. Indeed, the performances of the athletes from the entire Caribbean Community region are noteworthy, particularly those of our sister countries Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Those examples can be seen as contributing as much to peace and development in our world as our deliberations and initiatives at this session, hence, our warmest congratulations to them all. My delegation also wishes to record in this forum the passing of my late friend and brother, the late Paul L. Adderley, who was the longest-serving Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas. His tenure included the most critical foreign policy challenges of an independent Bahamas to date. Sadly, he died on 19 September. He believed in this world body and its tenets and exemplified how it can assist small States. It is therefore only fitting that we mark and record his passing. The Bahamas continues to believe that mankind can aspire to and achieve a higher inner strength that not can only cause us to excel even beyond our dreams, but also can lift all around us, even nations and the entire world. May each one of us therefore reach for that inner strength, change our world and transform an agenda of problems into covenants of partnerships. It remains as true as always that we need the United Nations.