Antigua and Barbuda, 1999

Antigua and

Barbuda offers hearty congratulations on the election of

the president of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth

session. His efforts towards bringing about the

independence of Namibia are well known, and many of

us remember when he occupied a seat on the right side of

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the main section of this Hall, sitting as an observer behind

the name plate of the South-West Africa People's

Organization (SWAPO).

Mr. Gurirab's call for the return to Africa of its

plundered artwork and artifacts struck a chord, as those of

us who studied the African liberation struggles will recall

that some 25 years ago, when he was a younger individual,

he pleaded with this body for the return of African icons

which adorned European and North American museums and

private collections. My country is most supportive of his

plea and would urge that the priceless treasures of artwork,

icons and relics be returned to the continent from which

they were taken.

My country also wishes to thank his predecessor,

Didier Opertti, who hails from Latin America and the

Caribbean, for the astute and skilful manner in which he

conducted the affairs of the fifty-third session. Likewise,

my nation's sentiments go out to Secretary-General Kofi

Annan, and we wish him continued success in the arduous

tasks of bringing peace, harmony, development and justice

to a global community not yet united into a true family of

nations.

A warm welcome is simultaneously extended to the

Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the

Kingdom of Tonga on becoming full-fledged members of

the United Nations.

To the people of our sister Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) State of the Bahamas, we extend our profound

sympathy in the wake of the devastation wrought by

Hurricane Floyd upon the islands of Abaco, Eleuthera, San

Salvador and Cat Island, as well as other parts of the

country. We thank donor countries and international

institutions for the assistance given in the past, and we hope

that there will be a speedy response to the needs of the

Bahamian community at this time.

In this regard, special mention has to be made of

Kuwait for the manner in which it follows up on assisting

small Caribbean countries in times of peril, and we urge the

international community to work towards the preservation

of that country and the maintenance of the dignity of its

people.

It was with delight and glee that I read the Secretary-

General's descriptive definition of globalization, as it took

in some of the considerations that my country has brought

before this body over the past three years. He stated,

“Globalization is a summary term for the

increasingly complex interactions between

individuals, enterprises, institutions and markets

across national borders. The manifold challenges it

poses, challenges that cannot successfully be

addressed by nation States acting on their own,

provide the most immediate and obvious reason for

strengthening multilateral cooperation. Globalization

is manifest in the growth in trade, technology and

financial flows; in the continuing growth and

increasing influence of international civil society

actors; in the global operations of transnational

corporations; in the vast increase in transboundary

communication and information exchanges, most

notably via the Internet; in transboundary

transmission of disease and ecological impact; and

in the increased internationalization of certain types

of criminal activity. Its benefits and risks are

distributed unequally, and the growth and prosperity

it provides for many is offset by the increasing

vulnerability and marginalization of others — and by

the growth of 'uncivil society'.” (A/54/1, para. 220)

Clearly, globalization leads to the reduction of the

sovereignty of States, with the weakest and the smallest

being the biggest losers. Sadly lacking in the arguments

for globalization is the need to give consideration to the

pace, direction and content of liberalization due to

different levels of development and the need to build up

national capabilities. Above all is the insistence on the

principle of free trade for the developing world and an

exemption from the same for the industrialized countries.

Protective devices are inbuilt for farmers in the dominant

economies, which include subsidies, guaranteed markets,

payments not to produce beyond a certain level in order

to maintain price levels and quite often insistence that

imported farm belt products come in by way of limited

means of processing and under the most stringent of

guidelines. On the other hand, when former colonial

countries provide preferences to their previous colonies of

exploitation, challenges are mounted through the World

Trade Organization by multinational enterprises. There is

no more blatant example than Chiquita in regard to the

Caribbean banana producers.

The sad thing is that there is clear knowledge that in

modern times there has never been free trade. It is not my

intention to de-glorify Richard Cobden and John Bright,

but the repeal of the corn laws in nineteenth-century

Britain had more to do with the failure of the potato crops

in Britain and Ireland, strikes by workmen against wage

reductions and an alliance of industrial and commercial

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interests against the landed gentry than it had to do with

free trade. Yet irrespective of the fallacy of this free trade

argument, recipients of benefits under the Lomé Convention

are literally being told that they, but not the dominant

Powers, must conform to and operate under the fallacy.

Any disaster to banana production in the Caribbean

will affect not only the banana-producing countries, but all

of the Caribbean Community. Our countries are striving to

remove themselves from dependence on aid. Glenys

Kinnock, a member of the European Parliament, put it

succinctly when she stated that the banana trade provided

a ladder out of poverty for the Caribbean region and that

the call for the regime to be dropped and direct aid to be

substituted was unrealistic. She went on to state that it was

wrong to claim that attempts to diversify were not taking

place.

In CARICOM, we do not wish to become international

mendicants; otherwise the current situation, in which some

dominant countries exercise undue pressure upon our

modus vivendi, will increase to the point where we will

have to dance to whichever tune the piper or pipers play.

The United Nations should be viewed as the foremost

international body with a semblance of egalitarianism. It

should not be viewed as the institution of the dominant

countries in the five regional groups; and, more than that,

it ought to be the body that stands up to the encroachment

of multinational enterprises that attempt to stifle the lifeline

or lifeblood of legitimate and sovereign countries. If indeed

the United Nations is the champion of equality, of

sovereignty, of the maintenance of traditional practices

which in reality do not harm others, then the collective

countries should denounce this imposition by a

multinational entity, which will bring ultimate and profound

hardships upon our humanfolk — be they young men or

old men, children or maidens, matrons or old women. We

have said it before, and will reiterate that what is being

inflicted upon the Caribbean banana producers is an act of

war.

The perils of our States are certainly not limited to

bananas, and Antigua and Barbuda, as well as the majority

of countries represented on the Executive Board the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), were most

surprised to experience a challenge from a member of the

Security Council relating to our first-country cooperation

framework. This was presented, by a country with which

we have cordial relations, as being a matter of principle, as

Antigua and Barbuda's per capita income is $8,000 and in

1998 it ranked twenty-ninth in the Human Development

Report. There was absolutely no mention of the fact that

in the vulnerability index, Antigua and Barbuda ranks

extremely high, due in part to the frequency with which

hurricanes batter our twin-island State or threaten our

lovely shores. Consequently, Antigua and Barbuda once

again had to offer a reminder that its graduation from the

loan windows of international financial institutions and

from development assistance of other international

agencies, based only on the narrow criterion of per capita

income, which ignores the serious and persistent problems

confronted by Antigua and Barbuda and most Caribbean

small island developing States, is both unfair and unjust.

We also had to point out that 5 per cent of our country's

population consists of Montserratans who have been

displaced by volcanic eruption. This has meant expanding

our infrastructure to accommodate the unfortunate souls

from the Emerald Isle.

Antigua and Barbuda supports the concept of UNDP

and the United Nations Population Fund working with

and rendering assistance to countries described as having

transition economies, as well as countries which have

suffered the ravages of internecine warfare, that have

absorbed significant numbers of refugees and which are

subject to many vulnerabilities, including natural disasters,

and are victims of economic practices which work against

their advancement. The work of UNDP is valued

worldwide, and countries which are most vulnerable

should certainly be at the forefront for assistance and

guidance. We have to ask once again if we must be

penalized because of our successes. I sincerely hope that

in this body, particularly among the major financial

contributors, that it is not the view that small island

developing States cannot advance beyond a certain level

of development, as, otherwise, they would be

overreaching themselves and delving into a domain

reserved for members of a certain club. Antigua and

Barbuda takes its role in the United Nations very

seriously and will remain dedicated to the principle of

egalitarianism.

We annually recite our vulnerabilities, paying most

attention to the furore of natural disasters, and over the

last 10 years my country has experienced four hurricanes.

Whereas it is a glorious sight to witness volcanic

eruptions in Montserrat from Antigua, the reality of the

dangerous consequences is always present. We are

additionally faced with the activities of Kick'em Jenny, an

undersea volcano off the spice island of Grenada. The

Caribbean Development Bank is providing a grant to the

Seismic Research Unit of the University of the West

Indies for the establishment of a mechanism for

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continuous monitoring of the volcano. According to one

scholar,

“Not only will the communities of the Grenadines and

nearby islands have to guard against debris ejected

during a volcanic explosion, but the entire Caribbean

will be jeopardized by the threat of seismic waves,

known as tsunami”.

This is yet another example of our vulnerability.

Irrespective of our trials, tribulations and unfair

castigations, my country, when appraised objectively, has

been considered a marvel; hence its continued high ranking

on the human development index. We practise the

Westminster model of parliamentary democracy and do so

effectively. Our national elections are open and transparent.

Our first national hero, Sir Vere Cornwall Bird,

appropriately dubbed Father of the Nation, died this year,

and Members of Parliament in both the House and the

Senate were lavish in their praise of one who was

internationally acclaimed — particularly in Africa, where he

had an impact on many of its leaders, both during and after

the colonial era, and in the African diaspora of the New

World.

We have remained committed to the empowerment of

the socially and economically challenged. Women occupy

senior positions in the civil service and are represented in

significant numbers in the professions. In one they

outnumber men. In the area of violence against women,

legislation has been enacted to give greater protection to the

female members of our society. In the desire of the

Government to ensure that its people enjoy a decent

standard of living and an improved quality of life, the

Government has energetically tackled this responsibility.

And, in the absence of truly vibrant private sectors to lead

economic growth and development as in developed

countries, the tasks performed by the Government have

expanded and have become more demanding.

Antigua and Barbuda has, however, never been short

on ideas as to how to help itself and as to how it can be

assisted internationally in overcoming vulnerability and

accelerating sustainable development. Sustainable

development is foremost in our thinking. At the sixth

meeting of the Commonwealth Consultative Group on

Environment at the United Nations in April, we received

support from the attending States for the ideas posited.

In the first place, Antigua and Barbuda hopes that the

vulnerability index being developed by the Commonwealth

secretariat and the World Bank task force will be

introduced as soon as possible into international

organizations. This must be borne in mind from the

perspective that we have repeatedly addressed the

limitations and unfairness of using per capita income in

assessing our economic efficacy.

Secondly, following the decision of the disputes

tribunal of the World Trade Organization supporting the

contention of the discrimination directed at the banana

regime operating under the Lomé Treaty, there is an

urgent need for the World Trade Organization to apply

special and differential treatment to small island

developing States as it does to least developed countries.

If markets in Europe are eroded for small States, those

States will deteriorate economically, socially and

politically to the point of placing yet another burden on

the international community. This deduction is made from

an analysis of the dispute tribunal's ruling, which suggests

that the entire quota system for imports by the European

Union from the African-Caribbean-Pacific countries for

all products is now under threat.

In the third place, we would like to reiterate the call

made for a disaster fund in 1995 by our Prime Minister,

The Right Honourable Lester Bird. He made that call

following the devastation of hurricane Luis, which wiped

out one year of Antigua and Barbuda's gross domestic

product in 36 perilous hours. Whereas the existing

mechanisms address the purpose of relieving immediate

suffering and agony, they are woefully insufficient for

reconstruction and rehabilitation.

As one who represents his country on the Committee

of 24, the so-called Decolonization Committee, I was

somewhat taken aback to hear the Foreign Minister of a

country that had previously supported non-intervention

state that the United Nations has failed to address well-

known conflicts of catastrophic proportions in a timely

manner. It would therefore seem that more and more

countries are moving towards the acceptance of joint

action in a given country if there is a clear case of

genocide and a total violation of human rights.

What happened in East Timor goes well beyond the

point of frustration. Since my country has from quite

early on advocated the right of the people of Western

Sahara to self-determination, we have been saddened each

time that plans for a referendum among the Sahraoui

people have been delayed. We believe that each and every

postponement interferes with and impedes the will of self-

determination. The happenings in East Timor will have a

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further impact on the will of the staunch and hardy

Sahraoui people, and this gives us cause for great concern.

It is important that everything be done to avoid a repetition

of what has happened in East Timor after people have

exercised their right of self-determination.

Like other countries, my country believes that

intervention in affairs within another State should be the

last resort. But there are many questions to be answered in

regard to oppression, degradation and dehumanization. The

East Timor example should set us working to avoid another

catastrophe of that magnitude. I have long marvelled at the

prophetic brilliance of the former Foreign Minister of

Uruguay, Eduardo Rodr'guez Larreta, who in 1946 argued

that non-intervention could not be converted into a right to

convoke one principle in order to violate all other principles

with impunity. Nothing, however, is being advocated here

except that we address ourselves meaningfully towards

measures to avoid another East Timor.

So much have we been looking forward to the new

millennium that we have defied the laws of mathematics

and brought forward the beginning of the twenty-first

century by making it come about in the last year of the

twentieth century. Even at the United Nations is the year

2000 being proclaimed as the beginning of the new

millennium. Be that as it may, it is not sufficient to

proclaim a new millennium and to have the grand, planned

celebration. The commitment to the eradication of poverty,

the achievement of peace and security and cooperation for

development should be sincere, meaningful and followed

through to the level of profound accomplishment.

Antigua and Barbuda cherishes the United Nations and

is not unmindful of the numerous advances that have come

about as a result of its impact in conflict resolution, the

maintenance of peace, the shelter and sanctuary provided to

refugees, the promotion of human rights, the eradication of

certain diseases and numerous other tangibles. Thus,

Antigua and Barbuda remains ready to continue

contributing to the advancement of humanity and will, as it

has done in the past, insist on the principle of

multilateralism. Together, our countries, large and small,

can make contributions in overcoming the plagues with

which we are afflicted and move towards peace, cohesion,

harmony and the alleviation of poverty in the coming

century.