Antigua and Barbuda, 2013

I stand in the

Hall today as the leader of one of the smallest countries

in the world — small by size, population and resources.

I also stand here today with a proud heart and a strong

voice because my small country of Antigua and

Barbuda has produced a giant in the world’s geopolitical

sphere. He is among the finest and most accomplished

diplomats to have ever walked these great halls. The

Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda send

congratulations to His Excellency Ambassador John

William Ashe on his election as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. We are beyond

sure that he will guide this body through a successful

session. I offer congratulations also to his predecessor,

His Excellency Mr. Vuk Jeremi., on a job well done

and for his unrelenting service to the international

community.

Exactly five years ago today, I stood in this

hallowed Hall and stated that:

“We are all members of one body. The welfare

of the weakest and the welfare of the most powerful

are inseparably bound together. Industry cannot

flourish if labour languishes. Transportation

cannot prosper if manufacturing declines. The

general welfare cannot be provided for in any one

act, but it is well to remember that the benefit of

one is the benefit of all, and the neglect of one is the

neglect of all.” (A/64/PV.7, p. 32)

With the ever-increasing gaps in equality among

nations, the challenges for developing countries over

the years have remained vast. In trying to address

the issue of inequality and to diminish very basic

human challenges by 2015, world leaders adopted

the Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2) and

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The

MDGs were described as a milestone in international

cooperation. With a 15-year timespan for their

implementation, the Declaration was widely expected

to inspire development and to directly improve the lives

of hundreds of millions of people. They are the people

who are struggling to survive in the most basic living

conditions and who are suffering from the effects of

poverty, gender inequities, ill health and environmental

degradation.

Thirteen years have gone by, and what do we, as a

global community, have to show in terms of concrete

results? No matter which side of the lens we look

through, something is appallingly wrong. With less

than two years to go before 2015, we must ask ourselves

as leaders why those commitments, related to the most

significant global declaration made to the world’s most

vulnerable people, are not being fulfilled.

It is important for me to be extremely clear. I am

not here to declare the MDGs dead, nor am I advocating

that they be interred. Rather, I remain convinced that

they can still be refocused, reformed, reshaped and

rebranded into a new mechanism post-2015.

We find ourselves standing at the precipice of 2015,

that crucial defining moment. The current moment

is captured by notable but uneven developments in

some crucial areas. Considerable gaps remain and new

challenges have emerged. As leaders we must therefore

acknowledge that now more than ever, through the

process of globalization, individuals and societies

from one corner of the Earth to another, from oceans

and continents, are intricately connected and more

interdependent than ever before. Therefore, a post-2015

development agenda must concede that fact and be

guided by that reality.

The deliberations for international collaboration

and development ahead of 2015 present the opportunity

to redirect previous notions of prosperity and

development among nations. Considering the current

world economic, social and environmental challenges,

that is indisputably critical.

We must concede that the current structure of the

internationally agreed development goals does not

provide satisfactory remedies to our universal problems,

which include an increase in global warming, the

escalating gap between the worlds’s rich and the poor,

the further deterioration of the world’s financial system

and the uneven roles that developed and developing

countries play in responding to and addressing issues

of universal importance and impact on our societies.

Taking into account some of those shortcomings, now

is the opportune time for setting the stage for a post-

2015 development agenda that is all-inclusive, effective

and pragmatic.

Of concern to Antigua and Barbuda are the failings

of the international community in fulfilling the aims

and objectives outlined in the Barbados Programme

of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small

Island Developing States (SIDS). The year 2014 will

mark the twentieth anniversary of the first Global

Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small

Island Developing States, which was held in Barbados

in 1994.

Looking back over the 20 years since that

Conference, we see that the international community’s

actions to address the unique and special circumstances

of SIDS have been lacking. It is my hope that the SIDS

conference in Samoa in 2014 will give the international

community the opportunity to correct the wrongs made

and to improve on shortcomings with regard to SIDS.

The conference will also present us with a third chance

to identify a set of concrete actions, which will be

needed for the further implementation of the Barbados

Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy for

Implementation and thereby regain momentum lost by

SIDS in the quest for sustainable development.

We welcome the decision by the United Nations

family to designate 2014 as the International Year of

Small Island Developing States. Antigua and Barbuda

pledges to highlight throughout 2014 the issue of SIDS

with the aim of reinvigorating the SIDS agenda.

My Government firmly believes in promoting

partnerships supporting sustainable development based

on the principles of mutual respect and understanding,

equality and a genuine desire to affect the social and

economic development of all. My Government has

deepened our integration efforts with our Caribbean

Community (CARICOM) brothers and sisters, focusing

on fully implementing the CARICOM Single Market

and Economy, as well as deepening the various

subregional regulatory frameworks.

As a member of the smaller grouping of the

Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS),

Antigua and Barbuda has fully joined and endorsed the

OECS economic union in an effort to build on the shared

tradition of our subregional integration arrangements

and to expand the areas of shared sovereignty in order

to survive and ultimately thrive. At the same time,

my Government has secured full participation in the

Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America

and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean

States, as we seek to further strengthen the integration

and development of Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is a recognized fact, but one worth repeating, that

small island States contribute the least to the causes

of climate change yet suffer the most from its effects.

We small island States have expressed our profound

disappointment at the lack of tangible action within

the negotiations on the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change to protect SIDS and

other vulnerable countries, their peoples, culture,

land and ecosystems. The responsibility for mitigating

climate change is shared by all nations, developed

and developing. However, developed countries

should shoulder their moral, ethical and historical

responsibility for emitting anthropogenic greenhouse

gases into the atmosphere. It is those actions that have

now put the planet in jeopardy and compromised the

well-being of present and future generations.

Vulnerable developing societies such as ours are

also victims of the globalization of crime, notably

in the havoc wrought by handguns in the possession

of criminal elements, by narcotrafficking that is

essentially targeted at markets in developed countries

and by the deportation of criminals to our shores. We

urge the international community, in recognition of

the link between globalization and crime, to provide

greater support for the efforts of small island States

such as Antigua and Barbuda to address the escalation

of crime and strengthen the rule of law in combating

international drug trafficking. We further call on our

developed partners to reduce the practice of deporting

violent criminals to our shores. Most of those deportees

have neither connection nor familiarity with our

countries.

Antigua and Barbuda is proud to be among

the growing number of States that have signed and

ratified the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Treaty

will, among other things, assist Antigua and Barbuda

in enhancing its capacity to tackle the scourge created

by the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons

and their ammunition, which is associated with other

transboundary crimes, such as drug trafficking. We have

emphasized throughout the process that such crimes

have had a negative impact on the socioeconomic well-

being of our societies. Antigua and Barbuda stresses

the importance of the early entry into force of the ATT

and will continue to work energetically with Member

States to ensure its entry into force.

Another threat to the sustainable development of

small island developing States such as Antigua and

Barbuda is the rise in non-communicable diseases

(NCDs). The situation is at an alarming stage, as

hundreds succumb annually. For Antigua and Barbuda,

the prevention, care and treatment of non-communicable

diseases continue to be a challenge. Heart disease,

diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic

respiratory diseases continue to be the leading causes of

death in our region. Our health-care system, economy

and population are heavily burdened by NCDs; it is for

that reason that my Government has become even more

proactive in addressing the issue. Health care continues

to be basically free for Antiguans and Barbudans, and

the Government often helps citizens seek treatment

abroad when our facilities at home are unable to provide

it. I ask the Assembly to continue to keep the issue of

NCDs high on its agenda.

My small developing nation of Antigua and Barbuda

has sought to ensure that the trade rules agreed to by a

majority of members of the international community,

including the United States of America, are adhered

to. I take this opportunity to once again draw the

Assembly’s attention to a trade dispute between my

country and the United States of America that has been

ongoing for a decade and which has been submitted

to the dispute settlement system of the World Trade

Organization (WTO). I draw the Assembly’s attention

to the dispute because I believe it has the potential to

damage the credibility and undermine the utility of

the WTO’s dispute settlement system and of the WTO

itself.

My Government won the case at both the original

and appellate levels and yet, a decade later, the end

is not in sight. It is a case that pits the world’s largest

economy against one of the smallest, and despite our

best efforts, our patient negotiations with the United

States of America have borne no fruit. The United States

of America has neither removed the offending laws nor

agreed on a fair settlement with Antigua and Barbuda

that would compensate for the wanton destruction of an

entire economic sector. We believe that it is a blow to

the credibility of the WTO to allow the world’s largest

economy and the WTO’s most powerful member to

ignore the lawful decision of its dispute settlement

tribunal without consequences. The international

trading system will not long survive such a profound

challenge, and we call on the United States to correct

past wrongs and come to the table with meaningful

proposals that can bring the matter to a just conclusion.

Although my Government has until now

exercised strategic patience, we intend, through the

only mechanism that the WTO has provided, to seek

compensation for the thousands of jobs lost, the

companies collapsed and the general devastation of the

second-largest sector of our economy after tourism.

More than jobs are at stake here. The WTO must be

seen to deliver justice to its members, especially one

of its smallest constituents. If not, its credibility as the

arbiter of international trade disputes will bleed into

the dust and hollow out its noble intentions.

As a part of the Caribbean and a member of the

CARICOM family, Antigua and Barbuda supports the

preservation of the sovereignty of every nation. We are

therefore very proud of our long-standing relationship

with the Republic of Cuba. My Government condemns

in the strongest possible terms any discriminatory or

retaliatory policies and practices designed to prevent

Cuba from exercising its right to freely participate

in the affairs of our hemisphere. Today, I once again

reiterate my Government’s firm condemnation of the

unilateral and extraterritorial application of coercive

laws and measures contrary to international law, the

Charter of the United Nations and the principles of

free navigation and international trade. Antigua and

Barbuda therefore urges the United States of America

to respect and take note of the unceasing call by the

Members of the United Nations that it immediately

lift the unjust economic, commercial and financial

blockade imposed on the Republic of Cuba. These and

other associated measures serve no other end than to

hinder the socioeconomic development and well-being

of the people of the Republic of Cuba.

Antigua and Barbuda also affirms its long-standing

stance and commitment towards combating terrorism

in all its forms and expressions and condemns any

action which goes against international law, resolutions

of the United Nations or principles of human rights

protection. We therefore condemn the recent terrorist

acts in Kenya and express our profound sympathy to

the Government of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the

families of those who lost loved ones. We also in the

strongest sense condemn acts of terrorism in other

parts of the world.

Antigua and Barbuda also expresses its concern

about the inclusion of the Republic of Cuba on the list

of State sponsors of terrorism published by the State

Department of the United States of America. We reject

the unilateral elaboration of blacklists accusing States

of allegedly supporting and sponsoring terrorism,

which is inconsistent with international law. We request

the United States of America to put an end to that

unilateral practice.

Antigua and Barbuda welcomes the launch of the

design for a permanent memorial to honour the victims

of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, an initiative

that was championed by CARICOM. We also look

forward to its full erection in the coming months.

One year ago, I stood here and reiterated the need

for serious dialogue on the topic of reparations. Today

I am proud that the members of CARICOM, at its

thirty-fourth Regular Meeting of the Conference of

Heads of Government, held in Trinidad and Tobago in

July, agreed to support the establishment of a regional

reparations commission to begin laying the groundwork

for a process of engagement and conversation on the

issue of reparations for native genocide and slavery.

I am equally pleased that the first regional

reparations conference was held in St. Vincent and the

Grenadines earlier this month, with proposals for the

formalization of a regional reparations commission.

Antigua and Barbuda therefore conceptualizes the

call for reparations as an integral element of our

development strategy and believes that the legacy of

slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean has severely

impaired our development options. We therefore assert

that reparations must be directed towards repairing the

damage inflicted by slavery and racism.

We have recently seen a number of leaders

apologizing to the African diaspora, to indigenous

peoples and to former colonies for past wrongs and

injustices. I salute those leaders who have demonstrated

such enlightenment and strongly encourage others to

do so and equally match their words with concrete and

material benefits to the descendants of genocide and

the brutal enslavement of their ancestors.

My country, while developmentally focused,

is mindful of other global issues, particularly with

reference to peace and security. The continued unrest in

the Middle East, particularly in Syria, is heartbreaking.

The images of innocent women and children being

displaced and killed tug at my consciousness. Antigua

and Barbuda gives its unconditional support to the

preservation of the role of the United Nations and other

organizations in working towards stabilization and

peace in Syria and other conflict-ridden countries.

In the same vein, we call on those leaders to

protect civilians at all costs and move quickly to

devise diplomatic solutions to the conflicts. Wilful

and deliberate attacks upon civilians should be taken

seriously by the international community, and the

international courts should move to act in a manner

consistent with international laws and norms.

War, or even the threat of war, should be an

absolute last resort and should have the full support

of the international community at all times. Unilateral

prescriptions will never solve a problem.

We cannot successfully achieve a post-2015

development agenda if world leaders stand idle and

see the tears and desperation on the faces of the many

children who are hungry. We cannot successfully

achieve a post-2015 development agenda if world

leaders allow easily treatable illnesses and diseases to

destroy our populations.

We cannot successfully achieve a post-2015

development agenda if world leaders sit back and allow

the lines of class divisions and insurmountable social

barriers to increase.

We cannot successfully achieve a post-2015

development agenda if world leaders continue to

allow the imbalances of economic growth, destructive

trade barriers and protectionism from developed to

developing countries to persist.

We cannot successfully achieve a post-2015

development agenda if world leaders do not act to save

our environment and stop the pollution of our air and

oceans and the wanton destruction of our forests and

lands only for the benefit of a few.

When the founders of the United Nations formulated

this great institution, it was not envisioned as a stage or

a repository for eloquent speeches. The United Nations

was conceptualized as a place where our challenges

would be discussed, solutions cultivated and action

taken.

It is for those reasons that our leaders gathered here

today should work towards a fundamental, impartial

and sustainable social, economic and environmental

post-2015 development agenda that is far-reaching and

all-inclusive. Anything less would be unacceptable

and would be a travesty for millions of the world’s

inhabitants, for whom we are required to act and do so

courageously and decisively.