The Bahamas, 2007

I am proud to address

this body as the representative of the Government of

the Bahamas. We are committed to achieving a sense of

security, well-being, pride and prosperity for the

people of the Bahamas. We look forward to working

with fellow Member States towards securing the same

opportunities and freedoms for all people.

On behalf of the Government and the people of

the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, I congratulate

you, Sir, on your election as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-second session. I also want to

take this opportunity to pay tribute to your predecessor

for her leadership and dedication and for so aptly

guiding the work of the sixty-first session.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend

congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon on

his appointment as the eighth Secretary-General of the

Organization. My Government is confident that, given

Secretary-General Ban’s experience and diplomatic

skills, he will aptly guide the Organization in facing its

challenges.

Let me take this opportunity to commend the

General Assembly’s adoption of the historic resolution

61/19, on the two-hundredth anniversary of the

abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and on the

commemoration of the International Day held on

25 March of this year. The Bahamas, where the

majority of our people are proud descendents of freed

slaves, is participating at both the national and the

regional levels in a number of commemorative

activities. We fully support the project aimed at

erecting a permanent memorial at the United Nations in

commemoration of that shameful period in the history

of our world.

At a time when the international community is

engaged in serious reflections regarding the history and

consequences of slavery and the slave trade, the

Bahamas wishes to recognize Haiti as the only country

to liberate itself from slavery and for the inspiration

this provided to the international campaign against

slavery.

Since modern forms of slavery still exist and

since many people continue to be held in servitude, we

must not relent in our resolve until everyone is able to

enjoy and exercise the freedoms which this

Organization has worked so diligently to recognize,

uphold and defend.

Despite Haiti’s proud history, challenges have

beset our neighbour for generations. Haiti’s return to

democratic order last year was especially welcomed,

and we celebrate the strides Haiti is making along the

difficult and arduous road to peace, security and

development. We heartily commend President Préval

and his Administration for their stewardship of this

demanding process. At the same time, we also

commend the Organization of American States for its

unstinting support for the people of Haiti.

The United Nations Mission in Haiti continues to

play a vital role in this process, and the Bahamas

supports the call for that mission to be maintained so as

to consolidate the gains made to date and thus place

our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) sister country

on a firm and lasting path to sustainable development,

peace, security and democracy. We urge the

international community to support the people of Haiti

in that quest.

As Haiti lies merely 90 miles from the southern

shores of the Bahamas, its economic and political

situation can and does have very tangible repercussions

for us all. Each year, the Bahamas is challenged by the

arrival of thousands of illegal migrants from Haiti who,

by perilous means, journey to our shores in search of a

better way of life. Ensuring that justice and democracy

prevail in Haiti, therefore, has a positive impact not

only on the people of Haiti, but also on the Bahamas

and indeed the entire region.

The role of the United Nations in matters of

sustainable development is crucial, particularly with

regard to challenges demanding a truly global

response — challenges such as climate change. We

commend the Secretary-General for bringing greater

focus to the issue, with the convening of the high-level

event on climate change last week, and are hopeful that

the event will provide the necessary impetus for action

when Member States meet in Bali later this year. The

Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change is indeed

the appropriate forum for negotiations on a post-Kyoto

agreement, and the political will demonstrated during

the Secretary-General’s recent high-level event should

only bring closer focus to an agreed agenda in that

regard.

For small island developing States and

archipelagos like the Bahamas, climate change is a

matter of critical importance. For many of us it is not

just a matter of economics, but a matter of survival, as

80 per cent of our landmass is within five feet of mean

sea level; even a one-degree rise in atmospheric

temperature can have devastating ecological effects.

Climate change is particularly challenging with respect

to the potential effects on our tourism industry, which

is our main industry and which generates some 60 per

cent of the Bahamas’s gross domestic product. We

therefore cannot overemphasize the need for an

ambitious mitigation agenda for the post-Kyoto

regime. Recent studies have shown that there are many

mitigation options available, and many of them are

win-win. We must therefore, with unwavering

commitment, explore these options in an open and

inclusive environment.

For countries like the Bahamas, resources for

adaptation are also essential. However, even access to

existing funds can prove difficult given the country’s

gross national income. It is therefore vital that the

relevant financial instruments and mechanisms be fully

operationalized and/or improved so that they become

more accessible and better address the peculiar

circumstances and special needs of different countries.

Further, there is a need for greater international

cooperation with respect to the development of new

technologies, as well as the transfer of such

technologies in support of the sustainable development

of small island developing States.

We in the Caribbean region must prepare for the

possibility of continued increases in the incidence of

natural hazards such as hurricanes, floods and

earthquakes. Whether it is through assistance with

hazard mapping and vulnerability assessment

standardization or through the implementation of early

warning systems, international cooperation has an

important role to play in complementing national

efforts to reduce vulnerability to natural disasters.

One step taken by the Caribbean region was the

establishment of the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk

Insurance Facility under the aegis of the World Bank.

We would like to thank those countries who have

contributed to the fund. The Bahamas continues to

press for the execution of the Mauritius Strategy for the

Further Implementation of the Programme of Action

for the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States, as well as of complementary

frameworks such as the Johannesburg Plan of

Implementation and the Hyogo Framework for Action.

The time has come to reassess our collective response

to these issues and to renew our efforts in support of

sustainable development.

Adequate financial resources are essential in the

implementation of the wider internationally agreed

development goals. Consideration of issues

surrounding the follow-up to the International

Conference on Financing for Development is

particularly significant this year, as we prepare for the

Follow-up International Conference on Financing for

Development to Review the Implementation of the

Monterrey Consensus, to be held in Doha next year.

The Bahamas would wish for the deliberations of the

upcoming High-level Dialogue, as well as the 2008

meeting of the Economic and Social Council with the

Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade

Organization (WTO) and the United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to

provide practical input into, and contribute to the

success of that most important review conference.

The issue of strengthening the voice and

participation of developing nations in international

economic decision- making and norm-setting is

especially important to the Bahamas. There is a

definite need for concrete, realistic proposals to ensure

the effective, permanent representation of developing

countries, particularly small developing countries, not

only in the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO

but also in the other international economic and

financial institutions, such as the Financial Stability

Forum, the Financial Action Task Force and the Basel

Committee.

The Bahamas welcomes the positive development

in the area of international cooperation in tax matters,

namely, the establishment of the Committee of Experts

on International Cooperation in Tax Matters within the

Economic and Social Council. The establishment of

that Committee ensures that the interests of small

developing States Members of the United Nations with

different tax regimes will be factored into discussions

and recommendations aimed at adopting mutually

agreed standards that do not unduly favour the wealthy

nations at the expense of meaningful development in

States and jurisdictions not members of the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development.

We have reached the halfway mark in the time

frame we set ourselves in the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) to undertake concrete steps by the year

2015 to address not only the economic and

environmental challenges plaguing the international

community and the Organization, but various social ills

as well. In so doing, we gave those who are less

fortunate hope for a better and more equitable world.

The MDG Report 2007 demonstrates that

progress has been achieved in the reduction of the

proportion of people living in poverty, the reduction of

child and maternal mortality rates and the increase of

primary school enrolment levels. However, nearly 20

million children worldwide continue to be severely

malnourished and suffer from various preventable

diseases that will undoubtedly affect their survival and

rob them of their full potential. Overall progress in

achieving equal rights and the empowerment of women

is also too slow. My Government regards effective and

practical measures to address poverty and the

enhancement of educational partnerships to facilitate

the development of our human resources to impact

accelerated change as critical issues.

HIV/AIDS remains a global threat to the

development, progress and stability of our societies. If

the goal of universal access to comprehensive

prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 is to

be achieved, commitments entered into in the 2001

Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the

2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS must be

implemented. The necessary financial and technical

support to developing countries must be provided to

help bridge the gap and foster a more comprehensive

and sustainable global response to this pandemic.

Equally important is the fact that 63 per cent of

deaths worldwide are attributable to non-

communicable diseases resulting from factors such as

obesity, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, high blood

pressure, tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy

diet and alcohol abuse. At a recent summit of

CARICOM heads of Government, a number of action

steps were identified. The Governments have agreed to

establish, by mid-2008, comprehensive plans for the

screening and management of chronic diseases and risk

factors, so that, by 2012, 80 per cent of people in the

Caribbean region with non-communicable diseases

would receive quality care and have access to

preventive education based on regional guidelines.

In spite of the efforts of various entities and the

existence of United Nations conventions to protect the

rights of women and children, discrimination and

violence against women and children persist

throughout the world. In an effort to better address this

problem, the Bahamas has drafted a new Child

Protective Act and a Domestic Violence Protection

Order to enhance and provide greater protection to

these vulnerable groups.

Last year the United Nations Global Counter-

Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288) was adopted,

marking an important step towards the elaboration of a

counter-terrorism convention. The Bahamas continues

to condemn terrorism and recognizes that while there

may be instances when terrorism and criminal

activities converge, the methodologies used to combat

each of them are very different. Based on its own risk

assessment, therefore, each Government must

determine the level of resources that can be adopted

and applied to counter-terrorism measures, particularly

given the emphasis that the Strategy also places on

addressing and preventing the conditions conducive to

the spread of terrorism.

In prescribing counter-terrorism measures, care

must be taken by the international community to

preserve the tenet of due process. Care must also be

taken to guard against the creation of disincentives that

negatively impact countries with service-based

economies. With respect to counter-terrorism measures,

the Bahamas has adopted new legislation, ratified

additional anti-terrorism conventions, increased

security of large facilities, airports, docks and harbours

developed a counter-terrorism intelligence network and

provided anti-terrorism training for the police.

Needless to say, such initiatives present a challenge

and divert resources from our economic development.

The Bahamas reaffirms its commitment to fulfil

its obligations to major international drug and counter-

terrorism conventions and continues to support the

concept of the expansion of the membership of the

Security Council. The Bahamas maintains, however,

that such expansion of the Security Council will not

greatly increase the chances for our particular

countries, such as the Bahamas.

While it is incumbent on Member States to fulfil

their obligations that come with membership, the

Organization must put in place effective management

tools and create a system that would eliminate

overspending and waste and create more fiscal

accountability and proper oversight.

The Bahamas values the role of the United

Nations as the custodian of the interests of the world’s

people, in particular the poor and the vulnerable. The

Bahamas continues to believe that the United Nations

Charter constitutes a viable and firm foundation on

which the Organization can balance and achieve its

objectives: to maintain international peace and security

and, equally important, to promote development and

economic and social progress.