The Bahamas, 2011

On behalf of the

people and the Government of the Commonwealth of

the Bahamas, I congratulate Mr. Al-Nasser on his

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at

its sixty-sixth session. I assure him of my delegation’s

full support and cooperation. I also extend gratitude to

his predecessor for his stewardship of the Assembly

during its sixty-fifth session, and I would also like to

extend congratulations to Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his

re-election as Secretary-General.

I also take this opportunity to congratulate and

welcome the Republic of South Sudan as the

193rd State Member of the United Nations and to

convey the best wishes of my Government and people

for its peace and prosperity.

On behalf of the Government and the people of

the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, I wish to express

regret at the loss of life and the tremendous and wide-

ranging destruction caused by hurricanes and tropical

storms during the summer season. The Bahamas, as

well as a number of Caribbean islands and, indeed, the

East Coast of the United States, were particularly hard-

hit by Hurricane Irene. The devastation caused by each

of those storms reinforces the need for global attention

to the adverse impacts of climate change and natural

disasters. The storms’ trail of destruction, which took

lives, flattened homes and businesses, toppled trees and

spread debris across roadways and bridges, and which,

in some cases, caused almost certain irreversible

damage to coastal areas and ecosystems, compels, we

believe, the international community to take immediate

measures to address climatic phenomena which cause

such huge losses and which threaten so many

countries.

For us, the increased frequency and intensity of

natural disasters, including hurricanes, some due to the

effects of climate change, are among the major

challenges faced at the national level. Other

environmental challenges, including waste and water-

resource management issues, together with economic

and social challenges, all constitute serious constraints

for the Bahamas.

We are committed to mainstreaming sustainable

development principles into our national development

strategies. Progress is being made in the key areas of

protecting our biodiversity and supporting the

development of policies promoting renewable energy.

We look forward to continuing to collaborate with

international partners so as to achieve even greater

success in the years ahead. In this vein, the Bahamas

looks forward to next year’s United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development. We fully

expect that the Conference will take into account

unmet needs in connection with each of the three

pillars of sustainable development, that is, economic,

social and environmental.

We face an increasingly complex set of global

challenges, which has given rise to an equally complex

network of formal and informal global institutions and

mechanisms designed to enhance collective action to

address these challenges. Consequently, the question of

international governance as it relates to the global

agenda has become a pressing issue in recent years.

The global economic crisis of the past three years

has underscored the need for more effective global

governance, as has the long and sometimes

controversial debate on reform of the Security Council.

Arguably, at the heart of all of these issues, particularly

for some small developing States such as the Bahamas,

is the need to ensure that our global systems are able to

effectively respond to evolving global challenges in an

inclusive, participatory and transparent manner.

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With respect to international economic

governance, the Bahamas is acutely aware of the

growing role of the Group of 20 (G-20) and the need to

address how the Group would be better able to engage

and consult a wider range of countries, as well as the

United Nations as a whole, with a view to helping to

translate G-20 deliberations into effective actions on a

global scale. Fortunately, the work of the Global

Governance Group has been largely successful in this

regard. Indeed, the Bahamas joined the Group with the

understanding that the United Nations has a central

role in global economic governance and that serious

engagement with the G-20 would allow for a clearer

understanding of their respective strengths and

comparative advantages.

Reform of the Security Council is no more a

reality today than it was a year ago, or even 10 years

ago. This remains, however, an important goal, as it

stands as a harbinger of success for other equally

pressing global governance activities that will

inevitably affect each and every country regardless of

its size, economic or political power. The aspirations of

the marginalized for greater democratization,

inclusiveness, representativeness, transparency and

accountability are no less legitimate at the international

level than they are at the national or local levels. If the

Council is to fully fulfil its responsibility for

international peace and security, it must reflect the

geopolitical realities of our world in its composition as

well as in its modus operandi. The Bahamas therefore

continues to support Security Council expansion in

both categories and the reform of its working methods.

The Bahamas believes that the main strength of

the United Nations is its inclusiveness, as it is perhaps

the only global body with unquestionable legitimacy.

Hence, we envision a greater role for the United

Nations in a number of areas, not in order to duplicate

work done elsewhere, but to help in other areas of

critical importance to small developing countries,

including international cooperation in tax matters.

The Bahamas, along with many Caribbean

Community (CARICOM) countries, continues to seek

the conversion of the Committee of Experts on

International Cooperation on Tax Matters into an

intergovernmental subsidiary body of the Economic

and Social Council, the central goal being to give small

developing countries an effective voice when issues of

cooperation on tax matters are being decided by the

international community. Likewise, we recommend a

greater role for the United Nations in the areas of

international financial regulation and credit-rating

systems.

As regards the global economic and financial

crisis, it is important to note that many small middle-

income and ostensibly high-income developing States

such as the Bahamas continue to grapple with lingering

effects, including serious credit and employment

challenges — challenges that persist owing mainly to

indebtedness; non-concessionary status with respect to

access to resources of the international financial

institutions; and an increasing rate of erosion of

preferential access to the markets of major

development partners.

The Bahamas continues to develop national

initiatives to address these and other related matters.

We have seen some success in maintaining a

sustainable of Government debt to gross domestic

product ratio; implementing measures to provide relief

and assistance to Bahamians; and efforts to modernize

and expand our public infrastructure as well as increase

investment in our least developed islands.

These national efforts must be met with

appropriate and urgent actions at the international level

in order to effectively respond to these challenges, as

well as to help sustain progress in achieving the

internationally agreed development goals, including

the Millennium Development Goals. Such actions at

the international level must include the provision of

new and additional resources to assist developing

countries, in particular the most vulnerable among us,

as well as the development of the necessary

implementation mechanisms.

In that connection, the Bahamas wishes to

underline the importance of implementing the

Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference

on Financing for Development. The Bahamas also

wishes to highlight in this regard the critical role that a

universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and

equitable multilateral trading system can play in

stimulating economic growth and development in

developing countries.

Migration can be, and has been, a positive force

for development internationally. Indeed, immigrants

have contributed to the development of the Bahamas in

many respects, largely through contributions to

education, health care and to the development of our

tourism and financial services. Uncontrolled migration,

35 11-51384

however, has also proved, and continues to be, a

serious challenge to sustainable development. In this

context, the Bahamas welcomes increased dialogue on

improving international cooperation with respect to

international migration and development. We believe

that proper cooperation can help to ensure that

migration occurs through safe and regulated channels,

to the benefit of both migrant and receiving States, like

the Bahamas. 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 these and other related

issues.

The Bahamas congratulates the people of Haiti on

the election and installation of a democratically elected

President and Government. We are heartened by the

peaceful and successful manner in which the second

round of elections was concluded in Haiti. Political

stability is fundamental to Haiti’s economic and social

development. We hope that the issue of the

appointment of a new Prime Minister will be resolved

in the shortest possible time so that the Haitian people

can continue to recover from last year’s devastating

earthquake and reconstruct their country with a view to

its sustained and sustainable development.

My delegation continues to commend the work of

the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti

(MINUSTAH). Over the years, MINUSTAH has played

a key role in helping to lay the foundation for long-

term recovery and stability in Haiti, with its support

activities for State institutions and the rehabilitation

and training of the Haitian National Police.

MINUSTAH’s role and functions should reflect the

country’s development needs, as articulated by the

Government. The support and engagement of the

international community in Haiti is as pressing and

urgent as ever, and MINUSTAH must continue to be an

important factor in this regard.

The issue of international peace and security

remains a critical concern for the Organization, as it

does for the entire global community. The Bahamas

unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and

manifestations and reiterates its commitment to the

fight against it. The terror attacks of 11 September, the

heinous attacks in Mumbai and Norway and at the

United Nations headquarters in Nigeria demonstrate

that our efforts thus far have proved insufficient; hence

the urgency of our task.

In an archipelago spread over some 100,000

square miles, the porous borders of the Bahamas have,

for many years, posed a challenge to national security

as well as the rule of law. We are currently confronted

by high levels of crime, too many of which involve the

use of small arms and light weapons. We are keenly

aware of the global threats posed by the illicit trade in

small arms and light weapons, which is linked to other

aspects of transnational organized crime, including the

illicit drug trade.

The Bahamas, both nationally and internationally,

is acting to reduce the threats that these criminal

elements pose to our society. Nationally, we are

continuing a programme of reform of our criminal

laws, modernizing and expanding our court system and

strengthening targeted programmes designed to address

social ills. Regionally, we are working with other

CARICOM nations to undertake a number of measures

to combat these challenges. Internationally, the

Bahamas is committed to the implementation 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.

Regulation of the import, export and transfer of

conventional arms is critical if we are to achieve some

measure of peace and stability and reduce conflicts.

The Bahamas supports a strong, effective and

non-discriminatory arms trade treaty and welcomes the

inclusion of the category of small arms and light

weapons and ammunition within the scope of a future

treaty. What is clearly evident is the need for an

integrated global response to supplement actions at the

national, regional and subregional levels if we are to

effectively prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit

trade in small arms and light weapons, and thus reduce

the escalating violence and crime in our societies.

The Government of the Bahamas continues to be

committed to the 2001 and 2006 Declarations on

HIV/AIDS (resolutions S-26/2 and 60/262). Our

programme, now in its twenty-fifth year, has been very

successful. We would like to take this opportunity to

thank our regional, hemispheric and international

partners for their support.

My Government is also dealing with the

prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

(NCDs), which pose an increasing threat to countries

like the Bahamas and others of the CARICOM

subregion. As our Prime Minister said in his national

11-51384 36

address here last week (see A/66/PV.3), the health and

socio-economic costs required for Governments to treat

NCDs are indeed enormous. The Bahamas and its

fellow CARICOM countries welcome last week’s

High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of

Non-communicable Diseases, and applaud the

international community’s attention to NCDs. We trust

that the adoption of the Political Declaration

(resolution 66/2, annex), while it is not as action-

oriented as we envisaged when we undertook the

mandate from our heads of Government four years ago,

will produce results. We would have preferred the text

to have reflected stronger commitments and specific,

time-bound targets for addressing non-communicable

diseases and their risk factors. We look forward,

however, to a comprehensive review of this issue in

2014.

With the world community witnessing an

unprecedented wave in the call for social change and

democracy across countries in the Arab world and in

North Africa, we must ensure, in our desire to promote

good and effective governance, that respect for human

rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the

promotion of civil and political rights and the right to

development, forms the basis of any long-term

solution. My Government’s commitment to the

promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms

is unwavering.

This year we celebrate some significant

achievements on the international human rights

agenda: the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of

the Declaration on the Right to Development

(resolution 41/128) and, more recently, the tenth

anniversary, this week, of the adoption of the Durban

Declaration and Programme of Action. This year, we

are also observing the International Year for People of

African Descent.

In spite of the objectives of these laudable

initiatives for the advancement of the international

human rights agenda and recent undertakings such as

the reform of the Human Rights Council, we are still

confronted with persistent poverty and stark

inequalities, both within and across countries —

racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance,

some 63 years after the landmark adoption of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (resolution

217 (III)). These challenges serve as a constant

reminder that we have much more to do to improve the

lives of millions of disadvantaged and marginalized

populations throughout the world. While it is

advantageous to adopt declarations and renew

commitments, it is more important to ensure their

effective implementation at the national, regional and

international levels. The United Nations must therefore

continue to reflect the ideals of its founding principles

and unite us through a common vision of peace, mutual

respect and human rights for all.