Belize, 1994

The delegation of Belize

warmly congratulates you, Sir, on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth

session. We are proud that such an illustrious son of Africa

has been selected to preside over our deliberations in this

period leading up to the celebration of the Organization’s

fiftieth anniversary year.

Permit me too to express my delegation’s thanks and

praise for the sterling performance of your immediate

predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally of

Guyana.

Once again we gather to review the state of world

order. And of the year just past it might perhaps be said

that it was the best of times and the worst of times.

On the one hand, a jubilant South Africa kept its

rendezvous with freedom and now appears to be bathed in

sunlight. Furthermore, the peace in the Middle East,

presaged by the Agreement on Palestinian self-rule, is

taking root. Tension on the Korean peninsula has eased,

and the cease-fire in Northern Ireland represents a hitherto

unimaginable breakthrough.

On the other hand, the pall of nuclear weapons still

hangs over our fragile planet. So does the gloom of

conventional armaments, the din of battle and the smell of

rotting flesh in the Balkans, parts of our beloved Africa and

western and central Asia. In particular, the scale of the

tragedy in Rwanda has been incomprehensible. The initial

paralysis of will of the world community, our belated

response in the face of horrible genocide, has not been our

finest hour. That hesitation, that failure of leadership,

underscores the need for the United Nations system’s

preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping

mechanisms to be better developed as a matter of urgency.

The fact is that there is still rampant lawlessness

abroad on our planet, and we continue to be traumatized

by the death and destruction it brings. In particular, the

living hell of refugees, fleeing almost inconceivable

conditions of terror, seems to have become a stock feature

of our end-of-the-century international existence.

In this sort of depressing world political climate,

even small countries such as mine must do what we can

to ease the pain. Thus it was that Belize became the first

small State to agree to participate in the multinational

force currently overseeing the end of tyranny in Haiti.

We took seriously the Security Council’s particular

invitation to regional States and hope now that the

collective response will succeed in giving our beleaguered

sister republic surcease from its unhappy history and a

chance of lasting peace and true democracy. We salute

the Haitian people and we congratulate President Aristide.

We expect soon to be able to send our messages of

congratulations direct to the presidential palace in Port-au-

Prince.

In Belize’s own neighbourhood, the

redemocratization of the Central American isthmus

continues apace. In the last year, the free elections and

orderly transitions of power that have taken place in

Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras have

vindicated our new-found, or rather rediscovered, destiny.

In Guatemala, a plebiscite, congressional elections and the

Oslo Agreement between the Government and the Unidad

Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) guerrilla

group have strengthened the internal order. Furthermore,

that country has undertaken, in its letter to the Secretary-

General (A/49/94 of 14 March 1994) to abide by pacific

principles and good-neighbourliness in its relations with

my country. As a Member of this Organization, with our

historical and constitutional land and sea borders

universally recognized as inviolable in accordance with

the principles of self-determination, sovereignty and

territorial integrity, Belize welcomes this Guatemalan

commitment. It is a further encouragement to regional

peace.

Talking of peace, we note with interest the

development of the concept of stand-by forces. This idea

needs to be deepened and refined, and arrangements

should be made for appropriate training in regional

training centres. In this regard, Belize’s offer to serve as

one such locale, making special use of our jungle terrain

and facilities, is a matter of record.

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This Organization must be allowed to develop an

agency for rapid and effective military deployment. Again,

we call for the implementation of Article 43 of the Charter.

What we are saying is that security and world order

must be significantly improved. Mankind and the vision of

our founders must be vindicated. In that light, we reiterate

the call we made during last year’s debate for reform of the

Security Council. Since that time, we have refined our

ideas on that subject. These include our proposals that

certain developing countries, on account of sheer population

numbers and geopolitical realities, should be permanent, or

indefinite, members; that contributions to the peace-keeping

budget should be a relevant criterion for permanent, or

indefinite, membership; and that, in both existing categories

of membership, adjacent States should be permitted to pool

their resources as composite or constituency members. We

now call upon all the members of this Assembly to ensure

that, by the fiftieth anniversary of the Organization, we

shall demonstrate our commitment to world order by

democratically bringing the Council to a better state of

grace.

Another aspect of international order that deserves

mention is that of the number of entities which are not fully

embraced by the notion of universality in our Charter and

which do not participate completely in the system of

international order. These entities are mostly in or around

the Asia-Pacific region, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and

the Caribbean. We call on all parties in good faith to

continue their various dialogues to resolve this issue.

To contribute to this restructuring of world order, we

are in the process of finalizing a massive new economic

dimension with the conclusion of the multilateral trade

negotiations, the establishment of the World Trade

Organization, the development of new mechanisms for the

resolution of trade disputes and the deepening and widening

of the system of norms relating to international commerce.

We applaud the transformation of the General Agreement

on Tariffs and Trade and these other advances, while urging

that the less well-endowed countries receive their due, both

under domestic jurisdictions and laws and in adjudications

by the new organization. Rampant unilateralism and

protectionism must now take a back seat. We are satisfied

at the expansion of the institution of non-discrimination into

such new areas as trade in services and trade-related

investment measures. We are also happy that dumping and

subsidies regulations have now been significantly improved

and that progress has been made in the trying area of

safeguards.

We hope, however, that the thread of liberalism that

runs through these new instruments will not become a

noose to suffocate those of us that did not inherit a head

start. We therefore call for sensitivity in the application

of those various provisions for special and differential

treatment of such countries.

In the same vein, we would wish for increased

sensitization on the part of the Bretton Woods institutions.

Even as the global order swings to and fro, we call for

improvement of the various mechanisms as they affect

our sensitive economies.

In Belize we have begun our own adjustment

process. This is necessary if we are to cope with the

initial dislocations to small economies, which will be the

inevitable consequence of the new international trading

realities. As well, the profligate behaviour of the central

Government between September 1989 and June 1993 had

resulted in an unmanageable deficit, precipitously

declining reserves and imprudent short-term, high-interest

foreign borrowing.

So we seek now to restore fiscal discipline and

regain macro-economic stability. We are also intent on

removing the traditional distortions inherent in the

domestic trading regime, and on instituting tax reform

that will eliminate our overreliance on import duties.

This is a process that we must manage carefully, since

drastic reductions in public expenditure and trade

liberalization will work initial hardship on our local

economy. In this context, the Bretton Woods institutions

have a duty to respond to our special circumstances.

Support for our public and private sectors must be

forthcoming, for the brave new economic world that we

must enter, whether voluntarily or otherwise, will no

doubt prove a most inhospitable clime to those not

clothed with the requisite garb.

In particular, the funds for skills training, human

resource development and poverty alleviation must be

found. Our young people are already hostage to the

subculture of violence perpetrated as much by the

television images transported undiluted from the first

world, as by the indigenous problems peculiar to our

small societies. The hope-extinguishing cycle of

alienation, joblessness and incarceration must be broken.

Otherwise, those nice new economic edifices we are so

carefully constructing will come crashing to the ground,

undone by the confrontation and social chaos that

continued marginalization of our youth will surely

engender.

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We repeat, then, that small, hitherto hardy,

democracies must not now be swamped by a heedless

forward march of soulless economic principles. And the

case for urgent Bretton Woods social and economic

assistance should be even more compelling in the instance

of voluntary, vis-à-vis imposed, structural adjustment.

We are somewhat embarrassed that, almost 50 years

on, this journey into a putative glorious world order just

now sees us seriously crafting new substantive agendas for

what are really some very old problems. Yet, we must deal

with reality. The development decades and the new

international economic order were, in part, chimeric or

exercises in rhetoric. But I believe we are truly now

engaged in writing a new, coherent, agenda for

development. Let it be a properly annotated agenda. In

fact, let it be a fully programmed model that entirely

anticipates what lies ahead.

We are grateful that this Organization is also taking

note of the unfulfilled promises of the Second World War

order. It is now 53 years since the call for social justice

went out in the Four Freedoms and the Atlantic Charter.

Yet we are far from freedom from want and improved

social security. Now, with the recently concluded

Conference on Population and Development, and with the

World Conference on Women and the World Summit for

Social Development just before us, the opportunity is here

again. Let us seize it and develop bold concepts and

effective normative systems. And while we do so, let us

continue to develop such recent notions as those relating to

the relief of children in difficult circumstances. Let us also

develop this Organization’s capacity for technical assistance

in crime prevention and interdiction to those United Nations

Members which are increasingly beset by the scourge of

violence, weapons and narcotics. These plagues are, almost

invariably, brought on by demands and excesses imported

from thousands of miles away, mostly with the aid of the

electronic media.

Another area in which we are still in the agenda stage

is that of humanitarianism. Despite unfair criticism, the

Secretariat has done what it could to carry out the promises

made in the Charter. We commend all concerned with the

establishment of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs,

and we pledge to work beside them.

Another relatively recent watchword is sustainability.

It has a redolence to which we have all taken with alacrity.

It warns the well-endowed of the truth of the adage "Waste

not, want not". It reminds the less fortunate to try to

resolve their dilemma wisely, as necessity obliges them to

reduce their woodlands while leaching the present vitality

of the land. It has brought us out of our slumber and

humbled us into sincere discussions about fish stocks,

fragile low-lying developing small island and coastal

areas, and global warming.

We have seen the Commission for Sustainable

Development and the Global Environment Facility take

their faltering first steps. While they are to some extent

further examples of the somewhat unstructured way in

which the Organization is sometimes obliged to operate,

we nevertheless commend those agencies. And we

sincerely hope that sustainability will keep us whole.

Another area in which the Organization has been

discovering its role is human rights. We all recently

participated in the stimulating exercise of establishing the

post of High Commissioner for Human Rights. We have

seen the number of instruments on that subject increase.

Human rights bodies have become more experienced and

effective. Even in the field of population and

development, we notice how the recent Cairo Programme

of Action uses human rights as its main point of

departure. It is striking that, in places, that document

alphabetizes the basic species of human rights. So did

the Assembly’s resolution establishing the post of High

Commissioner. We did this to stress the non-selectivity

and neutrality of the various genres of human rights.

That is to say, cultural, economic and social rights are as

much our concern as civil and political rights. The

coincidence of development with population and other

concerns in the Cairo document, and the stress of the

right to development both in the resolution establishing

the post of High Commissioner and in the Cairo

document, underscore the coequal importance of that

category of right. I believe that we are now seeing the

beginning of the concretization of international concern

about a wider range of human rights for individuals and,

I beg to stress, groups and peoples.

Above all, these recent developments in the field of

human rights, sustainable development and social justice

are pointing us to the reality that values must become an

integral part of statecraft and of diplomacy. Only by

inculcating respect for values will our world straighten up

and fly right.

In our fledgling world order, my subregion of the

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has begun to show

signs of coming of age. We have established several new

structures for subregional integration and cooperation.

We recently joined our friends and neighbours in the

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non-English-speaking Caribbean and proximate mainland

areas in signing a treaty to establish an ambitious

Association of Caribbean States designed to bring about

coordination, concentration and cooperation in our far-flung

proto-region. Even before this, CARICOM had begun to

develop separate cooperative relationships with Central

America, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. In all of these

endeavours, it has become more widely noted that Belize is

ideally situated to assist with this bringing together of

various subregions. We are equidistant from Tijuana and

Paramaribo and, in other respects, are at the very centre of

this new Caribbean. Belize is bilingual and multi-cultural.

Besides, Belize has a history and a polity which well equip

us for this role.

We earlier referred to the issue of equitable

representation on and increase in the membership of the

Security Council. This is an important aspect of the world

order. It is also the quintessential example of the need for

reform and revitalization of this Organization.

The General Assembly’s health is generally quite

good. However, in some respects it needs improvement.

One such area is the roster for this general debate. The

annual seating arrangements for our numerous members are

made quite democratically and scientifically. Yet the order

of the list of speakers in this debate is not fixed in quite the

same manner. What is the justification for annually placing

certain nations at certain positions at the end of the list? I

remember that the Christian Bible makes flattering

references to what comes "Out of the mouths of babes and

sucklings" (The Bible, Psalms 8:2). Similar expressions

can be found in every philosophy and religion on this

planet. It is time that this be learned and observed by those

who prepare the annual speakers’ list.

With many others, we call for the development of an

improved system of coordination here at Headquarters of

the structure of the Organization’s machinery in the social

and economic sectors. More thought must also be given to

the rationalization and coordination of the Organization’s

multifarious development agencies in the field.

Even as the World Trade Organization and the Bretton

Woods institutions develop their separate complexes of

structures and prescriptions, my delegation sees a greater

need for overall coordination by this premier Organization.

The United Nations must be appropriately developed as the

first among equals within the global organizational system.

We laud the Secretary-General and the Assembly for

improvement in the systems of oversight and conditions of

service, especially in the area of gender equity. But

equitable distribution of staff posts and responsibilities

within all United Nations bodies must be radically

improved.

Above all, the United Nations must learn to speak

to, not at, the peoples of the world. In the ongoing

efforts to rearticulate, reinform and reinforce the vision of

the Charter’s framers, we can even envisage our Chief

Executive going on camera on popular talk shows,

teaching new constituencies about what is after all their

organization. He should continue to find bully pulpits in

the global electronic information meeting-place, for the

need to sound the themes that underline the continuing

vitality of our world body is particularly urgent at this

time. After all, in the run-up to our fiftieth anniversary

we must be able to give a proper account of our

stewardship, to withstand the special scrutiny we will

surely now provoke. Our world Government has to

demonstrate that it is relevant, effective, moral and, above

all, democratic. It is only then that we can fully expect

that it will be able hereafter to call out ever more clearly,

forcefully and directly to "We the peoples of the world".