Barbados, 1997

Mr. President, it is my

pleasure to congratulate you on your election, to share the

confidence expressed in your leadership, and to pledge the

cooperation of the Barbados delegation in the work of the

fifty-second session of the General Assembly.

I also wish to convey our deep appreciation to His

Excellency Ambassador Razali Ismail for his outstanding

stewardship of the fifty-first session. My delegation

welcomed the firm management and dispatch of the

General Assembly agenda which characterized his tenure as

President. We would wish that this businesslike approach

reflect the new direction of a reformed United Nations,

more efficient and more effective, to face the challenge of

rapid global change.

The Assembly meets again for its review of the global

political scene against a background of recurring strife and

conflict in many parts of the world. The increasing

demands on the resources of the Organization continue to

hamper implementation of its priority mission in the post-

cold-war world, namely, promoting sustainable

development and, in particular, the elimination of absolute

poverty.

My delegation believes that the United Nations must

remain the conscience of the international community in

the fight against poverty and misery, which afflict so

many of the world’s people. Yet we face the stark reality

that without peace, the fruits of development and the

goals of economic and social justice will remain for them

a distant dream.

The numerous conflicts, both old and new, which

darken the global political scene underline the need for a

new urgency in the quest for peace, so wherever conflict

exists we call on all concerned parties to redouble their

efforts towards reconciliation and to accelerate the

conditions for stability and economic and social progress

for their people.

But, as we look to the new millennium, we believe

that prospects for an era of lasting peace must extend

beyond traditional responses to conflict after they have

erupted. The promotion of a “Culture of Peace”, launched

by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), holds considerable promise. It

focuses greater attention on prevention and addresses the

cause of conflict at its roots. We share the view of

UNESCO that this challenge is broad and far-reaching

and would require priority commitment by the United

Nations system, non-governmental organizations, and civil

society.

Institutional reform and restructuring at both the

national and multilateral levels in response to rapid global

change is an imperative, not an option. Barbados strongly

supports the United Nations reform process, and has

followed with deep interest the progress of the various

Working Groups.

The Working Group on an Agenda for Development

has completed its task. We now have a comprehensive

document which embodies the main development

priorities contained in the various programmes of action.

But if the Agenda is to be implemented, it must claim

wide ownership, not only among the organs and

specialized agencies of the United Nations system, but

among the operational Ministries of Governments as

well — in particular, Ministries of Finance. Here we

remain concerned that the critical question of the future

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financing of development has not been resolved. This has

heightened uncertainty about the international commitment

to development cooperation, through which the United

Nations system has played such an important supportive

role in developing countries.

Negotiations taking place in the Working Group on

reform of the Security Council should facilitate, not limit,

opportunities for membership of developing countries, and

reflect the altered structure of the Organization since 1965.

Barbados attaches particular importance to the principle of

openness and transparency in the work of the Council and

welcomes the steps already taken in this direction through

regular briefings and monthly assessments by Council

Presidents.

Difficult negotiations remain on key issues, including

the size of the Council, the nature of its enlargement and

the use of the veto. We must now step up consultations,

drawing on the useful proposals submitted by Member

States and the Co-Chairmen of the Group. We hope such

negotiations can be conducted in a timely and open manner,

in a spirit of compromise, and to the general satisfaction of

all.

The report on the strengthening of the United Nations

system contains many important recommendations for

improving the role and functioning of the General

Assembly and the accountability and efficiency of the

Secretariat. Some may argue that these proposals do not go

far enough. In the view of my delegation, however, they

constitute a firm basis on which the effectiveness of these

organs can be built. We look forward to their

implementation.

My delegation remains deeply concerned about the

prolonged financial crisis facing the Organization and the

serious implications for its long-term viability. We believe

that the United Nations is at the crossroads. Payment of

assessed contributions in full, on time and without

conditions is a hallowed treaty obligation of Member States.

Unilateral conditions, however convenient, constitute a

dangerous precedent which could hobble the United Nations

and the reform process for many years to come. We urge

the Working Group concerned to step up its efforts to put

the Organization on a more secure financial footing.

Against this background of United Nations system

reform, we welcome the second phase of the Secretary-

General’s reform programme “Renewing the United

Nations: A Programme for Reform”. It contains many far-

reaching proposals designed to streamline the organizational

and management structure of the United Nations and to

improve its overall effectiveness. My delegation will

participate actively in the relevant forum which will

consider this report, and seek greater clarification and

specificity on a number of key recommendations.

In principle, however, we believe that as chief

executive officer, accountable to Member States for the

Organization’s performance, the Secretary-General must

be able to implement those management actions within

his immediate authority. At the same time, we would

caution that reform should not be driven by staff

reduction targets, nor predetermined by budgetary

constraints. We believe reform should be guided by the

mandated objectives and priorities set by Member States,

as reflected in the various programmes of action of the

global conferences, and the financial and human resources

required to implement them.

The scientific achievements of this century have

been truly spectacular. We have visited the Moon and

lived in outer space for months. We have made great

advances in medicine and genetic engineering, in

information technology, in high-speed mass transport and

in food production, to mention only a few. Yet so much

remains to be done. Abject poverty, disease, illiteracy and

ill-health still afflict far too many fellow inhabitants of

this planet as we approach the new millennium.

This Organization has done much to alleviate

suffering. But it can continue to do so, and do so more

effectively, only if Member States, according to their

capacities, give unselfishly of the financial and technical

resources necessary for the execution of its social

programmes.

In Barbados, our own national development

programmes underscore the Government’s assignment of

highest priority to the social sectors, which at present

account for almost 40 per cent of total Government

expenditure. Through sustained economic growth,

supplemented by an effective social safety net, the

Government aims to spread the benefits of development

to all its people. Among new major programmes are Edu

tech 2000, a five-year education-sector programme aimed

at enhancing the use of information technology by

students and teachers, and the Youth Entrepreneurship

Scheme, known as YES, which provides training,

business counselling, mentorship and access to finance for

young entrepreneurs.

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While our strong commitment to social policy has paid

rich dividends, as illustrated by the successive high

rankings of Barbados in the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) human development index, emerging

problems largely associated with poverty, particularly

among youth, are of critical concern.

The Government has therefore launched a major

initiative in collaboration with UNDP to elaborate a plan of

action for poverty alleviation including the feasibility of a

social-investment funding scheme. It will target pockets of

poverty throughout the country and provide funding for

programmes submitted by local non-governmental

organizations and community groups, focusing on skills

acquisition and community empowerment. Through related

policies, the Government is implementing measures to

promote gender parity and the full integration of women

and youth in the development process.

Barbados enjoys a robust democracy and so recognizes

the increasing influence of civil society in shaping national

policy. The Government has taken a number of actions to

foster and to strengthen this participatory process, including

the establishment of National Commissions on Social

Justice and on Reform of the Constitution. This underscores

the highest priority we give to social justice and democracy

and the importance we attach to keeping these fundamental

rights under periodic review.

Barbados participated actively within the Alliance of

Small Island States (AOSIS) during the nineteenth special

session of the General Assembly, which reviewed the

outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment

and Development. We consider the Rio Conference to be

one of the great achievements of the United Nations. It

underscored the integration of environment and

development policies through a comprehensive programme

of action — Agenda 21 — which speaks to the very

survival of our planet. More particularly, it called the

attention of the international community to the special

vulnerabilities of small island developing States through the

follow-up Global Conference on the Sustainable

Development of the Small Island Developing States, and

the Barbados Programme of Action which it adopted.

Barbados shared with other developing countries the

expectation that the special session would rekindle the spirit

of Rio and reaffirm the commitments made for the

financing of sustainable development. The special session

clearly fell short of these expectations. Since Rio, progress

has been made in enacting international law and

conventions in the areas of biodiversity, the seas, climate

change and desertification, and in implementing

environmental policies at the national level. But the

failure of donors to honour commitments on finance and

technology was clearly the most crucial factor limiting

further implementation of Agenda 21.

We welcome, however, the decision to hold a two-

day special session to review the Barbados Programme of

Action in 1999. It is our hope that this review will

reinforce the long-term viability of this Programme and

underscore the vital role small island developing States

play as a laboratory for the study of environmental

change in the interest of all countries. While recognizing

that, through self-help, small island developing States

must do more to revitalize the Barbados Programme, we

urge the international community to provide greater

financial support to strengthen its implementation,

especially its information network and technical assistance

components. The upcoming Caribbean ministerial meeting

on the plan of action, scheduled to be held in Barbados in

November, will give strategic direction to our preparatory

work over the next several months.

I wish to turn briefly to specific developments of

major concern to the Caribbean region. The vulnerability

of our region, both environmental and economic, is a

daily reality. On the emerald isle of Montserrat, nature

has dealt a most cruel blow. There the people face not

just the effects of a natural calamity, but the distinct

possibility that their island home and way of life could be

obliterated. The eruption of the Lange Soufriere Hills

Volcano shows no signs of abating. Barbados has joined

its Caribbean Community (CARICOM) partners in

providing financial and material assistance to the people

of our sister isle in this time of crisis. We urge the

international community to come to the assistance of this

beleaguered island.

Man-made disasters can be no less cruel. The recent

decision of the World Trade Organization panel on the

banana question has threatened the very lifeline of the

exporting countries of the region. We know that

diversification is the long-term answer. But such

economic transformation cannot be achieved overnight or

without consistent support from the international

community. Barbados joins affected countries in appealing

for such support.

Last June Barbados and the other CARICOM States

welcomed Haiti as the fourteenth member of our

Community. Haiti’s future is now linked to CARICOM’s

future.

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In supporting Haiti during its critical hour, CARICOM

countries cautioned then, and we do so again now, that the

task ahead would be long and difficult and that progress

would be uneven, and urged the international community to

stay the course with Haiti. We are therefore grateful not

just to the Security Council for agreeing to a United

Nations Transition Mission in Haiti whose mandate extends

to 30 November 1997, but also to the Friends of the

Secretary-General for Haiti, and to other concerned

delegations that made this compromise possible. This

extension will further professionalize the National Police

force and enhance its capacity to secure the stability on

which democracy and development can flourish.

In May 1997 Barbados had the honour to host the

CARICOM/United States summit on partnership for

prosperity and security in the Caribbean. It underlined our

mutual economic and security interests and opened a new

chapter in the CARICOM/United States partnership,

consistent with the changing global economy.

The summit adopted the Bridgetown Declaration of

Principles. It will guide an ambitious action plan designed

to promote sustainable development and foster democracy,

peace, and economic and social progress in the region.

Barbados considers the summit an important landmark in

CARICOM/United States cooperation. We look forward to

monitoring the action plan at annual meetings of

CARICOM Foreign Ministers and the Secretary of State of

the United States of America, starting early in 1998. We

trust that this process of consultation will embrace the

concerns of Caribbean countries over a number of critical

issues, such as the adverse impact of recent immigration

policy on the very fabric of Caribbean society.

Barbados and the CARICOM States have been

particularly concerned with the threat to democracy and

society posed by drug trafficking, crime and violence,

money laundering and corruption. Our efforts to rid the

Caribbean of those scourges have centred on increased

cooperation and information sharing and on the

strengthening and training of our police and coastguard

forces. We welcome the valuable support for these efforts

by our bilateral partners as well as by the Regional Office

for the Caribbean of the United Nations International Drug

Control Programme. The special session of the General

Assembly on the issue of drugs next year will provide a

valuable opportunity to share our experiences and also to

learn from those of others.

Let me comment briefly on the phenomenon of

globalization, which has reshaped the development

landscape, with far-reaching implications for the

Caribbean Community. The reordering and strengthening

of CARICOM-United States cooperation are an integral

part of our adaptation to this powerful impulse. Through

the liberalization of trade, finance and services and the

rapid expansion of telecommunications and information

technology, developing countries have become a driving

force in this process, although the level and pace of

integration differ widely among countries. Barbados

shares the anxiety of small developing States, which are

highly vulnerable to marginalization in this fiercely

competitive environment given our sparse natural and

human-resource base and limited administrative and

technical capacity.

Globalization presents new opportunities for trade

and investment — witness the performance of East Asian

economies. But the gains have been largely reaped by the

stronger countries, leaving the weak even more

disadvantaged and the inequality between and within

countries even more pronounced. It is for this reason that

we urge the United Nations to play a greater advocacy

role on behalf of vulnerable States in the policy dialogue

on globalization.

The CARICOM States recognize that we must

strengthen our technical capacity to negotiate effectively

our integration into the global economy. Accordingly,

regional negotiating machinery has been established to

manage these crucial negotiations, which will determine

our future relations with major trading blocs.

This fifty-second session of the General Assembly

has before it many critical issues. It must guide the

reform process, which, in effect, will determine the very

future of the Organization. It must come to terms with the

chronic and grave financial crisis that threatens the

Organization’s integrity and viability. It must redouble its

efforts to foster reconciliation and stability in the many

strife-torn countries where millions of people remain

trapped in poverty and deprivation.

Barbados believes that this indispensable institution

can meet these challenges. But it must expeditiously put

its house in order so that it can intensify its efforts with

regard to the priorities that define its unique mission of

peace, development, democracy and social justice.

Barbados pledges its full commitment and support.

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