Dominica, 1994

Mr. President, permit me to extend my delegation’s

congratulations to you and your country, Côte d’Ivoire, on

the occasion of your election to the high office of the

presidency of the United Nations General Assembly at its

forty-ninth session. There is absolutely no doubt in my

mind that with your proven diplomatic skills and

considerable experience the affairs of the General Assembly

will be conducted in a manner that will redound to the

credit of this institution. At the same time I must express

my delegation’s heartfelt appreciation and thanks to your

immediate predecessor in office, Ambassador Samuel

Insanally, for the competence which he demonstrated in the

discharge of his duties. His commendable performance is

a source of pride to me as it is to all citizens of the

Caribbean region.

(spoke in French)

I am very happy that we are here with you today,

Sir.

(spoke in English)

While the maintenance of peace and security remains

the main objective of the United Nations, the global

environment, the widening gap between rich and poor

nations, the failure of the ill-defined new world order to

materialize, and the forces released by the ending of the

cold war present the Organization with new problems and

challenges. As regional conflicts erupt, the consequential

increase in the number of displaced persons and refugees

exerts greater pressure on the United Nations peace-

keeping apparatus at a time when its available resources

are already severely taxed. It is imperative, therefore,

that the United Nations continue with its restructuring

programme and with those initiatives calculated to

increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the

capability of the Organization to achieve desirable results.

However, cost-effectiveness, commendable as that may

be, should not be at the expense of those worthwhile

programmes designed to benefit small developing nations.

We firmly believe that the United Nations has the

capacity to maintain those programmes while it strives

simultaneously to exercise the necessary budgetary

restraints.

The ethnic and tribal conflicts in the former

Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the reported acts of genocide

and other atrocities are troubling and must exercise the

minds and hearts of human beings everywhere. The

international community cannot appear to condone such

reprehensible acts, and appropriate measures must be

taken to punish those responsible. Accordingly, Dominica

unhesitatingly supports the establishment of international

tribunals for the trial and punishment of those persons

found guilty of crimes against humanity.

The Commonwealth of Dominica supports the

indefinite and unconditional extension of the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and as we look

forward optimistically to a nuclear-free world we call

upon all nations possessing weapons of mass destruction

to join in a cooperative effort to reduce and finally to

eliminate those weapons from the face of the Earth. We

must also express concern at the apparent unwillingness

of the international community to stem the increase in the

rate of production of conventional arms of increasing

sophistication and potential for destruction. Acquired in

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many instances by third world nations, ostensibly to

maintain secure borders and deter aggression, these

weapons very often become effective instruments of

internal repression and the cause of national and regional

instability. Time after time the United Nations is called

upon to expend its limited resources in repairing the

damage and in alleviating the consequential suffering and

misery. We are consistent in maintaining that a reordering

of priorities is called for and that a slight shifting of

resources away from the acquisition of unnecessary arsenals

and into development programmes would result in

tremendous social and economic benefits to the citizens of

many developing countries.

In many countries human rights abuses occur on a

daily basis. Dominica’s respect for human rights and its

commitment to ensure that the rights of every citizen are

protected cannot be questioned. It is in keeping with that

commitment that the Commonwealth of Dominica applauds

the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner

for Human Rights and will support efforts to make that

Office and the Centre for Human Rights effective

instruments in the promotion and protection of human

rights. We believe, however, that in the discharge of his

responsibilities the task of the High Commissioner would

be significantly strengthened if the United Nations General

Assembly were to abandon its present selective

condemnation of human rights abuses. Human rights

abuses should be condemned wherever and whenever they

occur and no nation should be permitted to take comfort

from the fact that its violation of human rights covenants

will escape the glare of publicity and the strictures of the

international community.

The readmission of a democratic, non-racial South

Africa to the United Nations on 23 June 1994 is a source

of tremendous pleasure for my delegation and a tribute to

the many persons and organizations, both inside and outside

the United Nations, who worked so tirelessly in the long

and hard struggle to put an end to the pernicious system of

apartheid. The majority of the people of South Africa must

be congratulated on their sustained effort and determination,

as well as on their conciliatory attitude which augurs well

for the new South Africa. Above all we must congratulate

and applaud the President, Mr. Nelson Mandela, and his

Second Deputy President, Mr. de Klerk, on the courage,

considerable skill and political enlightenment which they

jointly and effectively harnessed in reaching an

accomplishment that may eventually be regarded as a

model for the world. The journey has only just begun.

Many difficulties lie ahead but there are reasons to be

optimistic. With the assistance and support of the

international community South Africa will succeed.

The progress that has been made in the bilateral

negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbours in the

Middle East is heart-warming indeed. With the first steps

having been taken on the road to Palestinian autonomy in

the West Bank and Gaza, and with the signing of the

accord between Jordan and Israel, there appears to be an

excellent opportunity for an eventual resolution of the

conflict that has plagued that region for too long.

Optimism must be tempered with caution, however. The

implementation of the accords and full realization of

Palestinian autonomy will depend for their success on

generous financial support, both private and public. And

while the United Nations must not be intrusive, its interest

in seeing that the legitimate hopes, aspirations and

security needs of the people of the area are realized

imposes upon it a duty to continue to be seized with the

subject-matter and to continue to monitor the process and

the progress towards a full and just peace in the Middle

East.

In different forums and at various times since

September 1991, the Commonwealth of Dominica has

consistently called for the ousting of the military regime

in Port au Prince, the return of President Aristide to Haiti

and the restoration of democracy and the rule of law to

that country. For three years the military leaders in Haiti

have authorized, encouraged and condoned brutal acts of

revenge and wanton violence against the citizens of Haiti

and have continued to exercise governmental power in

defiance of world opinion. They temporized by entering

into the Governors Island Agreement, which they later

failed to honour. Their intransigence and unreliability led

the Security Council to conclude that the unique character

of the situation in Haiti required an exceptional response

and that there was need for the use of all necessary means

to facilitate the departure from Haiti of the military

leaders and the prompt return of the legitimately elected

President.

Faced with the prospect of having to confront an

overwhelming multinational force, the military leaders

have finally decided to step down, and while recent

events give reason for pause, the prospect of the

restoration of democracy to Haiti seems decidedly

brighter than at any time in the last 36 months. When the

Haitian people were the victims of officially sanctioned

brutality and violence, we felt their pain. When President

Aristide returns, we will rejoice with them. We wish the

Haitian people well, and we will do whatever we can to

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assist in their efforts to attain that measure of freedom that

can come only from a government established on

democratic principles. President Aristide is devoted to

Haiti and the well-being of Haitians. We must support him

and encourage him in this daunting and lonely task that he

has undertaken for his people.

However, as friends of the Haitian people, we plead

with them to understand that democracy cannot be imposed

from outside; it can only develop from a genuine desire of

the people of Haiti of all persuasions. A political

environment of intense hatred and passionate desire for

revenge is not fertile ground for a young and fragile

democracy. Success in their new endeavour will require

that nobility of spirit that seeks the path of reconciliation

and trust and eschews vengeance and recriminations. No

one can pretend that the task will be easy, but the following

excerpt from a speech delivered by Archbishop Desmond

Tutu at the commemoration of the Day of the African Child

on 16 June 1994 might be instructive to the Haitian people.

Speaking of his beloved South Africa, the venerable

archbishop said:

“The Minister of Justice of South Africa was detained

several times. He suffers from a heart condition. The

security forces tried to kill him by swapping his

tablets. Today he is writing, drafting the legislation

for an amnesty to forgive the security forces that

wanted to kill him. If it can happen in a South Africa

where it is said the problem is so intractable, no

country in the world can ever again have an excuse

for not being able to resolve its problem. God is

saying, I set before you South Africa as a paradigm.

This is how it can be done. There is hope for the

world when South Africa can become as it has

become.”

We are in accord with Archbishop Tutu, and we are firmly

of the view that if it can be done in South Africa it can and

must be done in Haiti.

The exclusion of the Republic of China on Taiwan

from membership in this body and from participation in the

activities of its various agencies continues to be of concern

to us. It appears incongruous to us that an industrial

country of 21 million people with a democratic

Government, with full membership in the Asian

Development Bank, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Forum, the Pacific Basin Economic Council and the Pacific

Economic Cooperation Council, and with the capacity to

make meaningful and worthwhile contributions to the

activities of the United Nations is denied membership when

everyone agrees that it exercises sovereign authority over

a defined geographical area. On the principle of

universality alone, the request of the Republic of China

on Taiwan for membership in the United Nations is

justifiable. We do not believe that the admission of the

Republic of China on Taiwan precludes eventual

unification. On the contrary, in our view it is likely to

help the process along, and no one can pretend that

parallel representation stands in the way. The citizens of

the Republic of China on Taiwan deserve to be accorded

those rights and privileges enjoyed by citizens of all

sovereign States, and the commonwealth of Dominica

advocates and supports the admission of the Republic of

China on Taiwan to full membership in the United

Nations.

We are gratified that the participants at the

International Conference on Population and Development

in Cairo have wisely arrived at a consensus that gives

support to the view that, in the words of one

commentator, "sustainable development cannot be realized

without the full engagement and complete empowerment

of women". That proposition has long been

acknowledged and incorporated into our decision-making

processes, to the extent that today women have equal

access to education at all levels and gender equality

manifests itself in all facets of life in Dominica. We

realize that the plan of action requires increased spending

on social programmes for its viability, and it is hoped that

at the Conference in Copenhagen in 1995, participants

from donor and recipient countries will arrive at a

reasonable formula in that regard.

We support the establishment of the World Trade

Organization and the liberalization of trade practices, but

we need to remind the international community that

fragile economies of small island states can be easily

destroyed if free trade does not embody that measure of

fairness necessary for their survival. We require that the

larger and economically successful States be mindful of

the need for poor small States to survive. The recent

formation of the Association of Caribbean States will, we

hope, provide a framework for increased trade among the

States in the area and enhance the capability of the region

in its search for ways to reach beneficial accommodation

with more powerful trading groups in the hemisphere.

We look forward to the forthcoming Summit of the

Americas and the proposed frank and detailed

examination of such issues as the hemispheric integration

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process - including a hemispheric free trade zone - the role

of multilateral financial institutions, sustainable

development, and resource flows and debt in hemispheric

development. We hope that out of that gathering will come

not only a keener appreciation of the vulnerabilities of the

smaller States in the region but also a greater impetus for

collaboration on matters of regional trade and development.

After 49 years, its imperfections notwithstanding, the

United Nations remains the world’s greatest deliberative

body and mankind’s greatest hope for survival in a

reasonably well-ordered and peaceful global community.

As the United Nations prepares to celebrate its fiftieth

anniversary, we need to place on record our recognition of

its many worthwhile accomplishments, and we hope that it

will continue in its search for new and innovative ways to

meet the challenges of the future.