Jamaica, 2003

Your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth

session, Sir, is a source of great pride and considerable

satisfaction to Jamaica and the entire Caribbean. We

regard it as a tangible acknowledgement of the region’s

active engagement on the global stage. I am confident

that your combination of long political experience,

outstanding diplomatic skills and commitment to

global comity will enable all of us to benefit from your

guiding hand at a time when the United Nations, the

very cornerstone of global security and economic

cooperation, faces its most severe test and the Charter

itself is exposed to its greatest challenge. We also wish

to commend the Secretary-General for his work during

a very difficult year and in trying circumstances for the

United Nations.

It may eventually prove to be a fortunate quirk of

history that, by virtue of the rotation system, a

distinguished representative of the Caribbean now

occupies the presidency. For, by virtue of our history,

location and size, we who fashioned the Caribbean

Community thirty years ago recognized that we would

never be able to acquire the economic power or

military might to stand alone. Multilateralism,

therefore, affords us our only source of protection.

Therefore, from its inception, our Community has

remained resolute in upholding the sovereign equality

of States and the maintenance of an international order

that protects the weak and powerless from domination.

The international situation today is filled with

uncertainty and fear. There is a prevailing climate of

distrust and insecurity. Humankind faces the dangers of

terrorism, nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass

destruction. We witness outbreaks of war and violence

and a worrying escalation of confrontation and conflict.

There are new doctrines and policies that threaten

peace everywhere.

The pillars of international law and respect for

sovereign rights are being steadily eroded. Injustice

and abuses of human rights still remain manifest. These

are real concerns that underscore the need to strengthen

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multilateralism, to restore confidence in the United

Nations system, to buttress its centrality in decisions

that affect us all and to thereby enhance its capacity to

enforce.

The multilateral process will collapse unless the

international community asserts a strong collective will

to review the structures, mandates and procedures in

our global system.

In relation to efforts to strengthen multilateralism,

I wish to emphasize four requirements:

First, multilateralism must be equitable. This is

critical for its credibility. It should promote policies

that provide full opportunity for all States to benefit

from the global system and that take into account the

needs, aspirations and welfare of the entire global

community. It should be non-discriminatory and

proceed from the principle that the lives of human

beings cannot be differentiated on the basis of race,

nationality or religion.

Secondly, multilateralism must be democratic.

This is critical for its acceptability. Its decision-making

should be based on a fully inclusive process, in which

all States have a voice and where dialogue and equal

participation are encouraged and promoted.

Thirdly, multilateralism must be principled. This

is critical for its legitimacy. It must be based on

common rules and standards devised and enforced by

the international community, standards without

selective application or double standards.

Fourthly, multilateralism must be effective. This

is critical for its efficiency. Decisions, once taken,

should be implemented. Member States must exercise

the political will to guarantee that policies and

decisions that are agreed upon and taken are supported

and upheld.

Adequate resources must also be provided where

necessary. In order to promote the interests of all

States, the United Nations and multilateral institutions

must facilitate the creation of new opportunities for

economic development, through the expansion of trade

and investment flows and through technical

cooperation assistance.

In order to strengthen multilateralism, we need

reform and rebuilding to improve the work of the

United Nations in areas such as development

cooperation, humanitarian affairs and disarmament.

No one, not even the five permanent members,

dares to dispute the compelling urgency of altering the

design and function of the Security Council if it is to

fulfil, in the realities of the world today, the mandate

conferred by the Charter of 1945. The case for

expansion of membership is irrefutable, as is the need

to redesign decision-making to correspond with the

principle of the sovereign equality of States.

Let me make it clear: reform must extend beyond

composition and geographical balance. The Security

Council, as presently constituted, makes no pretence at

representing democracy in the global system. This must

be changed if we are to not fall into a dangerous abyss,

and it must be changed in a way that deters arrogant

deviation from the most basic elements of the rule of

international law. We have been talking for long

enough; the time has come to cut the talk and walk the

walk.

In 2001, from this podium, I called for a United

Nations renaissance. Unless we undertake it now, only

those who believe in a resurrection will still be present.

None of us will then be able pretend that we are not

responsible for the demise of the Organization, nor will

we be able to exonerate ourselves from the

condemnation of history.

With regard to the General Assembly, what is

needed is a resuscitation in the use of its powers and

assertion of its role as the principal organ of the United

Nations. This Assembly is a forum of equals. Its

pronouncements and policy decisions must carry the

stamp of legitimacy as it is the voice of the

international community.

But while we emphasize the importance of

institutional reform, there should be equal focus on the

responsibilities of membership. There is need for a

revitalization in the commitment and political will of

Member States to support the multilateral system and

provide it with adequate resources. Irrespective of the

institutional arrangements we may devise, it is, in the

final analysis, the Member States alone who can make

the system work. We cannot afford to fail.

The critical problems facing us concerning war

and peace are compounded by the proliferation of

weapons of all kinds. Globally, military expenditures

now amount to over 800 billion dollars annually.

Experience has shown, however, that military power

and massive investment in weapons do not bring

security and lasting peace. The force of arms cannot

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impose a lasting peace. Instead, it breeds a climate of

insecurity and feeds violence, war and terrorism with

increasingly destructive capacity.

At the same time, the arms industry fuels a

rapidly growing underworld of trans-national organized

crime, which jeopardizes law and order and impedes

economic growth and social stability within our

national boundaries.

It is tragic and painful to witness the continued

cycle of violence and carnage and the massive

destruction of property in the Middle East. No solution

can result from the continued military subjugation of

the Palestinians or from violence against the Israelis. A

political settlement has to be found to provide security

for the Israeli people, to establish an independent State

for the Palestinians and to make suitable arrangements

for the security of all States in the region.

We cannot begin to speak about the situation in

Iraq without noting the atmosphere of fear, disorder

and insecurity which now prevails in that country. We

deplore the recent bombings of the Jordanian Embassy

in Baghdad and the United Nations office, which

resulted in the deaths of United Nations officials,

including that of the Special Representative of the

Secretary-General in Iraq, and the bombing of the

Shi’ite mosque.

We must all learn from what has happened in Iraq

over the past year. The immediate question is how to

formulate interim arrangements for the recovery and

reconstruction of that country and the restoration of its

sovereignty and independence, under a Government

chosen by the Iraqi people. Efforts to re-engage the

United Nations must ensure that it assumes a

meaningful role in the peace-building process and the

transition to democracy.

The situation in Africa has not been given the

level of attention that is needed, particularly by the

Security Council. The continued turmoil within parts of

the continent shows the need for stabilization through

conciliation and dialogue between contending parties

to end further fighting and bloodshed. We commend

the role being played by regional organizations like the

Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) and by African statesmen to mediate and

bring peace to those areas of current concern. But more

should be done.

Additional resources are needed to assist to

ensure that societies disrupted by conflict can be re-

established and stabilized. The obstacles to eliminating

poverty and disease can be overcome by providing

material assistance, and we are convinced that Africa

has the indigenous resources, the human potential and

the leadership to prevail over adversity.

Within the global economy, the pattern continues

of a widening gap between developed and developing

countries. Wealth is increasing but poverty is also

growing in critical areas of the world. Although we

continue to raise our voices to warn of the dangers of

this global trend, our partners in the developed world

have given little indication of a change in policies that

might reverse it. We are continually told that prosperity

will come with policies of liberalization, a minimalist

State and deregulation. In turn, these policies will

unleash free enterprise to take advantage of economic

opportunities that will lead to development and growth.

But it has become painfully obvious that this model

does not succeed everywhere, particularly in the

developing world.

As you know so well, Sir, the countries of the

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have for a long

time been a region where democracy flourishes and the

rule of law prevails. The strengthening of civil and

political rights in our countries has been our passion

since we gained our freedom.

We know that no country is above improvement

in any of these areas, but there is a fashion in the

industrial world — including countries that are new

converts to these values — to imply that their adoption

is the solution to all the problems of development.

Were that so, Jamaica and all our countries of the

Caribbean would have been havens of prosperity long

ago.

What much of the developing world needs goes

beyond sermons about the precepts of democracy,

about obeying the rule of law and securing respect for

human rights. The help we need is help in preserving

those rights from erosion by the instabilities that derive

from underdevelopment and from the steady

deterioration in the global political environment.

In the international community, those same values

are being systematically discarded and destroyed, as if

our world society deserves less than our national

communities. The persistence of underdevelopment —

the denial of people’s full rights as human beings — is

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the major challenge that poor countries face. We make

this clear, because it has become all too easy for rich

countries to excuse themselves from any meaningful

effort towards poverty alleviation and economic

development by asserting that salvation lies simply in

securing civil and political rights. This is exactly what

they did at Cancun to the poorest countries in the

world — to those who live in abject poverty — by

denying their plaintive petition for a better deal in

cotton.

As the current Chairman of the Caribbean

Community, I assert that for us in the Caribbean, the

future of our democracies lies in the strengthening of

our economies, in a more favourable trading

environment for our products, in more rapid and

effective debt relief, in the protection of legitimate

areas of economic progress like our financial services

industry and in tailoring globalization and the dogma

of liberalization to the needs of small economies. Our

future lies, in short, in escaping the trap of poverty.

That some are poorer does not make us less poor than

we are; that some are less developed than we are does

not alter our state of underdevelopment.

Trade and competitiveness are not everything. In

developing countries there are weaknesses in

production capacity and deficiencies at the micro level

that can be helped through programmes of development

cooperation. Regrettably, in recent years, donor

resources for such cooperation have been shrinking.

Where commitments have been given, there have just

been too many promises broken. But we still remain

hopeful that the pledges of Monterrey and the targets of

Johannesburg will be taken seriously as commitments

to be implemented.

Partnership should not be used as a vehicle for

the imposition of conditionalities to promote bilateral

political objectives. In our view, true partnership must

respect the concept of ownership by recipients and the

national priorities as determined by them. Decisions

affecting development are being taken in different

areas, in different forums and by different agencies.

Increasingly, there is the need to ensure coherence in

policies and programmes.

The international system currently does not have

an effective mechanism for conducting such an

exercise. We reiterate our belief that one of the urgent

tasks of the moment is to create a mechanism within

the international architecture, which will focus on

trade, finance, technology and development policy in

an integrated manner.

We want to draw attention to the Barbados

Programme of Action, which deals with the

vulnerability of small island developing States (SIDS).

We call on the donor community to support the review

of international economic arrangements, when the

international conference meets in 2004 to review the

Barbados Programme of Action.

We in Jamaica fully recognize that globalization

has the potential to advance human development

throughout the world. But this is not automatic. For

globalization has also increased our vulnerability,

insecurity and the possibility of marginalization. Small

countries like Jamaica and groups like CARICOM

cannot and should not be expected to follow the same

policy prescriptions applied to larger, more advanced

countries. Special and differential treatment of a

meaningful kind is important, as we require policy

space for our productive sectors. It cannot be expected

that countries such as ours will abandon local

production in agriculture and manufacturing, although

we fully recognize the growing importance and

potential of the service sector in both the regional and

global economies.

In the aftermath of Cancun, we in the global

community need to accept that trade rules must be

asymmetrical in recognition of the diversity in levels of

development and the size of economies. Trade rules

must also recognize the right of all countries to protect

their development priorities and vulnerable groups,

especially their small farmers. Development issues as

they relate to the World Trade Organization (WTO)

agenda must be defined by developing countries

themselves and not by others for us. The world

community must recognize these principles to ensure

that the global trade architecture can bring meaningful

benefits for all.

Globalization may bring a more integrated world,

but there will always remain significant variations in

national systems, cultures and national priorities. There

is no single sustainable model for political

development or economic success everywhere. We live

in a diverse world where different ideas, cultural norms

and standards exist. These should all be respected in

the framework of agreed principles within the United

Nations. In a world of such diversity and pluralism,

there should be tolerance, understanding, non-

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discrimination, self-determination, respect for equal

rights and justice for all. Those, for us, are

transcendental values to which we in Jamaica and

throughout the Caribbean will always fully subscribe.

The United Nations should continue to promote

respect for diversity while promoting the common

principles and ideals that form the foundations of

international law and order and international

cooperation. This provides the only key for the pursuit

of enduring peace, harmony and real development in

the global village to which we all belong.