Jamaica, 2010

I would like to

congratulate Mr. Deiss again on his assumption of the

presidency of the General Assembly at the sixty-fifth

session and, on behalf of the Jamaican delegation, to

assure him of our full cooperation in the ambitious

undertaking on which he has embarked. I extend

Jamaica’s appreciation to his predecessor, His

Excellency Mr. Ali Treki, for so ably guiding the

proceedings of the sixty-fourth session of the

Assembly.

We come to the Hall of this great institution as

partners. It is the only organization of its kind, where

countries of the world, no matter how rich or poor, big

or small, powerful or weak, sit at the same table, joined

together by the principle of the sovereign equality of

all its Members.

As leaders, we are privileged to be the custodians

of the world, mandated to secure for its people a just

and peaceful existence and to enable them to achieve

happiness and prosperity. We come with differing

perspectives, shaped by our own experiences and the

peculiar challenges we face. But we have long

recognized that however unique our individual

circumstances may appear, they are all affected by our

interdependence.

The impact of climate change shows that we all

live under the same canopy. Diseases that can devastate

whole populations know no boundaries and require no

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entry permit. Natural disasters are indiscriminate in the

selection of their targets. The financial crisis on Wall

Street did not disrupt just the American economy; it

ricocheted across the world, affecting millions of

people who do not even know where Wall Street is.

Communications technology has rendered us

neighbours in the same village, for no matter how vast

the oceans that separate us or the continents over which

we are scattered, we are affected or influenced for good

or bad by each other.

It is in that in mutuality, that interconnectedness

and interdependency, with all our commonality and

diversity, that we find both our strengths and our

weaknesses. We have seen those strengths at work and

what they can accomplish, the positive difference we

can make when we surmount our differences and find

common purpose in preventing wars and securing

peace, in safeguarding human rights and promoting

human development. And we recognize our

weaknesses, our failure so often to raise our lowest

common denominator to a level where consensus can

more readily be found and action galvanized.

We cannot afford to ignore the cynics who feel

that we should have done more, for there is more that

needs to be done. Some age-old problems still remain,

and new challenges have emerged that threaten to

undermine the achievements we have already made.

We refuse to accept that after 65 years of our existence,

1.5 billion people — 1.5 billion — should have to live

in poverty and more than 1 billion suffer the pangs of

hunger.

The playing field of the world is still not level,

because the equality of our sovereignty has not been

matched by the equality of opportunity. Now global

warming, terrorism and transnational organized crime

pose new threats to the peace, security and progress of

the world.

The heavy agenda set for the sixty-fifth session

reflects the scope and complexity of the issues that

confront us. Each of us approaches that agenda with a

different set of priorities. Yet there are some issues that

are so broad in their implications that they demand

from us special and urgent attention. They manifest

themselves in the stark reality of our existence: 20 per

cent of the world’s population enjoys 75 per cent of the

world’s income, and 15 per cent of the world’s

population lives on less than 1 per cent of the world’s

income. We come here as equals, but when we go back

home some are vastly more equal than others.

It is easy to blame that on the injustices of the

distant past, the neo-colonialism of the more recent

past or the Washington consensus of the present. That

is only part of the story.

Developing countries struggling with poverty and

underdevelopment must accept our share of the blame.

We must recognize that there is a lot that we can and

must do for ourselves. Each of us must adopt and

pursue with fixity of purpose the appropriate economic

and social policies and good governance practices. We

must be prepared to take the tough decisions that are so

often necessary to secure the advancement of our

people, and we must never squander the sacrifices we

call on them to make. President Obama was right when

he declared at the High-level Plenary Meeting last

Wednesday (see ) that each of us must

assume leadership of our own transformation even

while requiring the support of the international

community.

The existing international financial system and

multilateral trading arrangements will not enable us to

redress those imbalances. They have not done so up to

now, and they are unlikely to do so in the future.

Market forces and competitiveness are indispensable

for economic development, but the new millennium

cannot be defined by the survival of the fittest. We

must make it our business to assist the weak to become

fit in order not just to survive but to prosper.

For almost a decade we have been trying to

conclude the Doha Round in order to put in place a

regime that facilitates the expansion of trade, which is

so vital to increasing global prosperity. Redressing the

lopsidedness in international trade is necessary if we

are to restore and sustain global economic growth. It is

just common sense that if one part of the world is not

able to export more to the rest of the world, it will not

be able to import more from that other part of the

world. It may do so for a time by borrowing from that

other part of the world in order to pay for its imports,

but that is a bubble that will eventually burst. Many

countries have seen that bubble burst in the recent

global crisis.

We insist that Doha must include a development

dimension to build competitiveness and capacity in

weak exporting countries, as well as special and

differential treatment calibrated to our differing levels

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of development, economic size and vulnerabilities.

That offers a win-win situation: more exports from

developing countries mean that there will be more jobs

for their people and more demand for imports from

other countries.

We urge that every effort be made to conclude the

Doha Round in that spirit, and we urge, further, that the

gains already accrued to developing countries in earlier

negotiations not be unravelled. The global financial

crisis exposed weaknesses in governance of the

international financial system, weaknesses that have

become more acute with changes in the global

landscape and shifts in the centre of gravity of the

world’s economy.

We endorse the need for reform of the

international financial institutions, in order to improve

standards of efficiency and accountability, and the

creation of a more democratic structure, one that will

allow developing countries a greater voice.

In the same vein, while we welcome the

establishment of the Group of 20 as the locus of global

economic policymaking, we urge that it institute a

mechanism to engage the views of the wider,

developing world. It is also important to establish a

close working relationship with the United Nations to

ensure complementarity with the role of the United

Nations in economic development as mandated under

its Charter.

We urge also that the multilateral agencies move

beyond what is now the paramount objective: to ensure

that the international payments system is secure. The

financial assistance provided to many countries during

this time of stress, necessary and welcome though it is,

is rooted in policies that are contractionary, designed to

consolidate and stabilize even at the cost of increasing

poverty and social dislocation.

We have hardly learned from the experiences of

the past. The gains made towards achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals are being eroded and

our ability to recover from the global shocks is being

stymied. Bold new thinking is required, thinking that

places development as the primary focus of multilateral

intervention. We know we must make sacrifices, but let

those sacrifices be an investment for our future, not

just a tourniquet for our immediate dilemma.

We too are disappointed that the climate change

summit in Copenhagen failed to reach consensus on

mitigation and adaptation strategies. While the

Copenhagen Accord did not deliver the comprehensive

agreement we had hoped for, it nonetheless provided

political impetus for negotiations towards a binding

agreement for the second commitment period under the

Kyoto Protocol. We are hopeful that the Cancún

meeting in November and December will further

advance the process that will eventually lead to a

legally binding and comprehensive agreement under

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change and the Bali Road Map.

With member countries that are among the most

vulnerable to global warming, the Caribbean

Community (CARICOM) and its partners in the

Alliance of Small Island States will continue to defend

the long-term stabilization of greenhouse gas

concentrations with a cap of 1.5°C above pre-industrial

levels. The 2°C threshold being advanced by some

would be catastrophic for countries in our region and

low-lying small island States in general, and we appeal

to all our partners to coalesce around a temperature

threshold that would preserve the viability of the most

vulnerable countries — as was underscored a few days

ago during the high-level five-year review of the

Mauritius Strategy. The commitment by developed

countries to provide $30 billion in new funding to

assist developing countries to improve mitigation and

adaptation strategies over the next two years offers an

opportunity to prove the cynics wrong, to demonstrate

that when we speak, we say what we mean and mean

what we say.

The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in January of

this year and the recent disastrous floods in Pakistan

are stark reminders of the increasing vulnerability of

many countries and regions to natural disasters. We

were shocked by the immensity of the impact of those

disasters and saddened by the loss of life, the suffering

and the destruction of property and infrastructure. We

express our solidarity with the Governments and

people of both Haiti and Pakistan.

The reconstruction of Haiti is CARICOM’s most

urgent priority. We commend the international

community for committing almost $10 billion from 57

donor countries and organizations. However, we

impress upon them the urgency with which actions

must follow those commitments, especially in

strengthening the institutional capacity of Haiti to

undertake the mammoth task at hand. The Haitian

people have suffered too much for too long. We have a

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duty to help them to make a fresh start and to embark

on the journey of lasting progress and development.

We underscore the important role of the United Nations

Stabilization Mission in Haiti in helping to foster the

environment necessary to ensure a sustainable future

for the Haitian people.

The danger to international peace and security of

nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism must remain

at the top of the international security agenda. We are

encouraged by the 2010 Review Conference of the

Non-Proliferation Treaty in June, which elaborated on

measures toward a nuclear-weapon-free world and the

strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

We have no doubt that the new START treaty, signed

between Russia and the United States of America in

April of this year, was a contributing factor. We look

forward to the ratification and entry into force of that

treaty between those two States, which together

possess more than 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear

arsenal. Their faithful compliance with the treaty and

their commitment to greater transparency in achieving

further reductions will secure our hope for eventual

nuclear disarmament.

We are also encouraged by the resumption of

talks between Israel and Palestine. It offers renewed

hope for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the

Middle East, one that guarantees the security of Israel

and the unquestioned recognition of a Palestinian State.

We urge both sides to ensure that this renewed hope

does not turn into despair.

Latin America and the Caribbean are faced with

the twin menace of the illicit trade in narcotic drugs

and small arms. The open borders in the Caribbean

make us an easy conduit for trans-shipment between

the major sources and destinations of illicit drugs. The

attendant crime and violence constitute a major threat

to national development because they create instability

and compel us to divert scarce resources to tackle this

scourge.

Jamaica has adopted a multifaceted approach to

tackle crime and violence, relying not only on law

enforcement but on strategic social intervention and

social transformation initiatives to create new

opportunities and inspire hope, especially among our

young people, who are vulnerable to being recruited or

conscripted into criminal enterprises.

However, we cannot do it alone. The

transnational nature of organized crime requires cross-

border collaboration at the bilateral, regional and

international levels if we are to combat the illegal trade

and to tackle with equal vigour the supply, transit and

demand sides of the international drug trade. The

recent high-level meeting on transnational organized

crime and the Fourth Biennial Meeting of States on

Small Arms and Light Weapons were instrumental in

reinforcing the need for the implementation of

measures to curtail the growing threat. Those efforts

would be strengthened by the conclusion of a legally

binding instrument to curtail the illicit trade in small

arms and light weapons and ammunition, and we urge

the United Nations to approach this troubling issue

with the urgency that it deserves.

International institutions cannot retain their

legitimacy if they do not adapt to changing times and

the new configuration of the international community.

The United Nations Security Council cannot be exempt

from that process. Fundamental reform is required to

address the existing imbalances in the current power

structure of the Council and to secure expansion in

both categories of membership in order to correctly

reflect the contemporary global realities.

In advancing the discussions on system-wide

coherence, we support the need to improve the

operations of the United Nations at the country level to

ensure that the system can appropriately respond to the

needs of recipient countries and to prevent the

unnecessary imposition of undue conditionalities. In

this context, we laud the establishment of the United

Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the

Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and we

congratulate former President of Chile Mrs. Michelle

Bachelet on her appointment as head of UN Women. I

am confident that under her leadership significant

progress will be made to achieve the goals of gender

equality and to meet the special needs of women and

girls worldwide.

We must not allow ourselves to be imprisoned by

our past but even as we look to the future we dare not

ignore the experiences that have shaped our present

condition. The transatlantic slave trade to which

millions of Africans fell victim was one such epoch.

CARICOM States are therefore pleased that our

initiative to have erected a permanent memorial to

honour the victims of slavery has won the support of

the United Nations community, in keeping with the

mandate of the 2001 World Conference against

Racism. We commend UNESCO for its decision to

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launch an international competition for the design of

this monument.

Jamaica reaffirms its confidence in the United

Nations as the indispensable forum for our collective

deliberations aimed at addressing the major challenges

confronting our world. We must take pride in our

achievements, but we must always be mindful that our

mission is not yet accomplished. We must never tire,

even when burdened with frustration. Our impatience

must be turned into renewed energy. Into our hands has

been entrusted the responsibility to make this world a

better place for all of mankind to live, prosper and

enjoy happiness. That is what they expect of us. That is

what they deserve, and that is what we must do

everything in our power to deliver.