Saint Kitts and Nevis, 1993

I am

extremely pleased to bring warm and cordial greetings from

the Government and people of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It is

indeed with a profound sense of pleasure and honour that I

address this, the forty-eighth session of the General

Assembly of the United Nations.

First, I should like to express my sincere

congratulations and appreciation to the outgoing President,

Mr. Stoyan Ganev, for the very proficient and skilful manner

in which he handled last year’s deliberations.

I hasten to extend to you, Sir, our new President, a very

hearty welcome. Your presence in the Chair is a source of

great joy and pride to all of us from the Caribbean. I know

that you will bring your vast experience and great skill to

bear on these proceedings. I wish to assure you of my

country’s continued support and willing cooperation.

I should also like to commend most highly our

Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whose

commitment to the furtherance of the cause of peace,

equality, freedom and democracy world wide stands out as

a testament to hope and prosperity in a time of conflict and

social chaos.

Last week the world was shocked by the tragedy of the

earthquake which caused such extensive loss of life in India.

I extend condolences to the Government and people of India

on behalf of the Government and people of Saint Kitts and

Nevis. I know that the world community will continue to

respond in appropriate measure with timely assistance.

My Government regrets the startling and violent events

that have been occurring in Russia over the past few days,

and we express the hope that peace will quickly return and

that democracy will indeed come to the people of Russia.

On 19 September my country, Saint Kitts and Nevis,

celebrated the tenth anniversary of our independence. On 23

September it was 10 years since I had in this Hall

announced our nation to the world, indicating the principles

that would guide our participation in world affairs and the

objectives that we would pursue. The principles enunciated

then are timeless and unchanging, and I can only ask the

Assembly to revisit them with me as I quote:

"The rights and freedoms embodied in the Constitution

of Saint Kitts and Nevis reflect our commitment to the

sanctity of human life, and of human dignity, the rights

of the individual, and the non-violent pursuit of

happiness." (A/38/PV.3, p. 41)

At that time the East and the West stood precariously

balanced on the brink of the total nuclear annihilation of the

human species. Today the world breathes a collective sigh

of relief as the process of reducing nuclear armaments is

genuinely proceeding.

Initially Saint Kitts and Nevis refused to sign the

nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Our position was a

principled one, because while we supported the objective of

stemming the spread of nuclear weapons among countries,

we felt that in practical terms it would be meaningless unless

those countries with the largest stockpiles of nuclear

weapons made meaningful reductions in their arsenals.

Forty-eighth session - 4 October l993 21

Saint Kitts and Nevis has now signed the Treaty. I call on

all countries with nuclear weapons or the capacity to make

them to join in the global effort for the complete elimination

of nuclear weapons.

Our attention is focused now on conventional conflicts

in various arenas. The fighting and the attendant atrocities

reported from the theatre of conflict in Bosnia and

Herzegovina represent a serious affront to every principle of

human sanctity and human dignity that we share within this

body of nations. The United Nations is endeavouring to

fulfil a humanitarian mission, but we must redouble our

efforts to bring an end to the fighting. We cannot but

express our condemnation and abhorrence at the atrocity of

"ethnic cleansing" being attempted in that theatre of conflict.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis appeals to all the

parties involved in this brutal conflict to heed the call of the

international community to broker a peaceful settlement and

to respect the efforts of the United Nations to implement

effective programmes aimed at ending the civil war and at

providing humanitarian assistance to those victims caught in

the crossfire.

My Government commends the efforts of the United

Nations in delivering humanitarian assistance to the people

of Somalia who face the threat of disease, hunger, starvation

and imminent death. At the same time, my Government

deplores the barbarous attacks on United Nations personnel

deployed in Somalia by forces loyal to Somali factions. We

would also like to add our voice in protest against the killing

of 23 Pakistani peace-keeping soldiers, and others

subsequently. Although we would wish to see the

perpetrators punished, it is our hope that the United Nations

will remain faithful to its original mandate to keep the peace

and feed the hungry.

My country looks forward to an early end and a

permanent solution that will permit the process of

development to be resumed. We sincerely hope that this

crisis does not threaten the prospects for peace in the Horn

of Africa.

Elsewhere in Africa hope has come alive. I refer in

particular to the developments in South Africa. The

Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis welcomes the

announcement of the prospects of non-racial and multi-party

elections scheduled to take place in South Africa in April

l994. The Caribbean has always been unambiguous and

emphatic in its condemnation of apartheid. There is no

doubt that our commitment and our principled stand has

contributed to the inevitable dismantling of the unjust system

of apartheid.

We are at the threshold of a new South Africa which

offers to its people an unprecedented opportunity to write a

new chapter in the history of South Africa whereby the

eradication of apartheid could lead to the creation of a new,

united, non-racial and democratic society. We are extremely

encouraged by the progress in the negotiations taking place

between the Government of F. W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela

of the African National Congress (ANC), and members of

other political parties in South Africa. While there are still

major difficulties, we call upon all parties to seize this

opportunity to bring peace and freedom to all South

Africans.

However, Member Governments must maintain their

vigilance until the Transitional Executive Council has been

established, with the proper terms of reference clearly

outlined and defined, to allow for the integration and active

participation of all races within the developmental and

governmental process of that country. But Saint Kitts and

Nevis supports Nelson Mandela’s call for the removal of

sanctions at this time.

The involvement and influence of the United Nations in

conflict resolution have been outstanding in recent times. In

this regard, my delegation wishes to applaud the timely

efforts of the United Nations and the Organization of

American States (OAS) to bring the relevant parties in the

Haitian crisis to the negotiating table. My Government

welcomes the Governors Island Agreement brokered by the

United Nations, which resulted in talks between

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the military high

command in Haiti. The appointment and installation of

Prime Minister Malval, who was chosen by President

Aristide, was a significant achievement.

The international community must provide support and

security to ensure the safe return of President Aristide,

following which a major development offensive, with

institution-building, must be mounted and sustained. Haiti

must be given the same high priority as is accorded to other

areas of conflict or poverty in the world.

Changes in international affairs are taking place with a

startling rapidity and suddenness that could not possibly have

been predicted. Who would have expected the surprising but

very welcome rapprochement between Israel and the

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which now offers

a genuine prospect for peace in the Middle East? The peace

prospect is obviously very fragile, but we must all support

it and give it every opportunity to prosper. The realities of

the present world situation call not for a hardening of

traditional attitudes, but for a genuine search for solutions,

22 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

even if they require unprecedented approaches and

compromises.

Also in relation to that region, we welcome the

finalization of the demarcation of the boundary between

Kuwait and Iraq, which was accomplished by the Iraq-

Kuwait Boundary Demarcation Commission on 20 May

1993. We also welcome the adoption by the Security

Council of its resolution 833 (1993), in which it guaranteed

the inviolability of the boundary between the two States.

We expect that this guarantee will serve as a deterrent

against future conflict between Kuwait and Iraq, and also

enhance stability and security in the region. Iraq is called

upon to respect the terms of Security Council resolution 833

(1993) and other relevant Security Council resolutions.

Who would have predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall

and the reunification of East and West Germany? Who

would have predicted the breakup of the Soviet Union and

the subsequent United Nations membership of a large

number of new sovereign States? The United Nations has

been in the midst of it all. We have welcomed the

membership of North and South Korea, ideological

differences notwithstanding. And we support their efforts

towards reunification.

It is clear that membership in the United Nations is

neither a deterrent to reunification, as we saw in the case of

Germany, nor to fragmentation, as we saw in the case of the

Soviet Union. Whatever the aspirations of a country’s

people, as determined by that people, these can be

accommodated within the framework and forum of the

United Nations, which is more effective as an organ

operating by a process of inclusion than one operating by a

process of exclusion.

In that context, my Government calls on the United

Nations to begin the process that would eventually lead to

the admission of the Republic of China on Taiwan into this

Organization. The Republic of China on Taiwan has proved

itself to be a country that espouses the principles inherent in

the United Nations Charter, a country dedicated to peace,

social tranquillity and economic development, not only for

its people, but also for the peoples of other nations.

I want to extend a warm welcome to those who have

become Members of this august body and to congratulate

them on seeking membership within this brotherhood of

nations. Membership itself implies an acceptance of the

United Nations Charter and a recognition of the importance

of the Organization’s objectives. I want to assure these new

Member States of my Government’s readiness to extend a

willing hand of friendship and cooperation as we work

together to further the cause of global peace and human

development.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis fully

subscribes to the policy of universality of membership. It is

our strong belief that once a country satisfies the

prerequisites for membership it should be allowed to join

and to participate actively in the international fraternity of

nations dedicated to upholding the principles of the Charter.

It is timely, in the context of membership, to examine

the issue of the planned restructuring of the United Nations.

I would like to underscore the fact that the Government of

Saint Kitts and Nevis is fully supportive of the movement

towards restructuring the United Nations with a view to

ensuring that such restructuring will lead to the creation of

more efficient and effective organs that are responsive to the

development needs of States Members of the Organization.

This restructuring should include both the permanent and the

non-permanent membership of the Security Council.

As we seek to proceed with plans for the restructuring

of the United Nations, the Government of Saint Kitts and

Nevis wishes emphasis to be placed on ensuring that

equitable geographic representation is seen to be encouraged,

especially in respect of decision-making and in respect of

positions within the Secretariat. For too long, countries like

mine in the Caribbean have not been adequately represented

within the United Nations Secretariat. I wish to suggest

also that due consideration be given to the establishment of

a United Nations office in the eastern Caribbean to serve the

interests of the smaller island-States that comprise the

Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

We have looked at the questions of membership and

restructuring of the United Nations. It is important for us to

review the question of the mission of the Organization. The

Charter calls for the promotion of the economic and social

advancement of all peoples. Ten years after our

independence, Saint Kitts and Nevis would like to remind

the Assembly of the mission as we perceived it then:

"We seek the establishment of a new international

economic order, for a redeployment of the world’s

resources and for the implementation of mechanisms to

increase the flow of assistance towards the world’s

poor." (A/38/PV.3, p. 42)

We ask ourselves: to what extent are these objectives

being realized? To what extent is the mission being

fulfilled? The answers are gravely disappointing. The new

Forty-eighth session - 4 October l993 23

international economic order that seems to be emerging is

one in which the developed and the more powerful countries

are creating mega-sized trading and economic blocs, and

seeking to establish rules designed to secure their own

aggrandizement at the expense of small developing countries

like ours in the Caribbean, which are being quietly but

surely marginalized. We see the developed and powerful

countries seeking to redeploy the world’s resources, as found

in the biodiversity of our forests and the vastness of the

ocean resources, for their own benefit, on the spurious

ground that the technology is theirs and not ours. We see

flows of direct assistance to developing countries drying up,

and more so for the countries of the Caribbean. It would

appear that the hope of seeing this mission fulfilled is less

realizable now than it was 10 years ago.

Some will say that the danger of nuclear war is

diminished. Some will say that many conflicts are being

resolved, even though new ones are springing up. And

peace is being realized in many former areas of conflict.

That is all true. The question remains, however: What sort

of peace are we experiencing? Peace in Haiti is fragile;

peace in the Middle East is uneasy; peace in Africa is

unstable. I submit that the prospects for lasting peace would

be immeasurably enhanced if we sought to achieve that

peace through development.

Peace and development have always been linked, but

they are always portrayed as following parallel courses. My

country contends that their paths must be merged and that

we must achieve the one, peace, as a consequence of the

other, development - development which must be sustainable

and sustained.

It is important that all sectors of our communities have

the opportunity to participate in the process of development

and to enjoy its benefits. In Saint Kitts and Nevis, we

ensure as a matter of policy that women are empowered to

be effective participants in development. Our Ministry of

Women’s Affairs designs and implements programmes for

training and mobilizing women in a variety of areas essential

to the development of our country. This is an approach we

recommend to all developing countries as part of the process

of maximizing our human resources.

My Government welcomes the call for a Global

Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States, scheduled to convene in Barbados in

April 1994. We hope that this will result in tangible benefits

for the small island developing economies of the Caribbean

and in a recognition of our special characteristics and needs.

There is developing in international affairs - in relation to

the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the

European Common Market and the International Monetary

Fund (IMF) - a "one size fits all" mentality, or a "one

prescription for all countries approach". These are obviously

out of place in matters of development and human needs.

The peculiarities and differences which prompted the

adoption of special economic arrangements - the Caribbean

Basin Initiative, the Trade and Investment Agreement

between Canada and the Caribbean Community Countries

(CARIBCAN) and the Lomé Convention - are still very

present today, and are likely to remain so, because our

islands are not going to become any larger. In fact, we

suffer from serious coastal erosion, which can be properly

addressed only if substantial financial assistance is

forthcoming.

I appeal to the Member nations of this august body to

recognize also the fragility of our export commodities, such

as sugar and bananas, as their producers represent the major

employers, and they are significant sources of foreign

exchange, for many Caribbean countries. Any loss, no

matter how small, of the limited access which these products

from the Caribbean enjoy could have catastrophic

consequences for the economies and lives of the people in

the Caribbean, and by extension could undermine the

socio-political tranquillity of the region.

I cannot overemphasize the vulnerability of the

Caribbean’s ecosystem and the need for constant vigilance

with respect to its protection and preservation. It is against

this backdrop that my Government, along with other

Governments of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),

strongly condemns the transboundary movement of toxic

waste and of nuclear and other hazardous materials through

the Caribbean basin. We therefore call upon the

industrialized countries to refrain from exporting their waste

to or through the Caribbean region. We also deplore the

dumping of ship-generated waste in our Caribbean waters,

and call upon all ships’ operators to discontinue the practice.

Those waters are indeed a significant part of our economic

patrimony.

The Rio Summit was a watershed for unprecedented

partnership and international cooperation in the area of

environmental protection. The approach that we as nations

adopt on the environment should be modelled in such a way

as to demonstrate our commitment to human development,

environmental protection and sustainable growth.

24 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

I want to make a strong appeal to the industrialized

countries and the multilateral agencies to be more rational

and more sensitive to the developmental needs of the

developing world, especially island communities, in their

approach to dealing with the environment. Environmental

concerns must be appropriately considered within the context

of sustainable development. The peoples of the developing

countries are entitled to an improved standard of life. The

industrialized North, therefore, should not use a single policy

on environment as a yardstick for assessing an individual

country’s eligibility for developmental assistance.

My Government firmly believes that our environment

must be protected and preserved at all costs - not at the

expense of our people’s standard of living, but rather to

enhance their quality of life. The desirability of

environmental protection must be appropriately balanced

against the imperatives of human development.

The problem of environmental degradation concerns a

global common which we all share, and it is only through

international collaboration and an adequate transfer of

technical and financial assistance from developed to

developing countries that we can begin to arrest and, hence,

eventually solve this problem.

While we attempt to harness our collective efforts to

improve the standard of living of our citizens, we are faced

with the increasing danger of drug trafficking and

narco-terrorism. We can ill afford to relax our resolve.

While we seek peace on other fronts we must continue to

wage war relentlessly on the illicit drug trade and those who

work so assiduously to bolster it. There is an urgent need

for greater financial assistance and technical expertise to

combat this problem. It is the children, the flower of our

youth, the promise of our nations’ tomorrows, who are being

destroyed today.

At the historic children’s Summit in 1990, we set

ourselves the task of creating a better world for children and

of equipping them now to manage it in the future. The

challenge is vast, involving their educational, health,

physical, mental and psychological development, and we

must make ourselves equal to the task.

There can be no greater or more noble mission than to

ensure that our youth from developing nations, small or

large, as from developed nations, is given every opportunity

to aspire to a better quality of life. We can better achieve

this in a world of peace, and we can better realize and

maintain that peace through development.