Saint Kitts and Nevis, 1999

I wish most

heartily to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to lead

this body at this most significant time, as we stand at the

threshold of the new millennium. I am persuaded that

your antecedents, both in your own country and here at

the United Nations, have eminently prepared you for the

role that you have been elected to fill. I, for my part,

pledge the total support and assistance of my delegation

for the accomplishment of your great task.

I would also like to pay tribute to the work of your

predecessor, the Foreign Minister of Uruguay, a

representative of the Group of Latin America and

Caribbean States, who steered the General Assembly

through the difficult period of the fifty-third session.

Once again, I would like to express my unreserved

esteem for the Secretary-General, whose charm, affability

and intellect have been of great benefit to the United

Nations system. It is clear to all that Mr. Kofi Annan is

making a unique contribution to the development of this,

our Organization. My country, Saint Kitts and Nevis, its

Government, its people and myself heartily commend the

Secretary-General.

May I take this opportunity to say a word of

welcome and congratulations to the three new Member

States admitted at the opening of this fifty-fourth session:

the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the

Kingdom of Tonga. As representative of a small island

State from the Caribbean, I am happy to welcome them

as small island States from the Pacific region. I recognize

that even though they have only now attained full

membership in the United Nations they are well seized of

their obligations and they will play their full part in

upholding the principles of the Charter. Once again I

congratulate them and wish them well for the future.

23

When this Organization was formed, some 54 years

ago, it ushered in bright hopes and held out bright promise.

It was an Organization dedicated to the ending of war and

the enhancement of peace. Nations were to have beaten

their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning

hooks. I wish that, as we come to the end of the twentieth

century and embark upon the twenty-first, we really could

have celebrated this bright new world. But even now,

during the closing months of the closing year of the

millennium, mankind has been afflicted by violence and

brutality, and man's inhumanity to man has been expressed

in some of the most outrageous fashions.

The recent development in Kosovo, the terribly

disturbing stories of the human tragedy that befell its

people, the injustices that were highlighted during that

conflict — all this constitutes a severe limitation in the

work of the United Nations.

My Government takes the view that genocidal activity,

from whichever sources it emanates, is unacceptable and a

violation of international law. The United Nations must

therefore be vigilant as it continues its pacification efforts.

Now that the job of rebuilding is under way, let us look

forward — look forward with hope to an era of peace and

reconstruction — and let us hope that what may have

seemed initially a failure may turn out to be part of the

striking success of the United Nations.

As if there is to be no respite from the challenges

affecting this body, while we thought we were overcoming

the problems of Kosovo there flared up the problem of East

Timor. Saint Kitts and Nevis, as a small State, has been

appalled at the wanton violence and death visited upon the

East Timorese people since the referendum. This world

body must roundly condemn the inhumane activities

perpetrated against the people of East Timor only because

in seeking to fulfil their aspirations to live as a sovereign

people, they gave legitimate expression them.

My Government would like to commend the work of

the Secretary-General and all others who have sought to

pull us back from this abyss of human disaster. Saint Kitts

and Nevis urges the Indonesian authorities to discharge

their obligations with maturity and to work together with

the international community for the preservation of the

peace and the protection of the people of East Timor. We

welcome the acceptance by the Indonesian authorities of an

international protective force and we pray that the people of

East Timor will have their rights respected and be able to

develop in freedom and democracy. We commend the

recent commitment of the international community to the

reconstruction and development of Kosovo and, now, to

the people of East Timor.

We still hope, however, that there will be equal

responsiveness to the people of the Great Lakes region

and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

Since I have referred to the outrages in areas of the

world which constitute a dark blot on the human

condition, perhaps I ought to balance my remarks by

recognizing that, in one area of the world, the Middle

East, where peace for such a long time seemed illusive,

a process of peace is now finally under way. I should

place on record the appreciation of my country for all

those who are assisting in the process of peace. We must

continue to support the efforts of the peacemakers in

order to ensure that the rhetoric of violence is silenced.

Saint Kitts and Nevis urges the United Nations and

fellow world leaders to work towards preserving the

integrity of the country and the people of Kuwait and to

ensure that they enjoy the dignity of life without fear. The

territorial integrity of their national must be respected and

preserved and the Security Council solution concerning

Iraqi aggression in Kuwait should be fully implemented.

By the same token, Saint Kitts and Nevis notes the

peace process in Ireland and compliments all those who

are contributing to the process. The world community

should give its support to this initiative so that those who

are seeking to retard the process of peaceful development

will find no encouragement.

At this point, Saint Kitts and Nevis would like to

express profound condolences to the Government of the

Republic of China on Taiwan on the loss of lives which

resulted from the recent devastating earthquake. We hope

that the process of recovery will be speedy. I call on the

international community, therefore, to come to the

assistance of Taiwan, which in times past has assisted

willingly in bringing relief to countries facing similar

disasters.

Let me know say a word about the unsettled issue of

the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In

doing so, let me first make it clear that it never has been

and is not now the intention of my country to interfere in

the internal affairs or to give offence to any State

Member of the United Nations. Saint Kitts and Nevis is

persuaded that the Chinese people have the capacity and

the accumulated wisdom to find a solution to whatever

their differences appear to be, but our relationship with

24

the authorities of the Republic of China, with whom we

have conducted diplomatic relations since our independence

in 1983, convinces me that the 22 million Chinese on

Taiwan have a valuable contribution which they can make

to international dialogue. The record of their development

as a freedom-loving, peaceful, pluralistic democracy; the

miraculous rebuilding of their economy; and their

contribution to developing countries are all attributes which,

in our view, require that they be recognized as being

capable of making a contribution in international forums,

including those of the United Nations.

In addition to the scourges of human conflict, there are

other evils which still stare us in the face in these last few

months of the closing year of the century. Poverty still

confronts the vast majority of mankind. Children are still

dying of malnutrition and some, in order to get food, have

to allow themselves to be victimized and turned into cannon

fodder. Some still do not get an education. Indeed, there are

many children around the world who do not enjoy a

childhood. I am happy that the United Nations has declared

the decade beginning 2001 to be the International Decade

for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children

of the World. The new millennium belongs to our children.

It belongs to our children in Saint Kitts and Nevis and to

the children of the world. We have a duty to help make, for

them and with them, a better world than the one in which

we now live.

Additionally, I have noted that the agenda for this

fifty-fourth session includes an item entitled “Building a

peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic

ideal”. Saint Kitts and Nevis wishes to place on record its

country's support for that item, as we are doing everything

in our power to build the development of our youth through

sports.

By the same token, I am proud to report that our

educational policies are yielding very positive results. We

in Saint Kitts and Nevis have achieved a 98 per cent

literacy rate and we have not only begun, but are

intensifying the process of making all of our young people

computer-literate and equipped to face the challenges of the

new dawning century. Saint Kitts and Nevis welcomes the

assistance of the international community to enable us to

realize our objectives in this regard and to give this

programme even greater forward thrust.

It is our view that the technological advancement of

the past 54 years, instead of creating dislocations, should be

used to improve understanding. It should be used to

improve efficiency of production and to provide better

revenue allocation and better living standards. Saint Kitts

and Nevis urges those countries with the wherewithal to

demonstrate appropriate leadership. I encourage them to

use the availability of and their access to these

technologies not only to generate greater economic wealth

for themselves, but also to advance the economic and

social well-being of the citizens of the world.

We applaud the progress being made with regard to

women in development since the adoption of the Beijing

Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World

Conference on Women on 15 September 1995. Our

country has demonstrated its unswerving commitment to

gender equity by our participation in the Committee on

the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). For its part,

Saint Kitts and Nevis is currently implementing a new

gender management system and is introducing measures

to ensure that the national budget in my country is more

sensitive to gender issues. We are grateful to the

Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation for

technical assistance in this regard.

In a few days, the United Nations will convene a

special session of the General Assembly for the review

and appraisal of the implementation of the Barbados

Programme of Action for the small island developing

States. We trust that the international community will give

due recognition to the efforts being made by small island

States to implement their commitments under the

Programme of Action and note that those efforts have

been affected by financial and other resource constraints

and by global, economic and environmental factors. We

look forward, therefore, to the international community's

providing continued support for capacity- and institution-

building programmes and projects in the small island

developing States.

In the meantime, my Government welcomes the

continued efforts of the Alliance of Small Island States

(AOSIS) in promoting the interests and concerns of small

island States. All small island developing States, like

those of us in the Caribbean, are susceptible to the

vagaries of nature as well as to man-made difficulties.

Just last week our brothers and sisters in the Bahamas,

like those along the south-eastern coastal states of the

United States of America, suffered terrible and destructive

losses as a result of hurricane Floyd. I urge States

Members of the United Nations to be generous in their

support for any reconstruction endeavours for the

thousands of displaced people.

25

Last year Saint Kitts and Nevis suffered a similar

major blow, from hurricane Georges. The Assembly

expressed its support for the efforts of my Government, and

several other governments in the region, as we coped with

that particular disaster. The Assembly also urged all States

as a matter of urgency to contribute generously to the relief,

rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. It further requested

the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the

international financial institutions and other bodies and

agencies of the United Nations system, to assist the affected

Governments in identifying their medium- and long-term

needs and in mobilizing resources, as well as helping with

the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the affected

Caribbean countries.

I have dealt with this at some length because Saint

Kitts and Nevis wishes to thank the Assembly for the

support expressed in that decision. We hereby place on

record that we have received assistance from the United

Nations system and, in particular, from the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP), and I assure the

representatives in this world body that our efforts at

rehabilitation have proceeded with what some have

described as remarkable speed. But, however commendable

emergency assistance is, it is not a formula for long-term,

sustainable development. Countries such as ours need the

continued support of the international community to ensure

that our development is not sacrificed on the altar of

globalization and trade liberalization.

How will the banana farmers in Saint Lucia, Saint

Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica, or the sugar-

cane workers in Saint Kitts and Nevis preserve the integrity

of their families? How will they preserve the dignity of a

good standard of living when the impersonal tentacles of

globalization reach out to deprive them of the resources

they need to survive? Human rights, in their purest and

most practical sense, embody the human condition in all its

basic elements. Therefore, the United Nations, as a major

guarantor of these rights, should act as a counterbalance to

globalization, which has begun to take food away from our

people instead of helping them.

The World Trade Organization is expected to play a

key role in promoting trade liberalization, thereby fuelling

the globalization process. The World Trade Organization,

however, is not a panacea for the ills of world trade. No

new rules can alter the fact that in most areas of exports,

developed countries will have a comparative advantage over

developing countries. It is a basic principle in economics

that a country with a comparative advantage in producing

goods and services in given areas will always make money

at the expense of countries that are less equipped. In

short, the rules as now written will inevitably lead to a

zero-sum situation where trade between developed

countries and developing countries is concerned.

A regime, therefore, of unrestricted trade can lead to

tremendous shocks in the economy of the less developed

countries with very critical repercussions for their

citizens. As part of the Caribbean Community, we have

already witnessed how the logic of applying the same

rules to all, regardless of the level of economic

development, has led to serious dislocation within the

banana-producing countries of our Caribbean subregion.

Saint Kitts and Nevis would prefer to see this body,

through the United Nations Conference on Trade on

Development (UNCTAD), take up the issue of what

happens to countries caught in the toils of a free-trade

regime. Saint Kitts and Nevis believes that this matter

requires careful study by experts with a global perspective

and it is our view that the United Nations is the one

Organization capable of studying this issue objectively

and putting recommendations before the leaders of the

world to remedy what could potentially be a disaster for

small, vulnerable economies.

By and large, a country such as Saint Kitts and

Nevis, which depends upon a buoyant tourist sector, the

export of sugar and the provision of financial services

cannot — I repeat, cannot — object in principle to a

world of open economies. But our position is that a world

economic order predicated upon open economies works

best with countries whose economies are roughly equal.

If we are committed to eradicating poverty in every area

of this world, then we must address the implications for

poverty that are inherent in trading arrangements.

Those of us who live in the Caribbean, mostly in

developing countries and small island States, are

vulnerable and also affected by, inter alia, lack of

capacity and human resource bases, the need for financial

resources, social problems, high levels of poverty and the

effects of globalization. We rely heavily on the coastal

areas, as well as the marine environment in general, to

achieve sustainable development, and meet our needs and

goals. For us, in the context of sustainable development,

the Caribbean Sea must be seen as a special area. Saint

Kitts and Nevis earnestly expects that Member States, the

international community and the United Nations system

will actively support our efforts in order to develop and

implement this concept and take action so as to avert the

26

threat of pollution from ship-generated waste, as well as

accidental release of hazardous and noxious substances.

Despite the socio-economic quagmire that bedevils and

undermines our efforts, my Government has remained

steadfast. It has remained committed to create more

opportunities for the people of Saint Kitts and Nevis. But

we are aware that the Government cannot solve these

problems alone. There is a critical role for the private sector

as well. My Government is equally committed to working

with local and international businesses, without, however,

surrendering the fate of our nation to disinterested forces

that could wreak further havoc on their lives.

My Government repeats its call for an expansion of

the interpretation of human rights to incorporate fully

economic rights and the right to development. In

recognizing that there is an inseparable link between the

human rights and economic rights of the individual, my

Government has pledged to continue our programme to

build affordable houses, create jobs, fight poverty and

pursue new sources of local and foreign investment. My

Government will be an avid partner and facilitator of

business without compromising the quality of life for each

of our citizens.

There is an important part for national Governments

to play in the protection of their citizens’ human rights, but

there is a more substantial, comprehensive and far-reaching

role for the United Nations as ultimate protector of the

entire body of human rights.

This means that there should be a greater partnership

between the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations human

rights mechanisms and other agencies and organs. In this

way, new strategies can be devised for opening access to

markets for those countries that continue to find themselves

on the periphery of the international trading system. The

Organization should help to create and investigate practical

alternatives.

Hence, I maintain that we need a United Nations that

is informed by the inequities of the world economic

systems, and is able to respond to the social challenges that

are being exacerbated as a result.

We do our best to achieve the eradication of poverty.

Saint Kitts and Nevis seeks the support of the international

community, thus building a bridge to a better world.

Tomorrow’s world should open with our people finding

answers to the request to give them each day their daily

bread, and the kingdom of peace should be realized here

on Earth. There is an urgency to match our deeds with

our words so that we may, all of us, find the forgiveness

which is necessary as the basis for building peace in this

world.

Last year I spoke of the viability of social-venture

philanthropy through which Governments and businesses

may collaborate with each other. This concept already

exists at a similar level within many corporate structures.

Companies are already engaged in projects that enhance

and maintain a positive corporate image. We would take

this further if companies would recognize the importance

of preserving a good corporate culture by improving the

standard of living of the national constituencies in which

they do profitable business. A reformed United Nations,

with its existing organs, funds and programmes, can help

to implement such strategies.

We must move with informed haste, because I fear

that if we fail to translate the benefits of democracy,

technological growth and economic wealth into tangible

gains for our people, future chaos will not be far behind.

I am one of those who refuse to accept that the developed

world could be ignorant of the challenges facing the small

and poor economies. I am reluctant to think that national

interests could be so blinding that Governments neglect to

realize that the problems plaguing any one region, for

instance, have serious ramifications much further afield.

We have to recommit to the elimination of the

potent cancer of illicit drugs and global consequences. We

are all victims. Therefore, we must all become partners.

Let us commit to root out the menace of narco-trafficking

that is becoming embedded in our various societies.

I dare say that the multitude of problems before us

is complex and very involved. The old paradigms that

prevailed in the cold war have outlived their usefulness.

It is not only those elements that directly threaten our

political and strategic interests, but also those factors that

undermine a country’s ability to preserve its economic,

social and cultural fabric that should guide national

interests. There is no longer one giant enemy, but there

are a number of persistent factors that could conspire at

any one time to destroy the delicate balance of our

societies.

In spite of all the shortcomings of this body, if the

United Nations did not exist, it would be necessary to

invent it, because there is no other organization that has

contributed as much to the development of humankind.

27

Moreover, the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis

is happy to be given this opportunity to express its views

on a number of issues of concern to my country.

Without the United Nations, a micro State such as

Saint Kitts and Nevis would never have been heard.

Therefore, as we cross over into the new millennium, Saint

Kitts and Nevis joins with the rest of the world as we

commit ourselves to the continued development of the

United Nations in order to ensure that all people

everywhere will enjoy the fulfilment of the promise of

peace, prosperity and progress.