Saint Lucia, 2012

I would first like to

congratulate Mr. Vuk Jeremić on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at this year’s

session. I also wish to place on record Saint Lucia’s

thanks to Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser for his

contribution as President of the Assembly at its sixty-

sixth session.

I would like to underscore the words of the

President, of which we should be continually reminded,

concerning the fact that peace is not merely the absence

of war. Indeed, poverty and prejudice are the flint and tinder for violent feud and furore. And so we embrace

your suggested theme, for while in the Caribbean we

generally know peace, we are aware of the real struggle

of humankind to achieve peace in the face of disaster,

injustice, inequity and conflict.

Beyond this Hall lies a beautiful world. And

whatever the f laws and failures of mankind, we still

are blessed to be given a world from which we can seek

life and livelihoods. It is difficult to imagine at times

that even in the face of turmoil, decimation and acts

of brutality and calamity, humankind has progressed

over the millennia. That is what must give us hope and

confidence for the future: that we have been through

this before and have come through colossal tragedies,

unexplainable disasters, world wars and famine, and

still we are here. Our civilization continues to thrive.

However, we can only succeed if we recognize and

celebrate our shared humanity. This, therefore, must

be a world that continuously affirms all human lives,

a world that recognizes our collective endowment, that

celebrates our ingenuity and our enterprise. A world, as

is said in southern Africa, that is imbued with ubuntu.

Each year for the past seven decades, we have sat

here as equals, everyone with a voice, everyone with a

say. Our size, whether defined by geography, population

or both, has no relevance, albeit only temporarily for

the purposes of this discourse and dialogue. And even

while some have sat here longer, we can all embrace a

commonality that is not transient or mutable. But even

so, we can at times forget that behind every country’s

representative are real people with real lives, who seek

cherished moments despite their sea of despair.

And let there be no doubt that, even when our

leaders come here to speak, we will have, in all our

own countries, differences of opinion, of philosophy,

of faith. Yet despite all this, the beauty of democracy

is that we can embrace a common pursuit: the pursuit

of happiness, prosperity and enjoyment of life. Our

philosophies should therefore never destroy that

pursuit; they should affirm it. Our faiths should never

tear this apart, they should form and fashion souls of

compassion, understanding and tolerance.

For our ancestors, from Africa to Asia, from the

Arctic to the Amazon, all knew conflict and what it cost

in their lives. We know what it costs humankind right

now. And we should all know that history has repeatedly

shown us that warfare is not the best way to solve our

problems. So then do we ignore the bombs and guns if they are not heard on our streets, in our cities and parks

and playgrounds? Should the girl in Aleppo or Benghazi

not be able to share the same opportunities and dreams

and hopes as a boy in Arlington or Birmingham?

No one expects a naive world, with utopian leaders.

Nor do we suggest that our world will not have conflict,

for disagreement is inevitable in all aspects of life.

However, I ask that we have the courage to be bold

about the world we want. I ask that we act when we

know we can. I ask that those leaders who hold the seats

of higher authority always remember the minorities,

those who are easily forgotten, easily marginalized,

easily wiped out. There should never be a season for

injustice, never a season for corruption, never a season

for poverty, never a season for brutality and never a

season for torment.

Saint Lucia therefore welcomes a peaceful

resolution to the conflict in the Syrian Republic and

an immediate end to what is clearly carnage, a human

tragedy. We continue to support the efforts of the

Special Envoy and the Secretary-General in this body’s

efforts to induce the parties to focus on coming to the

table for negotiations, with a view to finding a path

towards a resolution of the conflict that is acceptable

to the majority of the people of Syria and takes into

account the necessity of ensuring the welfare and

interest of minorities in that State.

We are, of course, also very concerned about

the resort to violence in the Middle East, aimed at

confronting either religious or ideological contentions.

We condemn all attempts at disparagement of religious

prophets, deities, symbols or practices, and we appeal

for tolerance and understanding. In the same vein, we

deplore the brutal murder in Libya of the Ambassador

of the United States, and we share that country’s pain

and anguish. Religious intolerance is combustible and

dangerous and ensnares even those nations far from the

theatres of conflict.

Saint Lucia is very conscious of the active

attempts in the Middle East to develop new systems

of governance, as recent systems appear, in some

countries, to have outlived their usefulness for the

majority of their citizens. Apart from our commitment

to global and regional peace, we must also recognize

that turbulence in the Middle East has the undoubted

effect of distorting the price of the dominant global

commodity, oil, and that those distortions harm the

interests and development processes of large and small

countries alike. The world desperately needs a peaceful

Middle East. We express our hope for the continued

evolution of peaceful and consensus approaches to

issues of governance in that area.

Saint Lucia believes that all efforts to promote

peace and prosperity for everyone, while of course

protecting the health of our planet, should be embraced.

The Government of Saint Lucia is well aware of the

determination of the Chinese people to unify their

country, as signalled to the world when China took its

rightful place in the United Nations. In that context,

Saint Lucia welcomes the emerging dialogue and

cooperation between the People’s Republic of China

and the Republic of China on Taiwan. Such cross-strait

dialogue and cooperation will surely facilitate global

harmony. We look forward to a continued evolution of

the ongoing peaceful rapprochement among the Chinese

people as they search to unify their civilization.

Saint Lucia also wishes to support the calls for

Africa to gain its rightful permanent representation on

the Security Council, as supported by the Presidents

of Mali and South Africa. As we recognize the perils

of conflict and warfare in Africa so too should we

recognize the ability of Africa to bring peace to itself.

The voice of one billion people and that of an entire

continent should no longer go unheard.

Saint Lucia welcomes the resolution of the

longstanding dispute in the Sudan, the achievement of

self-determination for the new State of South Sudan

and its introduction into the community of nations. It

is pleasing that that process has occurred in a context

in which the States of the African continent have

now themselves been creating new spaces in a bid to

take advantage of the development of the continent’s

resources in a changing economic environment.

We cannot have global collaboration and

cooperation, and start anew unless extreme disparities

are reduced or eliminated. So it is necessary to

determine the causes and respond purposefully in

tackling the inequities that exist in the world. While

one of the obvious building blocks for development is

that of good governance — political structures that are

ethical and not fuelled by greed and abuse — and while

we can strengthen the rule of law, ensure property rights

and hold fair elections, those measures by themselves

do not and cannot secure democracy. While democracy

has no place for dictators or demigods, it is still rather

meaningless to a person with no food on the table. The dispossessed will have no passion and no will. The

depressed will not vote, nor will the downtrodden.

We cannot continue to ignore the age-old injustices

of slavery, of forcing people into labour and of

decimating their culture and identity. Many of us here

today are the descendants of the survivors of slavery. As

a part of that recognition, we support the Government

of Jamaica in calls for the recognition of the impacts

of the transatlantic slave trade and the need for a frank

dialogue on the status of people of African descent.

Furthermore, like Africa, we all need the opportunity

to trade equally and fairly. We all know that the death

of the Doha talks was due to the unwillingness of some

nations to relent on large-scale subsidies on farming

and agriculture.

One of the injustices that is a relic of an era of

fear and dispute long gone is the embargo imposed

upon the people of Cuba, purely for purposes of

political retribution and punishment. I must take this

opportunity to reiterate the conclusion of the Caribbean

Community (CARICOM) as a whole, most recently

in December 2011, that it is time to end the embargo

imposed on the Republic of Cuba by the United States.

Saint Lucia is part of the Group of Latin American

and Caribbean States and wishes to pursue the fullest

measure of economic integration in the hemisphere,

as an instrument of our own economic growth and in

order to maximize economic and social cooperation in

the area. Blockades and embargoes, in that context, are

anachronistic and outmoded. In an era of globalization

and economic liberalization they cannot be tolerated or

justified.

Another relic of colonialism is that of our Caribbean

Community member, Haiti. The suffering of the people

of Haiti can only be matched by their perseverance. It is

a country that was tormented into paying compensations

to its former colonial master. That was an extraordinary

and crude example of trade loss. Today the world’s first

black independent country is the Western hemisphere’s

poorest nation. It is still very much deserving of the

support of the United Nations in overcoming its recent

pains and indigence brought on by the earthquake of

12 January 2010. It should not be forgotten. Haiti is a

member of the CARICOM family of nations, and so we

pay due respect and regard to those countries in our

hemisphere that came to the support and assistance of

Haiti in its hour of need.

We in the Caribbean continue to experience the

challenge of our skilled population seeking to settle in

regions to the north, where they are generally greeted

with open arms. Meanwhile, we also have to contend

with the reverse f low of guns which, owing to the

narcotics trade, is finding its way into our jurisdictions.

We cannot have internal peace in our islands if our

young people are too easily being given guns. We

raised the matter as one of great concern to our security

at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia,

in April this year.

It is now clear that the current policies to combat

the consumption and trafficking of illicit drugs across

and within borders have failed, creating yet another

human tragedy of immense consequence. Lives are

being lost either to guns or to the consumption of drugs.

We remain resolute in wanting the whole matter of the

drug trade to be reviewed. Collectively, we must craft

new solutions to this problem. We also wish to place

on record our continued concern about the practice of

deporting seasoned criminals back to our small States,

without any regard for the capacity of our internal

security arrangements.

In all this there is a sobering reality for the leader

of any small State like Saint Lucia. Even as I have the

distinction of standing here today, I know that many of

the decisions that affect our world and my country are

still made in the capitals of other countries, sometimes

unilaterally and sometimes multilaterally by groups of

5 or 8 or 20 or 30. It is said that 80 per cent of the

world’s trade and economic activity is accounted for by

20 countries. I can assure everyone that Saint Lucia,

indeed all of the Caribbean Basin, lies beyond the limits

of that geopolitical circle. With few or no resources,

diplomatic or otherwise, Saint Lucia can only speak

with its moral courage, authority and convictions.

Small islands are special places with special

peculiarities that make us both unique and vulnerable.

Still, we know that, if there is a willingness to support

their growth and development, then small islands

can be success stories. Consider for instance that our

15-member Caribbean Community has a combined

population of 17 million and an economy of about

$89 billion. The United States territory of Puerto Rico,

itself part of the greater Caribbean, has a gross domestic

product of about $100 billion. Those numbers clearly

suggest that, given support in trade and investment,

though we may be small, our economies could grow.

They could find sustainability.

The Caribbean Community has continuously made

the point that many small States are deceptively classed

as middle-income merely on the basis of per capita

income. A country the size of Saint Lucia, with the

vulnerabilities that we face, should not be subjected to

such a measuring tool for determining whether a State

can stand on its own.

For instance, Saint Lucia experienced a category 2

hurricane in 2010 that caused damage totalling nearly

30 per cent of our gross domestic product. As in the

case of other small States like ours, we were then

forced to become even more indebted as we borrowed

to replace infrastructure, such as arterial roads and

bridges, without which our country’s economy would

have faced further contraction. On top of that, we were

further impacted by unilateral domestic measures

which, showing insensitivity to such matters as our

dependence on tourism, some major developed States

implemented, making us an even less desirable tourist

destination.

Other islands that are highly dependent on

international financial services are now suffering as

a result of the attempts by some States to sully their

reputations. Though we live in a beautiful part of

the world, the reduction of foreign direct investment

f lows due to the global economic crisis, and the recent

announcement by the World Trade Organization that it

has cut its forecast for global trade growth from 3.7 per

cent to 2.5 per cent, can cause the outlook to look grim.

This means that development cannot be just about

assistance and that small States require there to be

some fairness and balance in the world economic space.

From the point of view of the developing countries, the

collapse of the Doha Round was a disappointing portent

of the difficult times to come in the discussions between

developed and developing countries. This trend was

typified in our hemisphere by the lack of progress in the

initiative for a free trade area of the Americas. At the

same time, however, there were increasing indications

of the emergence of countries in Asia, Africa and the

Far East as competitors in global economic competition.

We look to a future in which the United Nations

and other global institutions become more targeted and

differentiated in their interventions and policies. We

look to a world in which the Millennium Development

Goals are realized and in which the international

community crafts a new post-2015 strategy to tackle the major impediments to growth as well as to promote

the major creators of wealth and prosperity.

A major issue is, of course, climate change. As

expressed in the Mauritius Strategy for the Further

Implementation of the Programme of Action for the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States and in the Global Conference on the Sustainable

Development of Small Island Developing States held in

Barbados in 1994, small States are committed to seeing

action taken on climate change and tangible support for

the requisite adaptations and interventions needed at all

levels.

Within the Caribbean Community, the Liliendaal

Declaration issued by Heads of Government in 2009

encapsulated our concerns as small island States subject

to major dislocation as a consequence of the threat of

climate change. It notes that

“[the region’s] efforts to promote sustainable

development and to achieve the internationally

agreed development goals, including the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are

under severe threat from the devastating effects of

climate change and sea-level rise.”

In particular, it notes the “increasingly frequent and

intense extreme weather events” that have resulted

in severe damage to the region’s resources and

socio-economic base, and it emphasizes that

“dangerous climate change is already occurring in

all Small Islands and Low-lying Coastal Developing

States (SIDS) regions, including the Caribbean, and

that many SIDS will cease to exist without urgent,

ambitious and decisive action by the international

community”.

Saint Lucia is therefore in full support of the

conclusions of the United Nations Conference on

Sustainable Development in Brazil on the challenges and

potential solutions to the climate crisis and interrelated

factors, which continue to inhibit the achievement of a

sustainable world capable of facilitating the activities of

all countries, large and small. We are comforted by the

words of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that we will

secure a legally binding agreement to tackle climate

change by 2015. With climate change, we cannot afford

any unfinished business, for there is but one world. We

also hope that there will be a strong commitment to

technology transfer and building local human capacity

to deal with climate change and attendant disasters.

Saint Lucia looks forward to the President’s tenure

in directing the work of the sixty-seventh session of

the General Assembly as one in which the upsurge of

conflicts now characterizing our globe will be subjected

to meaningful deliberations among our Member States.

Our concern as small countries is that persistent

conflicts in respect of issues and problems currently

plaguing various regions of the globe can serve to

distract our United Nations from devoting both attention

and resources to persisting with solutions to the serious

problems of economic transition and adjustment now

characterizing international economic relations in

particular. In the cacophony of regional conflicts that

inevitably draw the attention and involvement of the

major Powers, the problem of the survival of small

countries in the environment of larger States has

become more and more intractable.

We in Saint Lucia, as members of the Caribbean

Community, look forward to an enhanced cooperation

with the countries of a continent in which a large

proportion of our population finds its ancestry. We

believe that it is possible to pursue this process through

the United Nations development institutions in our

sphere and on the African continent, and we propose

that this be done.

As is now well known, the traditional economic

relations under the auspices of the Commonwealth

system and the African, Pacific and Caribbean

institutional relationships in the context of our trade

with Europe are diminishing. We look forward to new

avenues of relationships, a task in which the United

Nations can be of great assistance to us.

I wish to extend to the President the best wishes

and support of my country and delegation for success

in his task over the coming year.