Suriname, 2014

My statement today is

made on behalf of the President of the Republic of

Suriname, His Excellency Mr. Desiré Delano Bouterse.

We want you, Mr. President, to be assured of

our support in these turbulent times of international

politics. Your task will not be easy. We pay tribute

to your predecessor, Ambassador John Ashe, for his

excellent leadership during the sixty-eighth session of

the General Assembly.

We also want to express our support to Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon in his endeavour to steer the

United Nations vessel through the rough waters

of shifting economic forces and rapidly changing

political arenas, in an environment where violence

and intolerance, whatever the root causes, seem to

prevail. Although interdependence, self-determination

and non-interference should be the guiding principles

of the international community, we are faced with

an incredible desire for domination in the name of

undefined, so-called national interests.

We have examined some of the arguments used to

invade Grenada and compared those to the arguments

used to justify the military involvement in Ukraine.

What striking similarity! We have tried hard to

understand the value of a referendum in the case of the

Malvinas and the value given to the referendum held in

Crimea.

States with media, military and economic

vulnerabilities such as ours cannot but feel extremely

uncomfortable with the custom-made slogans, devoid

of any genuine moral value, that are imposed on our

minds as precooked recipes.

We express our sincere wish that the United Nations

should develop the muscles needed to restructure and

democratize itself and move away from restrictive

veto powers towards inclusive legal institutions that

can effectively apply and monitor adherence to the

provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. We see

that as the only way forward to achieve the ultimate

goal of sustainable development, even for the smallest

members of the international community. The real

proof of civilization is total respect for the seemingly

insignificant members of any social entity. Let us, then,

become truly civilized.

In sharp contradiction to the turbulence and

challenges mentioned, we want to draw the attention of

this body to the Latin America and Caribbean region,

which is, relatively speaking, a unique area of peace

and tranquillity. It is important to answer the question:

how is that region showing us the way forward? From a

military point of view, it is an area of the world that is

nuclear-free. The Treaty of Tlatelolco has proved to be

an effective instrument to monitor and maintain Latin

America and the Caribbean free from nuclear threat.

Furthermore, it is important to note that, at the

political level, interdependence has become the driving

force of both multilateral and bilateral relations.

Small and large States alike interact on the basis of

established treaties and principles of mutual respect,

mutual concern and mutual benefit. The Union of South

American Nations, the Community of Latin American

and Caribbean States and the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) in particular have played an important

role so far in furthering that cause.

The third, and certainly the most important,

factor that ensures durable peace in our region is the

implementation of people-oriented socioeconomic

policies. We have seen such programmes developed in

Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and my own country, Suriname,

to mention a few. The emphasis on policies and

programmes related to health care, education, youth and

sports is rapidly changing the image of Latin America

and the Caribbean. We invite the world community to

take note of those positive realities in our functioning

democracies, as they translate into regional integration

processes with nothing less than a bright future.

Looking at the positive picture at the national

level, we must also address the challenges of dealing

with all forms of transnational organized crime in

the Latin American and Caribbean region. Suriname

fully supports all initiatives deployed to face those

challenges.

Having said that, we must assess two areas of

concern that our nation faces today. Economically

speaking, the latest International Monetary Fund

report indicates that Suriname has reached an average

per capita income of approximately $10,000. Our gross

domestic product (GDP) is primarily based on the

mining sector, where gold mining and the production

of crude oil and derivatives represent 33 per cent of our

national output. That sector is responsible for 90 per

cent of our total export revenue.

We are aware of the fact that the nature of that

sector is extractive and, as such, is subject to depletion.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the economy,

the Government has developed a policy to ensure that

the revenue from the non-renewable sectors is invested

in developing human capital to ensure the full fruition

of the capacities of the Surinamese people in their own

interest and the interest of the entire nation.

To ensure that that policy will materialize,

President Bouterse announced, at the outset of his term,

a social contract that has been given substance in the

following programme: a legal framework guaranteeing

a minimum wage, health-care coverage for every

citizen and pensions for the elderly.

In the past four years, Suriname has implemented

new programmes to promote advanced education at

all levels, including after-school care programmes

for primary and secondary students and scholarship

programmes for higher education. Furthermore, legal

instruments are being prepared as part of a full safety

net to prevent dropouts.

In the same vein, various programmes have been

developed in close cooperation with other CARICOM

States to combat the incidence of non-communicable

diseases. Our ultimate goal is for those initiatives to

become part and parcel of future programmes of the

Pan American Health Organization and the World

Health Organization.

With regard to the imminent threat of the spread

of the Ebola virus, the Government has entered into

close consultations with neighbouring countries, the

subregion and the global community to design and

implement programmes to coordinate and cooperate

effectively so as to prevent the spread of the deadly

virus.

As a matter of course, we can sustain those

initiatives only within appropriate fiscal discipline.

We are forced to strike the right balance between

economic growth, socioeconomic concerns and respect

for our natural environment. In doing so, Suriname has

been classified as an upper-middle-income country

with an improved ranking in the 2013 United Nations

Development Programme Human Development Report.

However, that classification limits our access to

concessional financing, which hampers our aspirations

and endeavours to sustain the achievements I have

mentioned. Honestly speaking, we are experiencing

that decision as a punishment for doing well. A

classification solely based on statistics, and not on our

socioeconomic reality, will never serve the objective of

sustainable development based on human development.

We call upon the multilateral and bilateral funding

institutions to adapt their policies to that approach.

There is another area of prime interest to which we

want to draw attention. Suriname’s territory is more

than 90 per cent covered with forest, which annually

absorbs 8.8 million tons of carbon, while our annual

emissions are 7 million tons of carbon. Suriname

thus absorbs 1.8 million tons of carbon more than it

emits on a yearly basis. While many countries work

towards becoming carbon-neutral, Suriname already

qualifies as a carbon-negative country. With an annual

deforestation rate of 0.02 per cent and having dedicated

13 per cent of the national territory to preserving and

protecting vulnerable ecosystems, we are generating a

national and global asset.

In stark contrast to those positive realities,

Suriname has, paradoxically, become one of the most

vulnerable countries in the world as a result of climate

change. At the recently held 2014 Climate Summit,

Suriname indicated that sea-level rise will, inter alia,

severely damage or destroy our coastal ecosystems,

including most of our arable land; damage or destroy

over 40 per cent of our GDP; damage or destroy the

homes of over 80 per cent of our population; damage

or destroy our world heritage-designated capital; and

endanger the way of life of most of the people, who

represent our cultural heritage and live along the coastal

and river shores. Changes in rainfall patterns and rising

temperatures are already leading to increased health

risks and associated costs, decreased hydropower

production and reduced access to river pathways.

The serious absence of international commitment

to supporting us so that we can take the proper measures

to avoid the impending disasters is disturbing, and

we have therefore been obliged to join with similar,

vulnerable countries with strong environmentally active

frameworks and a history of respect for ecosystems.

We call on the rest of the world both to become more

proactive in support of the measures that we are

compelled to take, and to ensure that the relevant issues

have a place on the international agenda.

Suriname would like to emphasize the need for a

fundamental restructuring of the United Nations, with

the aim of making our Organization better equipped to

deal effectively with the international issues at hand.

We would like once again to point to the experience of

Latin America and the Caribbean as a shining example

of how durable peace can be achieved. In that context,

the economic blockade of the Cuban people should be

considered to be a regional anomaly that must end now.

The role of women in achieving sustainable

development, at the level of both civil society and

political leadership, has proved an important factor in

creating an atmosphere of tolerance in which we choose

to use dialogue rather than resort to violence. We must

continue to encourage our women — who make up more

than half of the world’s population — to persist in their

struggle for participation and inclusion and to share

the burden of responsibility for peace and sustainable

development.

In conclusion, Suriname is ready and willing

to play its humble part in helping to find workable

solutions to the global issues at hand. We reiterate our

commitment to all human rights and to a policy of

interacting responsibly with the natural environment in

our quest for sustained economic growth, as well as our

commitment to peace through dialogue.