Trinidad and Tobago, 2025

The Assembly will hear now an address by Her Excellency Kamala Persaud Bissessar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. I request Protocol to escort Her Excellency and invite her to address the Assembly. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Madam President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, friends, it is an honor for me, on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago, to address this Assembly on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. I congratulate you, Madam President, on your election, and I thank your predecessor for his service. Madam President, I'm very happy to see the escalator actively work today, and I'm very happy to see the teleprompter is also working. So as I address you, thank you all very, very much. So I've had some blessings coming to the UN today. The UN has been much more than diplomacy. It is a lifeline to many countries, bringing education to classrooms, care to clinics, recovery to villages, and growth to fragile economies. On this milestone anniversary, we must face a very hard truth. The spirit of multilateralism is under strain, the effects of which has begun to undermine the foundations of stability and peace. Trinidad and Tobago confronts conflicts that seriously threaten our stability and peace. The notion that the Caribbean is a zone of peace has become a false ideal. The reality is, stop, no such peace exists today. For too many in our region, peace is not daily life, but an elusive promise, glimpsed and never grasped. In its absence, our citizens pay a terrible toll. In 2024, for example, Trinidad and Tobago, a tiny nation in the Caribbean of 1.4 million persons, we recorded 623 murders in one year, last year, 41%, 100,000. That's about 40%, and many of them are gang-related. So the reality is, being a zone of peace is still an elusive dream that we are pursuing. In the last 25 years, we have had over 10,000 murders, which is equivalent to losing 1%, 1% of our adult population. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, homicides range from 20 to more than 60 per 100,000. President Trump's comments on the effects on countries of relentless narco and human trafficking, about organized crime, illegal immigration, are correct. Countries are not only defined by geographical borders, but also by cultural identities, religious beliefs, ethnic compositions, and, of course, legal structures. That is why, through legal immigration, persons are allowed entry because they fulfill the criteria to integrate into the existing population and to add value to their own lives, as well as their adopted society at large. Illegal immigration neglects all checks and balances and will only create long-term disorder, as most illegal immigrants will not be able to assimilate into their adopted societies. That inevitably leads to greater poverty, crime, and cultural antagonism. This then is not phobia. It is not hyperbole. It is simply the stark, naked truth. Small countries like mine, Trinidad and Tobago, suffers from illegal immigration because of the recent increased protections at the U.S. southern border. Illegal migration of drug cartels and criminal gangs have been rerouted into Eastern Caribbean, which is where my country is located. It is driving increasing gang violence, drug arms, and human trafficking. Efforts to repatriate illegal immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago from recent times has proven very difficult. Criminal syndicates are abusing asylum requests for refugee status. Therefore, Trinidad and Tobago is particularly grateful for the U.S. military presence in the Southern Caribbean. This has been very effective in inhibiting the numerous activities of drug cartels within our country. While there have been objections to the U.S. military action against drug cartels in the Southern Caribbean, some objections from some countries, I state today Trinidad and Tobago reminds the international community that unless forceful and aggressive actions are taken, these evil drug cartels will continue their societal destruction because they believe affected nations will always unreservedly subscribe to morals and ethics and human rights and values, which they themselves blatantly flout. They do not adhere to those, and therefore, we will fight fire with fire within the law. That is why we willingly supported the International Security Alliance announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio involving the U.S. and several countries in South America, and of course including Trinidad and Tobago, to combat drug trafficking in the hemisphere. Trinidad and Tobago, I say, is committed, is very committed, to contributing our resources as scarce as they may be and our capabilities to this alliance in light with the theme of this year's General Assembly, Better Together. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in its 2025 world report, makes a very true unmistakable fact very clear. The global drug economy destabilizes institutions, corrodes democracy, undermines development. That is a war without borders, measured in murdered children, measured in broken families, and measured in stolen futures. The cartels and the governments that enable them are taking us for fools. If left unchecked, gangs could replace governments, and states may ascend in name only but collapse in substance. Nowhere is this warning more explicit than in Haiti, our CARICOM neighbor, where armed gangs, political collapse, food insecurity have converged to overwhelm democracy and to create a protracted emergency. Today Trinidad and Tobago wants to commend Kenya for leading the multinational security support mission in Haiti. Trinidad and Tobago also endorses the comments made by U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shear on August 28, 2025, when she noted, and I quote, the next international force must be resourced to hold territory, secure infrastructure, and complement the Haitian national peace. In a parallel comprehensive approach, which includes disrupting gang financing, arms trafficking, and other illicit flows fueling instability, all is required to restore order in Haiti. As member states, consider the form of greater support as we urge the international community to support us, to support the United States, to support Panama's proposed gang suppression force to allow the deployment of 5,500 member force to subdue the gangs and restore order in Haiti. The theme before us, as I said before, and we all know for today, better together. We go from principle to practice. This principle, better together, is not just a slogan, it's a call to action. It signifies the collective effort required to combat transnational crime, to uphold democracy, and to restore peace and security in our nations. Therefore, despite being a very small country with limited resources, we are committed to sharing the burden with the United States, with Panama, and all countries willing in assisting the gang suppression force to bring some semblance of peace to Haiti. I turn now to the climate agenda. This week, the climate agenda has been at the forefront of many speeches. I say with the greatest of respect, the antagonistic approach adopted by some climate activists towards the implementation of their climate agenda sometimes does more harm than good. Developed countries, I say with the greatest respect again, Canada should not force-feed a climate agenda onto developing countries and blackmail them into cooperation. We cannot proceed in that manner. That is exactly what has been happening, where the access to financial systems, media platforms, new technologies, and development funding has been weaponized in order to coerce the forced compliance with some climate goals. What adds insult to injury and to injustice is that many of the same developed nations actively supporting the imposition of an aggressive climate agenda actually achieve developed nation status and prosperity through highly environmentally destructive and polluting industries in the many decades gone by. While there is definitely a space for renewable energy, the fact remains that fossil fuels are still essential for our continued survival. It cannot be ignored that the thousands of products created from fossil fuels, essential for daily life, cannot be produced economically in the quantities required from other means to satisfy the current world population. Srinanda Begum commits that we will, within reason, support actions to protect the environment for future generations. However, independent nations must be free to create a climate policy which is crafted to balance their development goals and poverty eradication with policies dealing with environmental protection. In my respectful view, this balance is a pragmatic necessity for food security, for civil order, and for economic growth. As we progress, Madam President, into a multipolar world order, where power is diffused across regions, it will be impossible to curse all actors that adhere to the current climate agenda being advocated. Srinanda Begum will not adopt unbalanced and unreasonably imposed climate practices that will simply lead to the exportation of our jobs, lowering our standard of living, and stunting our economic development, punishing our people into poverty, while many larger countries completely ignore their responsibilities. Our country, Srinanda Begum, the United Nations, we have always been unwavering in supporting through the various crises and empowering our citizens through UNICEF, through UNDP, through ILO, through UNESCO, and UN Women, and we want to thank the United Nations for those initiatives. In return, we have sought to repay that trust by advancing the proposal for the International Criminal Court in 1989, by introducing Resolution 6569 on Women and Disarmament, and we also signed up very early the Non-Proliferation Arms Control in 2010, and we signed the Arms Trade Treaty early in 2013. In my own country, regarding that the children are our future, knowing full well that their survival, their resilience, and their sustainability will continue our nations forward, as in all nations. And so we created a Children's Authority. We created a Children's Life Fund. We expanded early childhood education. We ensured trailblazing adherence to the MDGs, especially when it comes to education, proving that even the smallest nations can align domestic products with global ambition. As we now mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, we reaffirm that women and girls must be equal partners in peace and sustainability. Just as we called for in our 2010 resolution, we continue to champion their empowerment, knowing it is essential to global progress. Our commitment to the United Nations is clear, and our voice is steady. For 63 years, we have upheld the rule of law, championed human rights, strengthened international law, and we have never been silent in the face of injustice. This is why Srinath Dubego sought support to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2028 term. We are happy that there was a non-objection to that, and we willingly take on the mantle of the United Nations Security Council for the coming year. My friends, all colleagues, we say, Madam President, during our term, we will build on our record, amplify unheard voices to ensure that justice and equality anchor lasting security. Madam President, colleagues, Srinath Dubego may be small in size, but we are large in conviction. We continue to ask for your support so that this Council reflects not only the interests of the powerful, but also the voices and aspirations of all people. Srinath Dubego is firmly committed to the tenets of multilateralism. I want to take a moment to specially thank Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait, Bahrain, Ghana, and all others who have been actively working with us to increase cultural and economic cooperation. The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, China, and the European Union remain always reliable partners, as they have been for decades. On this 63rd anniversary, let us agree to strive for greater cooperation, to strive for more openness to respecting free speech, and also at the same time respecting dissenting opinions. Over the past decade, there has been an inclination to cancer views that are not fashionable to dominating narratives. Today I ask, let us pledge to listen to each other with an objective mindset. Peace and progress can only be fulfilled through honest, sometimes uncomfortable decisions, and this is the place for that. This honest communication is even more important, as I said, in a multipolar world order where military and economic power is now decimated, disseminated across the globe. Madam President, Srinath Dubego commits to the work of this body, not for conquest, not for power, but for the sake of all humanity. I thank you very much, Madam President. En nombre de la Asamblea... On behalf of the Assembly, I thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.