Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 1993

Mr. President, the delegation of St. Vincent and the

Grenadines welcomes your election to preside over the work

of the General Assembly at this its forty-eighth session. By

your elevation to this exceedingly demanding position, the

General Assembly has acknowledged your well-known

personal merits, proven ability and professional skills. I am

confident that you will guide this session to a successful

conclusion of the business before us.

Your country, Guyana, shares a number of common

interests and affinities with St. Vincent and the Grenadines

and other sister States in the Latin American and Caribbean

region. It is therefore with a deep sense of pride that we

congratulate you on your unanimous election and pledge the

full cooperation of the delegation of St. Vincent and the

Grenadines throughout the difficult and challenging period

ahead.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines was pleased to be in the

Chair in August 1992 when the Group of Latin American

and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) unanimously endorsed

the Caribbean candidature for the Presidency of the General

Assembly at its forty-eighth session. It was the first time

that the Group had so acted, and I wish to congratulate all

those who were involved in the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) effort, and to thank all member states of the

GRULAC for their cooperation. We in CARICOM are

steadfast in our commitments, and this demonstration of

hemispheric solidarity augurs well for continued

strengthening of our ties, not only in placing candidates in

important positions in the international arena, but even more

critically in promoting and securing the best interests of our

member countries in the post-cold-war world.

I wish to take this opportunity to express our deep

appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Stoyan Ganev, former

Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, for the able and inspired

manner in which he guided the work of the General

Assembly at its forty-seventh session .

I wish also to thank the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for the extraordinary role he is

playing in shaping the future of the international system.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines welcomes the

representatives of the States newly admitted to membership

of the United Nations, namely, the Czech Republic,

Slovakia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

Eritrea, the Principality of Monaco, and Andorra. We

particularly wish to congratulate the people of Eritrea on

winning the long battle for their self-determination, and we

express the hope that their diligence in the pursuit of

political independence will be combined with an appropriate

strategy for economic achievement.

The admission of a nation to this body always marks a

significant event in the international arena as it takes us

another step forward towards the objective of universal

representation.

Adherence to the purposes and principles of the United

Nations Charter and the right of the world’s peoples to self-

determination are the main barometers used in the admission

of States to membership of this body of nations. However,

the Republic of China on Taiwan, a nation of over

21 million inhabitants, which today has one of the most

vigorous economies in the world, is excluded from

membership of the United Nations. In this post-cold-war

era, when a number of countries which once had a single

identity and representation in this Organization now find

ready admission as separate and sovereign members, it is

appropriate that all States capable of maintaining such

sovereign identity be so recognized. Moreover, the Republic

of China on Taiwan has demonstrated its capacity to be in

the forefront of world economic development and should be

provided with an opportunity to participate in, and contribute

to, the programmes of the United Nations.

My delegation heralds the signing of the United

Nations- brokered Governors Island Accord last July by

President Aristide and the military-backed Government of

Haiti, headed by General Raoul Cedras, as an historic

opportunity for the Haitian people, the hemisphere, and the

principle of democratic rule. The interim period until

President Aristide’s return to Haiti on the 30th of this month

must be a time for healing and laying the groundwork for a

smooth take-over, and for a concerted rehabilitation process

aimed at bringing some measure of economic and political

stability to that long-suffering country.

My delegation takes this opportunity to reiterate our

solidarity with the Haitian people, who have struggled over

the past months amidst persistent and blatant human rights

abuses and political repression. We hail the efforts and

initiatives taken by the United Nations, the Organization of

American States, and the Government of the United States

of America in bringing the usurpation of authority to an end.

Let us pray that the clear message from the resolution of the

Haitian crisis by international response will halt the

ambitions of the various military aspirants there.

As the United Nations moves to perform its

peace-keeping, peacemaking and peace-enforcing roles in

Forty-eighth session - 12 October l993 7

many troubled areas around the world, harassment, beatings

and murder of its personnel, both civilian and military, are

on the rise. Earlier in the year a number of United Nations

personnel in the Middle East and Cambodia were slain.

These killings followed the murder of a nurse working with

the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine

Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza and of a

United Nations driver in Afghanistan. This year the world

has also been shocked by the deaths of a number of

Pakistanis, Italians, Moroccans, Americans and nationals of

other countries serving in the United Nations Operation in

Somalia (UNOSOM).

My Government takes this opportunity to express its

condolences to the Governments and peoples of those

countries whose nationals paid the ultimate price in their

desire to bring peace and deliver humanitarian assistance to

the suffering peoples of the world. We also wish to express

our sympathy to the bereaved families of all those United

Nations personnel who died in the line of duty. Member

States must be reminded of their responsibility to protect

United Nations workers and of their obligation to act

promptly and effectively to deter, prosecute and punish all

those responsible for violence.

We salute the courage and commitment of those

dedicated people who continue to accept considerable

personal risks in order to carry out United Nations missions.

The international community must take appropriate steps to

protect its members and we eagerly await the submission of

concrete proposals designed to enhance the safety and

security of United Nations forces and personnel.

It is evident that the perceived disarray in the United

Nations military operation in Somalia is fuelling instability

in the country and detracting from the achievement of the

original goals of restoring peace and security and ensuring

the distribution of humanitarian relief, thereby paving the

way for the re-establishment of civil society in the country

at large. Naturally, these objectives cannot be achieved

unless the international community continues to work in

earnest to ensure that disarmament is achieved throughout

the country in conformity with the provisions of the Addis

Ababa agreement of March 1993, to which all factions are

signatories.

In this regard, my delegation is of the view that

appropriate measures must be taken against those who

continue to impede disarmament, in direct contravention of

Security Council resolutions and the Addis Ababa

agreement. My delegation welcomes signs of a willingness

to negotiate on the part of rebel forces.

From this point on all actions by the United Nations in

Somalia should be aimed at winning the trust of the Somali

people as a prerequisite to the re-establishment of peace and

security, national reconciliation, restoration of the Somali

State and the reconstruction and development of the country.

My delegation congratulates the Palestine Liberation

Organization (PLO), under the leadership of Mr. Yasser

Arafat, on concluding an agreement with the Rabin

Government of Israel to end hostilities among their peoples.

We see this as a significant first step that will fail unless it

leads to the implementation of the resolutions long agreed to

in the United Nations on the territories occupied by Israel

and the acceptance by the United Nations of Palestine to

membership. Just as my delegation has persistently endorsed

the right of Israel to exist within secure borders, we assert

the same right for Palestine. At the forty-fifth session of the

Assembly, when we were discussing the invasion of Kuwait,

my delegation called on this body to demonstrate consistency

in responding to its resolutions, and we do so again.

We wish to congratulate the Government of Norway on

the pivotal and historic facilitating role they played in the

process of mediating in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. We

admire the dignified manner of their contribution and

subsequent response.

The rapidly deteriorating situation in Bosnia and

Herzegovina cries out for urgent resolution. The state of

affairs cannot be tolerated much longer. Immeasurable harm

in both human and material terms has already been done,

and the Serbs and Croats appear to be bent on the

dismemberment of Bosnia and Herzegovina through border

changes, by force and by ethnic cleansing. The international

community cannot agree to a solution dictated by the Serbs

and Croats at the expense of the Bosnian Muslims. We also

cannot accept any territorial solution unless it has the

agreement of the three parties. My delegation wishes to

state unequivocally that the measures necessary to bring

about a reversal of the Serbian aggression must include the

immediate immobilization of heavy weapons, placing them

under effective international control, and the effective

enforcement of comprehensive sanctions on the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia until all the conditions in the

relevant Security Council resolutions are met. My

delegation calls on all those with the resources to influence

a return to normality in this part of the world to honour their

moral responsibility.

The end of the cold war has resulted in a new spirit of

cooperation between erstwhile enemies. Ongoing

8 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

restructuring of the world body is designed to enhance the

capacity of the Organization for preventive diplomacy,

peace-keeping and peacemaking. Regrettably, these changes

do not mean the end of bloody regional conflicts. The strife

in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nagorny Karabakh and Liberia

continues. In Angola, Sudan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan

there is conflict and distress.

The demands on the United Nations for peace-keeping

and peace-building are increasing daily in the number of

operations and personnel as well as in the scope of their

mandates. But in order to bring peace and security to these

troubled areas the international community must redouble its

efforts to bring about a resolution of their conflicts.

One of my country’s most important priorities is

support for the right of all peoples living under colonial or

alien domination and/or foreign occupation to self-

determination and independence. Stressing our commitment

to the goal of the complete eradication of colonialism, we

once again pledge to strengthen our solidarity with all those

countries facing aggression or intervention or interference in

their internal affairs.

Consistent with this position, we strongly condemn the

continuous efforts of certain segments of South African

society to perpetuate the system of apartheid. At the same

time, we welcome the recent progress towards the

establishment of a non-racial democracy, paving the way for

the first non-racial elections, scheduled for April 1994, and

the eventual reintegration of that country into the

international political and economic community.

We welcome the adoption by acclamation on Friday, 8

October, of the General Assembly resolution in support of

Mr. Nelson Mandela’s call for the immediate lifting of

sanctions against South Africa.

The delegation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is

particularly pleased that four vital pieces of legislation,

setting up, the Independent Electoral Commission, the

Independent Media Commission, the Independent

Broadcasting Authority and the Transitional Executive

Council have been adopted by both the Negotiating Council

and the South African Parliament, and are in the process of

being enacted into law.

With the changing world environment the Organization

has been catapulted into new prominence and there has been

renewed hope, and high expectation, as well as new ideas on

the functioning of the General Assembly. The same

movement of change is also of vital importance in the

Security Council and in the economic and social fields. Let

us not lose the momentum in our quest to give new life to

the Organization.

The General Assembly is a body that has been

functioning below the capacity envisaged by its founding

fathers. On the other hand, we have a Security Council that

has expanded in scope and power without a corresponding

increase in its membership or a reorganization of its

functions. The need has also been established for

strengthening the role of the Economic and Social Council

through a better distribution of its functions and a

rationalization of its activities.

My delegation is of the view that at a minimum the

Security Council should be expanded to allocate permanent

seats to Japan and Germany and up to six new rotating seats

to be filled on a regional basis in order better to reflect the

increased membership of the United Nations and the

changed international situation. Certainly, we do not grant

to Japan and Germany the recognition they richly deserve.

The Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit was about nations

joining together in common resolve to do a better job in the

future and to offer our children the hope for a brighter

tomorrow. The centrepiece of this international effort,

Agenda 2l, is a blueprint for our planet which the

Governments of the world adopted by acclamation. With the

creation of a Commission on Sustainable Development and

the restructuring of the economic and social functions of the

United Nations, we now have the institutional arrangements

in place to ensure that the measures prescribed by Agenda

21 are adequately addressed.

In the interim between Rio and the convening of the

first substantial session of the Commission on Sustainable

Development, it appeared to many that the spirit of Rio was

beginning to fade away, due in part to the failure of the

industrialized countries to make firm financial commitments

to the programme approved at UNCED. There is, however,

renewed hope because, since the June session of the

Commission, machinery has been firmly put in place to

follow up on pledges made at the Rio Summit.

The establishment by the Commission of two working

groups to tackle the thorny issues of financial flows and

technology transfer to the developing countries of the South,

in addition to reviewing mechanisms for innovative financing

of Agenda 21 and for analysing conditions that determine the

flow of financial and economic resources, such as debt

relief, terms of trade and commodity prices, is a positive

approach, and it should give new impetus to the

Forty-eighth session - 12 October l993 9

implementation of the global plan which the Rio Summit

adopted to protect the world from environmental degradation

through the twenty-first century. We wish to thank those

who have contributed to the Global Environment Facility,

which makes grant funding available to poor countries so

that they may properly shoulder their share of environmental

responsibilities in our global community.

As we observe new trends in the world economy, it is

noteworthy that there is potentially greater capacity for

growth of real consumption in developing countries than in

the developed ones. Those of us who live in small island

States have limited options in response to the international

economic environment. The banana industry, which is the

lifeline of our economies in Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines and the other countries of the Windward Islands,

is currently under threat of extinction. My delegation wishes

to record, at this session of the General Assembly, our

gratitude to the European Economic Community for its

support for this vital component of our economies.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a small developing

archipelagic State, with all the generic circumstances

associated with small size, limited resources, geographical

dispersion and relative isolation from markets. Naturally we

also have advantages, which we continue to exploit in the

national interest. Development in all its forms is of

paramount national importance to us. In this regard, we

look forward with enthusiasm to the World Summit for

Social Development in 1995, the International Conference on

Population and Development in 1994, and the Global

Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States, which is scheduled to convene in

Barbados in 1994. It is our fervent hope that the

international community will recognize the special

characteristics and developmental needs of this category of

countries, which have not changed in the new configuration

of world politics. We pray also that there will be tangible

benefits following the conclusion of these Conferences.

The United Nations has designated 1993 the

International Year for the World’s Indigenous People.

Forced off their ancestral lands by settlers and colonizers,

indigenous peoples in many parts of the world have faced

untold discrimination and poverty and are often afforded

little say in their political future. It is no surprise, therefore,

that they are increasingly seeking to exercise their full range

of human rights. The world’s communities are urged to

treat minorities and indigenous peoples, and persons

belonging to them, on the basis of equality, and to take

measures that would, inter alia, facilitate their full

participation in all aspects of the political, economic, social,

religious and cultural life of the society.

My delegation is proud to state that in Saint Vincent

and the Grenadines the indigenous people, the Caribs, are

fully integrated into Vincentian society and are beneficiaries

of all rights and freedoms under our Constitution. They

participate fully in the political process, and today an active

representative in the House of Assembly is a descendant of

Joseph Chatoyer, the Paramount Chief of the Caribs and a

national hero of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Our

Government has also taken specific steps, through its land

reform and distribution policy, to empower the Caribs, who

are the main beneficiaries of the Government’s acquisition

of the area formerly occupied by Orange Hill Estates, and

the subsequent distribution, with title, of economically viable

plots to them.

My Government will ensure that our indigenous people

continue to participate fully in national society and that their

views are solicited and taken into consideration in

decision-making processes that affect them and the nation as

a whole.

My delegation is proud to co-sponsor a draft resolution

of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Ministers

Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean

Community calling for the annual observance of an

International Day of Indigenous Peoples. I hope that this

draft resolution, when brought before this body, will be

adopted by acclamation and will receive unanimous

follow-up support from Member countries.

The Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

welcomes and values highly the deepening of relations

between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Latin

America in general. We are also encouraged by the degree

of cooperation which is being developed between

CARICOM and Central America. In the increasingly

competitive world environment, which is gradually being

dominated by large trading blocs, it is imperative for our

countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to forge closer

ties through economic and other forms of functional

cooperation.

My Government totally condemns the illicit production,

trafficking in and consumption of drugs. These harbingers

of violent crime and corruption pose a serious threat to the

health and well-being of our economies and our people,

endanger our democratic institutions and jeopardize national

and regional security.

10 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

We are firmly convinced that only integrated regional

and international efforts can effectively address the drug

problem, and, accordingly, we stress the need for increased

local, regional and international cooperation. Greater

emphasis should be placed on programmes that generate

employment and income for persons attracted to drug

production and trafficking as a means of livelihood. These

should be pursued concurrently with programmes for the

prevention of drug use and the rehabilitation of drug users.

The appropriate measures must also be taken to strengthen

our judicial institutions to ensure that the perpetrators of

drug abuse and related crimes are brought to swift and

effective justice.

We in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are closely

observing the evolution of democracy in the States of

Eastern Europe and the territories of the former Soviet

Union, as well as its consolidation worldwide. We agonized

with freedom-loving peoples when the Russian constitutional

crisis threatened to "put democracy under a shade." We

regret the loss of life that resulted from the struggle for

control, and we hope that the emergence of a full- fledged

system of democracy, with the ultimate power residing in the

hands of the people, will not be impeded by any self-serving

acts on the part of major players.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines welcomes the

constitutional resolution of the political impasse in Pakistan.

As a member of the Commonwealth, we welcome Mrs.

Benazir Bhutto back as Prime Minister of her country and

look forward to meeting her in Cyprus at the Commonwealth

Heads of Government meeting.

My delegation wishes to reiterate its resolute

commitment to the democratic ideal and the concomitant

free enterprise system. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,

like the other countries of CARICOM, has gone through a

historic constitutional journey, from Crown Colony

Government, with its limited franchise, to full political

independence under universal adult suffrage. We have

adhered to the principles and practice of participatory

democracy and the market economy, even when these ideals

were not as pervasive and mandatory as they are today. We

have stayed the course, by choice and conviction, and our

people have reaped the benefits. They will have it no other

way.

In this post-cold-war era we are determined to maintain

the gains of our democracy which we have accumulated over

the years, even as we face the increasing difficulties

associated with the marginalization of small States in the

face of bloc consolidation and other emerging trends of our

time.