Antigua and Barbuda, 2001

Antigua and

Barbuda is pleased that this is the United Nations Year

of Dialogue among Civilizations. However, we can

have meaningful dialogue only if the dominant

countries reach out with genuine understanding when

others speak. We can have dialogue only if the basic

principles of the United Nations are made the core of

reality. We cannot have dialogue if multilateralism

remains selective or if the principle of rotation

continues to be based on demographics, military might

and economic principles. The people of my country

represent an integral part of human civilization and we

wish to contribute our voice and our ideas to the debate

on the future of the journey of humankind on this

planet.

28

The tragic events of 11 September in the host

country of the United Nations have presented a

challenge to world civilization. The Parliament of

Antigua and Barbuda on Thursday, 18 October, passed

strong anti-terrorism legislation. Also, the Caribbean

Community, meeting in special emergency session in

the Bahamas on 11 and 12 October, recognized

terrorism as a global problem requiring a resolute

global response. The heads of Government stated:

“We are conscious that the unprecedented

and barbaric terrorist assaults of 11 September

will require of us extraordinary vigilance and

coordination in the future, to ensure that our

territories, our institutions and our citizens are

not used in any manner to facilitate the activities

of terrorists or to undermine our national and

regional security.”

We share the agony of the United States, for we

too had nationals who perished in the 11 September

atrocity. We fully support Security Council resolution

1373 (2001), which makes it obligatory for all States to

impose far-reaching measures to combat the scourge of

terrorism. We support the work of the Counter-

Terrorism Committee. International terrorism is in

reality an act of war against the world’s peace-loving

peoples. It is imperative that all countries of the world

address in a more meaningful manner the underlying

social, economic and political problems that cause

human misery and perpetuate injustice. We must act to

ensure that the entire global society lives in an

environment of freedom and is free from fear. The fight

against terrorism will be a long and arduous one, but it

is one in which we must thoroughly and completely

engage ourselves.

Antigua and Barbuda has now ratified the Rome

Statute for the International Criminal Court. The

citizens of my country believe that in the prospect of an

international criminal court lies the promise of

universal justice, since the Court will have the power to

indict individuals. Antigua and Barbuda is certainly

disappointed that crimes pertaining to drug trafficking

and terrorism have been put on the back burner at the

International Criminal Court, but we are prepared to

continue our dialogue to bring them under the ambit of

the Court when it becomes active. The cancer of drug

trafficking will continue to threaten human civilization

until we fashion a truly global response to its menace.

The battles in Seattle, Windsor and Quebec are an

integral part of world civilization’s struggle to

humanize globalization. Interestingly, we find

ourselves agreeing with the statement made by the

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) in his address to members of the Deutsche

Bundestag on 2 April 2001 in Berlin. Mr. Köhler

declared that it is political and economic madness for

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD) countries to spend $360 billion a

year on agricultural subsidies, while poverty rages in

developing countries, especially in the rural and

farming regions. He went on to say that it is high time

for industrial countries to honour their commitment to

provide 0.7 per cent of their gross national product for

official development assistance.

At the United Nations Millennium Summit, my

own Prime Minister, Lester Bird, castigated the

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development for its unilaterally devised set of

standards for international taxation to be imposed on

other jurisdictions and for demanding that States

change their domestic laws to suit OECD purposes.

The rule of law has become the rule of the jungle,

where rules do not apply, and only might is right. In

reality, the OECD Harmful Tax Competition project

has nothing to do with money laundering, but has more

to do with the fact that OECD believes that its member

States would lose capital to other States with more

competitive tax regimes.

Globalization has left States like my own with a

feeling of exclusion, a feeling of being cast aside and

pushed outside, from where we observe the gains of the

dominant. It is a feeling of not being able to participate

in the determination of our own destiny. The “green

room” process evident at World Trade Organization

(WTO) ministerial meetings has done nothing but

increase our apprehension. We call for serious reform

of the global political and economic architecture to be

undertaken, both at the United Nations and at the

World Trade Organization. The multilateral trading

system needs to be transparent. It needs to be fair and

equitable, and all countries should be able to share in

its benefits.

Antigua and Barbuda, as a small island State, is

extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. The most

prevalent threat is that of hurricanes, three of which

recently impacted our sister States of Belize, Cuba and

the Bahamas. A single hurricane can set back the

29

development of a small island State by 10 years.

Between 1995 and 2000, our beloved twin island State

was hit by seven hurricanes.

We call on the international community to

acknowledge in a meaningful way the vulnerability of

small States like Antigua and Barbuda. We point to our

lack of capacity in financial and human resources to

bounce back from natural disasters and from external

shocks to its economy caused by economic recession in

the major economies of the world, which also happen

to be our main trading partners. It is therefore

imperative that we be able to continue to access

concessionary financing through the World Bank. Our

social and economic development needs, including

infrastructure, seem not to register in the boardrooms

of the international financial institutions.

Countries like Antigua and Barbuda are viewed

as middle income because of the per capita income

criterion, but this is a flawed measurement and should

be abandoned. Financing for development should take

into account a mix of factors and should be linked to

the vulnerability index on which the United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has

done important work.

No account is taken of the considerable

transaction costs faced by small States because of their

remoteness and the disproportionate burden they bear

in order to effectively participate in world trade. No

account is taken of the openness of our economy to

goods and services from all over the world, without

corresponding market access for our own limited range

of goods to the markets of Europe and North America.

An inhospitable stranger known as “non-tariff barriers”

continues to slam the door in our face.

In these circumstances, we cannot overemphasize

how important it is for the IMF and the World Bank to

apply special and differential treatment to measuring

the fiscal and economic performance of small island

States. Our limited capacity to raise revenue and our

necessity to spend at a disproportionate level in order

to maintain a decent standard of living for our people

should lead the IMF to have special and differential

programmes of assistance for small island States.

These programmes should not merely prescribe the

traditional formula of large-scale public sector

dismissals and reduction of public sector investment

programmes. Instead, innovative ways should be found

to provide long-term financing at repayment periods

and rates of interest that would allow small States to

maintain democracy, human rights, low crime rates and

economic growth.

My country welcomes the successful conclusion

of the Marrakesh meeting on climate change, where the

parties to the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change finalized the operational details of

the Kyoto Protocol, thereby opening the way to

widespread ratification by Governments and the

Protocol’s early entry into force. This was the result of

several years of tough negotiation in which Antigua

and Barbuda was very active and took a leadership

position. What we now have in place are the

institutions and detailed procedures of the Kyoto

Protocol, and the next step is to test their effectiveness

in overseeing the five per cent cut in greenhouse gas

emissions by developed countries over the next decade.

The agreements reached in Marrakesh also made

important progress on strengthening the flow of

financial and technological support to developing

countries so that they can move towards a sustainable

energy future. They also send a clear signal to

business, local governments and the general public that

climate-friendly products, services and activities will

be rewarded by consumers and national policies alike.

The meeting also adopted the Marrakesh

Ministerial Declaration as an input into next

September’s World Summit on Sustainable

Development, to be held in Johannesburg. The

Declaration emphasizes the contribution that action on

climate change can make to sustainable development

and calls for capacity building, technology innovation

and cooperation with the Biodiversity and

Desertification Conventions. With the Summit a little

less than a year away, small island developing States

such as my own, which are among the most vulnerable

to the adverse effects of climate change, continue to

urge the speedy ratification of the Protocol.

That will require a global coalition among States

to ensure that it enters into force and becomes legally

binding after it has been ratified by at least 55 parties

to the Convention, including the industrialized

countries that represent at least 55 per cent of the total

1990 carbon dioxide emissions from this group. While

it remains true that those with the highest per capita

levels of greenhouse gas emissions should take the

lead, it is incumbent upon all countries to work

30

together to ensure that there is full compliance with

commitments contained in the Protocol.

There is a deep concern in our countries, a

concern that takes on paramount proportions and that is

centred around the transhipment of nuclear waste

through the waters of the Caribbean Sea, and which

represents a blatant disregard of our sovereignty. The

countries of the Caribbean have insisted that it be

stopped, but to no avail; and our populations live in

constant fear of an accident. We call on those who

engage in this deadly traffic to respect the rights of

transit States such as Antigua and Barbuda.

The most populous democracy in the world,

India, spoke on the first day of the general debate and

highlighted concerns that we find it necessary to

reiterate. There needs to be a more determined

movement towards the liquidation of the external debts

of low income and highly indebted countries. There

should be poverty alleviation programmes designed for

countries facing financial crises, and there should be

stabilization of international prices of primary

commodity exports.

The measures that we have outlined here are

essential to building a just and equitable international

order. Anything less would simply be the imposition of

the will of the powerful upon the pusillanimous. All

societies are measured by the way they treat their most

vulnerable members, and the international community

of nations is no different. I call on all representatives

here assembled to heed the plea of the victims and to

construct an international order that can lift human

civilization to achieve the highest ideals of the United

Nations.