Antigua and Barbuda, 2003

It gives me

profound pleasure to welcome and congratulate

Mr. Julian Hunte in regard to the lofty position that he

now holds. It was not long ago that he was fighting

alongside the ambassadors of the Latin American and

Caribbean Group. He represents the smallest country

that has ever ascended to the presidency, and, for his

Caribbean colleagues, there will be additional rejoicing

when his photograph appears on the Wall of Presidents.

It is my hope that our younger diplomats will

endeavour to emulate him and continue to demonstrate

the mettle of small island developing States. But let me

also pay tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Jan Kavan, for

the able and skilful manner in which he conducted our

deliberations during the fifty-seventh session. The

Secretary-General and his staff must also receive

acclaim for their diligence and steadfast work. We

mourn and grieve for the United Nations staff members

killed and wounded in Baghdad, and, indeed, for all

members of the staff who have made the ultimate

sacrifice in upholding the ideals of the United Nations.

We have often repeated statistics on human living

conditions, but it seems to be just a recitation.

Nonetheless, in the hope that this year figures may

move those in control to make a meaningful attempt at

25

remedies, let me join the list of other colleagues who

have recalled the fact that almost half of the world’s

population subsists on less than $2 a day, and a fifth

lives on less than $1 a day. The point to be stressed is

that global inequality has increased. The digital divide

is widening, the number of refugees and displaced

persons has grown, and the AIDS crisis is devastating

numerous societies.

What tends to be ignored is what developing

countries have been doing for themselves. In the

Caribbean, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

countries have come to each other’s assistance in times

of crisis, whether there be natural devastation by way

of earthquakes, volcanic eruption, drought or floods.

We have used our military forces positively, to rescue,

to stabilize and to rehabilitate, when suffering the

vicissitudes of nature. Strapped as we are in regard to

finances, we have assisted one another in regard to the

severest of economic constraints. If an unbiased

evaluation is made, it will be clear that average gains in

human development in low- and middle-income

countries have been substantial and higher than gains

in income. Life expectancy has increased by 59 per

cent, and illiteracy has been reduced from 39 per cent

in 1970 to 25 per cent at the turn of the century.

Nevertheless, current development trends are not

sustainable and are placing extreme pressure on the

environment and on the impoverished, who bear the

overwhelming brunt of environmental degradation. Our

coastal systems are threatened, dominant countries are

fishing indiscriminately within our exclusive economic

zones, and our coral reefs have not only been damaged

but are disappearing. Yet aid has declined as a share of

gross national product, and World Bank research

indicates that, without a doubling of development

assistance, the endorsed Millennium Goals are unlikely

to be achieved.

Development experts appear to have a single

focus. We fully accept the necessity for market

reforms, but they are insufficient in themselves. There

is a need for broad social reforms. Equitable income

distribution and secondary school enrolment have been

found to be insensitive to growth, while air quality has

been negatively correlated to growth. The global

institutions continue to listen to their identified experts

and to disregard local experience, whether from the

aged and wise or from the young and brilliant.

Sustained development requires a significant

percentage of domestic or local ownership.

Our religious literature states that continuing a

lifestyle demands the depositing or planting of seeds,

from which, in a relatively short period of time, comes

new life and the continuance of organic existence. With

that in mind, it is imperative that development

strategies clearly take into consideration those who will

succeed us, and Antigua and Barbuda, which devotes

much attention and planning to the advancement of its

youth, is advocating continued global focus on this

issue in order to ensure a more harmonious

international atmosphere than the one in which we

carry out our activities.

With that in mind, Caribbean heads of State and

Government have met with representatives of the

World Bank and are jointly in the process of, first,

identifying the risk and protective factors and

determinants of youth behaviours and development;

secondly, demonstrating that the negative behaviours of

young people are costly not only to themselves but also

to society as a whole; and, thirdly, identifying key

intervention points for youth development,

underscoring identified risk and protective factors.

Presently, as a result of this joint thrust, we are

targeting sexual and physical abuse, HIV/AIDS as

linked to misguided values about sexuality, the

incidence of rage, youth unemployment, and social

misconceptions as to the use of alcohol and marijuana.

Moving forward requires modernizing the educational

system and maximizing the protective effect of schools,

upgrading public health-care systems, making families

a top policy issue, and strengthening community and

neighbourhood support to adolescents.

Antigua and Barbuda believes that, whereas aid is

sorely needed, its effectiveness will be limited unless a

level playing field is provided in regard to trade and

investment in developing societies. There cannot be

meaningful progress by talking about the relative

significance and importance of free trade. We listen

and see the dominant countries employ various and

diverse forms of agricultural protectionism, while

taking away from former colonies of exploitation vital

preferences needed to keep their products on the

market. Why should globalization be oppressive to the

pusillanimous? We have been listening to the

modifications of the philosophies of Cobden and

Bright, but are feeling the yoke of global practices,

knowing that never in modern history has there ever

been free trade.

26

The fears of developing countries in regard to the

practices and realities of globalization, as opposed to

its often-vaunted philosophy, were manifested at

Cancún in September of this year. Cancún, we have

been made to understand, means snake pit in the local

Mayan language, and our hope is that there will be

some meaningful effort to overcome the drawbacks.

Developing countries will be hindered from developing

themselves if lip service alone continues to be paid to

poverty. The first step in the elimination of poverty is

to adequately recognize the multifunctional role of

agriculture. This multifunctional role incorporates food

safety, animal welfare and the preservation of land.

Unfortunately, Cancún proved once again that the

dominant countries would continue to exempt

themselves from the rules governing free trade and to

domestically provide substantive subsidies to their

farmers, while denying the former colonies of

exploitation the right to preferences.

The year 2004 will mark the tenth anniversary of

the first United Nations Global Conference on the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, which was held in Barbados in 1994. In looking

back at the almost 10 years since that Conference, we

hold these following truths to be self evident: In the

Barbados Programme’s attention on the unique

circumstances of small island developing States, the

corresponding actions to address these circumstances

by the international community, has been lacking. This

is the opportunity presented by the international

meeting, to review the implementation of the

Programme of Action that will be held in Mauritius in

August 2004. It presents us with a second chance to

identify a set of concrete actions which will be needed

to further the implementation of the Barbados

Programme of Action and thereby regain the

momentum lost by small island developing States in

their quest for sustainable development. So far we have

not been satisfied that problems relating to the trans-

shipment of nuclear waste through our waters, bilging

and fishing indiscriminately in our Exclusive Economic

Zones have been given any meaningful consideration.

My Government welcomes the entry into force of

the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention

on Biological Diversity, having recently deposited our

instruments of ratification for both the Protocol and the

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic

Pollutants. As a Party to the Kyoto Protocol to the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change, we wish to lend our support to the call made

by the Foreign Minister of Japan for parties to the

Climate Change Convention to maintain the

international momentum for climate change

negotiations, for the early entry into force of the Kyoto

Protocol and for the formulation of common rules that

will facilitate participation by all countries.

The Millennium Development Goals constitute an

ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving

lives. The challenge to implement them is enormous. A

case in point is the target of halving by 2015 the

proportion of people without access to safe drinking

water and proper sanitation. To meet this target, the

world will need to connect approximately 200,000

people to clean water and 400,000 people to improved

sanitation each day.

That will require three things: first, innovative

financing mechanisms to assure the necessary doubling

in financial flows to developing countries for water and

sanitation, from current spending of $10 billion each

year, to about $20 billion a year; secondly, greatly

improved governance of scarce water resources, built

around holistic, integrated water resources management

strategies that encompass priorities from drinking to

agriculture and industrial development; and thirdly, a

clear focus on building capacity where it is needed

most: working directly with local communities,

especially women, to help craft and implement their

own solutions. And this is just for water.

We see, as the dominant Powers repeat their call

for universal democracy, that the former colonies of

exploitation must remind them that democracy is most

difficult to achieve among those witnessing the tears

and the conditions of hungry children. Democracy

struggles to maintain itself among those who are

racked with illnesses and weak from the lack of

adequate nutrition. Democracy is practically a utopian

ideal, in which there are defined class divisions and

insurmountable social barriers. For democracy to thrive

and prosper, all sectors of the society have to

participate fully with regard to economic growth and

an adequate distribution of income. It is, therefore,

incumbent that society work toward integral, equitable

and sustainable social and economic development. In

Antigua and Barbuda, in the midst of our trials and

tribulations, we have maintained democracy, and it is a

hallmark of our existence.

27

The products of science, technology and

innovation have to be harnessed and designed to add

value to the real components of development. Wealth

must be generated in order to raise the dignity and the

esteem of mankind, and to garner respect for the

internationally recognized fundamental rights and

principles of labour. Without such, socio-economic

development and, consequently, the full enjoyment of

democracy will be held in abeyance.

My country is at a loss to fully comprehend why

some of the major countries of this world oppose the

International Criminal Court (ICC). It is vital to our

security and development. The Court represents a

revolution in legal and moral attitudes toward some of

the worst crimes on Earth. Whereas many developing

States have suffered under the yoke of globalization,

the ICC represents a plus for the globalization process,

its principles of justice and the rule of law in

international affairs. The Rome Statute has sufficient

checks and balances to allay all fears, and we remain

convinced that the ICC will be a legitimate judicial

institution to adequately judge individuals for war

crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. We

reiterate that this can be done while guaranteeing States

their rights, as they are protected from any interference

by the Court if they pursue the given crimes at the

national level, and that the prosecutor’s autonomous

power is accompanied by guarantees against using the

Court for specious or politically motivated endeavours.

The Non-Self-Governing Territories of the

Caribbean look to Caribbean members of the Special

Committee on Decolonization, more commonly known

as the Special Committee of 24, to give guidance in

regard to their constitutional evolution. This year there

was a breakthrough in Anguilla, as the United

Kingdom agreed to have the regional seminar held in

one of the Non-Self-Governing Territories, and for the

first time the United Nations Secretariat agreed to write

directly to the local representatives, rather than through

the representatives of the administering Powers. But

more importantly, the United Kingdom sent a senior

official from the Commonwealth and Overseas Office,

who was to gain the respect of the seminar participants.

The Non-Self-Governing Territories greeted this

development, and all sent delegations that were vocal

and explained that their options had never been

explained to them. They were eager to remain in touch

with the United Nations Secretariat, and sought to take

advantage of whatever experiences, educational and

otherwise, the United Nations could provide. In an

atmosphere of cordiality, the administrating Power and

the non-self-governing territories expressed ways and

means of promoting development and advancement for

the territories. Quite significantly the non-self-

governing territories hailed the new policy of the

United Kingdom for consultation with the elected

officials of its territories on the appointment of

governors.

My country would not like to give the impression

that we are only concerned with development, as this

would be far from the truth. We are cognizant of other

global issues, particularly with reference to peace and

security. The images that are constantly before us with

reference to Iraq and the Middle East leave us

questioning the brotherhood of mankind. The United

Nations has to be unified with reference to the

rehabilitation of Iraq, and the transition of its

administrative structures into the hands of its nationals.

We subsequently give our support for the peace

process in the Middle East, based on the respective

resolutions of both the General Assembly and the

Security Council. Likewise, we give wholehearted

support to the preservation of the role of the United

Nations and other organizations in working toward the

stabilization and security of Afghanistan.

In the same vein, we support and encourage the

efforts made to resolve the conflicts in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, and the stabilization of peace in

parts of West Africa and the Balkans.

We continue to press for the revitalization of the

disarmament process, non-proliferation of nuclear

weapons and general arms control.

These are indeed perilous times, and, when an

event occurs in a distant part of the globe that can

drastically affect us domestically, total disregard of the

need for tolerance will not only produce resentment but

also the dangerous practice of intolerance. For such

times it is far better to remember the words of Thomas

Paine, who stated that “The world is my country, all

mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my

religion.”