Antigua and Barbuda, 2014

At the

outset, I wish to extend heartiest congratulations to

the President on his election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. Antigua and

Barbuda looks forward to his leadership and guidance

throughout this session. I also offer congratulations

to his predecessor, His Excellency Ambassador John

Ashe, on a job well done and on his unrelenting service

to the United Nations community, particularly small

island developing States.

I stand before the Assembly as, perhaps, the newest

Head of Government at this sixty-ninth session of the

General Assembly. The political party that I have the

honour to lead was democratically and overwhelmingly

elected as the Government of Antigua and Barbuda a

little more than three months ago. I am probably also

among the youngest of the Heads of Government at

this gathering. However, although I may be relatively

young and my Government new, I have been a steadfast

believer in the value of the United Nations from the

first moment of my adult consciousness. The idea

that there could be a world without a machinery for

leaders to gather in one place, with the single purpose

of improving the lives of all humankind, conjures

up images of chaos, carnage and catastrophe too

frightening to contemplate. While some may argue that

the United Nations has not always lived up to its noble

purposes and that chaos, carnage and catastrophe have

scarred our planet, I am profoundly aware that, without

the United Nations, the viciousness and the wounds

would have been significantly worse.

However, even as I rejoice in the existence of the

United Nations, I also lament that its largest and most

powerful nations have too often used their privileged

positions to weaken the authority of the Organization in

advancement of their own narrow interests. It has also

been a grave sadness that in the past powerful States

have circumvented this body in pursuit of their national

goals, even in defiance of the solidarity of the larger

family of nations.

For those reasons, my Government and the people

of Antigua and Barbuda strongly support the reform

of the Organization. We would like to see reform

that democratizes the United Nations so as to give a

greater voice to those countries, such as mine, that

are marginalized in decision-making because we are

considered too small to make a difference. We would

also welcome a comprehensive reform of the Security

Council that ends the anachronism of the veto power

of the five permanent members — a system that has no

legitimacy in fairness and in the global balance and that

has often prevented the Security Council from acting in

a manner that would command worldwide support and

acclamation.

It is paradoxical that such nations, particularly

those that most fiercely advocate respect for democracy

and the rule of law, implement those principles at home

but decline to implement them abroad. Respect for the

rule of law and for the democratic principle that gives

nations rights that are as inalienable as those of the

individual in powerful States must become integral to

the process and systems of governance by which the

world’s affairs are managed. Indeed, small States, such

as mine, rely on the strength of the United Nations and

on international respect for democracy and the rule of

law to protect us from incursions on our sovereignty and

disregard for our rights. Centuries ago, the philosopher

Aristotle spoke a compelling truth when he said of the

State:

“A State is not a mere society, having a common

place, established for the prevention of mutual

crime and for the sake of exchange ... Political

society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not

of mere companionship.”

Aristotle’s observation concerning the State

remains valid and legitimate in today’s international

system of States, which the United Nations represents.

Every State within the international system must

recognize that noble action is one of the purposes of a

political community.

In this regard, I draw the Assembly’s attention to

the fact that 10 long years have passed since my small

country, with a population of under 100,000 and an

economy of $1.1 billion, received a favourable decision

by the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade

Organization (WTO) in a complaint against the United

States, a nation of several hundred million inhabitants

whose economy is valued in the trillions. Despite the

favourable judgment, against which the losing party has

appealed without success, the United States Government

has not seen fit to perform the “noble action” of settling

with my small State in a manner consistent with the

harm done to our economy. My country has been

denied income that, had we continued to earn it, would

have contributed significantly to the welfare of my

people, and to the capacity of our economy to cope with

the grave effects of climate change and the financial

crisis to which we became a casualty. I stress that when

my country took the United States before the WTO’s

Dispute Settlement Body, we did not do so as an act of

hostility to a neighbour with whom we have enjoyed a

long and friendly relationship; we did so because we

had a duty to care for our people.

My small State was the victim of a trade violation.

In good faith, we sought relief within the international

system and the democratic principles and rule of law

that it is meant to uphold. To be fair, the system delivered

justice. But in so doing, its weakness was exposed when

justice could not be enforced because the powerful

party that was found against would not settle with the

small country that was injured. However, if democracy

and the rule of law are to prevail in our international

system, they have to be upheld and respected by the

powerful and cannot simply be imposed upon the weak.

Otherwise, there will be resentment, discontent and

possibly conflict.

Yesterday, speaking in this very forum, the

President of the United States, Barack Obama, said

that “right makes might... bigger nations should not be

able to bully smaller ones” (A/69/PV.6, p. 11). If this

universal truth is a guiding principle of his Government,

then the United States cannot continue to approbate and

reprobate on this principle. The noble thing is for the

United States to settle this long-outstanding judgement

fairly and expeditiously. In another context, but voicing

a similar principle, President Obama said the following

a year ago:

“[T]he principle of sovereignty is at the centre of

our international order. But sovereignty cannot

be ... an excuse for the international community to

turn a blind eye” (A/68/PV.5, p. 16).

President Obama was perfectly right. That is why I

believe he will agree that sovereignty and power should

not be a shield against the fulfilment of obligations

independently assessed, or an excuse for not settling

this very vexing issue.

I am sure that President Obama would also agree

that the international community cannot turn a blind

eye to the blockade imposed on Cuba. Antigua and

Barbuda supports the preservation of the sovereignty

of every nation. We are very proud of our long-standing

relationship with the Republic of Cuba. We therefore

join with the international community and condemn any

discriminatory and retaliatory policies and practices

that serve to prevent Cuba from exercising its right

to freely participate in the affairs of the hemisphere.

My Government firmly believes that any application

of unilateral and extraterritorial coercive laws and

measures that conflict with international law and the

principles of free navigation and international trade is

wrong. We therefore urge our long-standing friend, the

United States, to respect and take note of the numerous

calls by the United Nations to immediately bring an

end to the unjust economic, commercial and financial

blockade imposed on our neighbour Cuba.

My small country has no military might, no

economic clout. All that we have is membership of the

international system as our shield and our voice in this

body as our sword. That is why we will continue to

uphold the value of the United Nations vigorously, and

why we will join the effort for its reform to make it the

guardian of all nations and all peoples.

I want to express my Government’s full agreement

with the President’s decision to make the theme of

this General Assembly debate, “Delivering on and

implementing a transformative post-2015 development

agenda.” It is well known now that the Millennium

Development Goals Gap Task Force has reported

mixed progress in the achievement of key targets.

Among the targets on which there has been insufficient

acceleration has been official development assistance.

I congratulate those countries that have reached the

pledged target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income.

However, the developed world is still not meeting the

target of $315 billion. Indeed, it is not even reaching

half that amount.

My own country and the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) region as a whole have witnessed a decline

in bilateral assistance from larger and richer nations

within our own hemisphere, and we have relied on

non-traditional sources, such as the People’s Republic

of China and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

In regard to energy, the high cost of which cripples

our country, the Venezuelan Petrocaribe arrangement

has been a lifebelt in a sea of turbulence. We are also

grateful for the contributions of our other international

partners, including the European Union. However, as we

go forward, there is clearly a need for increased global

engagement with respect to development assistance,

including the presence at the table of recipients as well

as donors.

In addition — and as a most urgent matter — the

international financial institutions must be urged to stop

penalizing small Caribbean States on the basis of their

flawed per capita income criterion. Our countries are

denied access to concessional financing because we are

classified as middle-income countries. This obdurate

attitude of the international financial institutions in

not devising better criteria for assessing the eligibility

of our small economies for concessionary financing,

forces us into the commercial lending market. The

consequence of this is that our debt is rising and many

of us are among the most highly indebted countries in

the world on a per capita basis.

But I ask, “What is the alternative?” Rhetorically,

I ask again, “What is the alternative?” It is said that

six years after the global economy collapsed, jobs are

being created, global financial systems have stabilized

and people are once again being lifted out of poverty.

But I say here this afternoon that this is not a universal

truth. In the case of small States in the Caribbean, the

global economic crisis in 2008 in whose creation we

played no part, sent our economies into a tailspin. We

have yet to recover fully from its impact, and we will

probably never recover the development ground that we

lost. Incredibly, a significant number of our educated

young people are unemployed. If we fail to satisfy their

aspirations, we condemn them to a life on the margins of

society at best, or a life of crime and violence at worst.

No nation can opt for so devastating an alternative.

There is now an urgent need for this United

Nations body, through one of its appropriate organs, to

address the large debt that CARICOM countries have

accumulated owing to declining aid, poor terms of

trade, the high cost of regulating financial services, and

expenditure on curbing drug trafficking and stopping

refugees.

Those countries in the Caribbean, including my

own, that are now increasing their debt are not doing so

because of poor policies or because we are not focused

on increased productivity and growth, nor are we doing

so because of high expenditures on vanity projects or

unsustainable ventures. We are doing so to build the

socioeconomic infrastructure to facilitate revenue

generation.

The fact of the matter is that the global crisis that

began in 2008 has set our economies back to pre-1974

levels. While we are tightening our belts, forging

relations with the private sector and energetically

seeking foreign direct investment in productive

enterprises, we are scraping our way uphill, having

been pushed downwards by a deluge of external factors.

The United Nations cannot step back from those

realities, and it would be wrong, as it has been wrong

for some time, for this Organization to abdicate its

responsibility for action to multilateral organizations

whose membership is made up only of a few, however

powerful they may be. Indeed, it is precisely because

the members of those groups are powerful and because

they reach into a network of economic and political

decision-making bodies that can easily impose their

will on the weak and vulnerable that the United Nations

should not abandon its responsibilities to the weak, who

depend on this Organization.

I cannot leave this rostrum without addressing the

war on terror and the issue of the dreaded Ebola disease.

The threat of Ebola requires a global response, and we

urge the international community to act collectively

and swiftly in combatting what could become a global

pandemic with grave socio-economic consequences for

small States, especially our fragile, tourism-dependent

countries in the Caribbean. Antigua and Barbuda

commends the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for

its pledge of $5 million towards Ebola eradication and

the Republic of Cuba for sending 165 doctors. We call

on the members of the international community to

continue to contribute towards that effort.

Antigua and Barbuda condemns the savage and

cruel acts of the jihadists of the Islamic State, who have

beheaded three civilians. On behalf of the Government

and people of Antigua and Barbuda, I express our

deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and

to the people of the United States, France and the

United Kingdom for those atrocities. There can be no

justification for such barbaric behaviour. We cannot

afford a world that slips back into the dark ages when

violence, wars and barbarism were the stock-and-trade

of religious intolerance and ethnic divisions.

Yet, as we survey the global scene, there are deeply

troubling instances of such behaviour in Europe, Africa

and the Middle East. In all this, the role of the United

Nations becomes critically important. What is required

is not unilateral acts that will embroil specific nations

in cycles of violent retaliation. What is required is a

United Nations whose Member States, particularly

those on the Security Council, act together to defend

peace and security.

After only 100 days in office, my Government

has demonstrated its commitment to building an all-

inclusive, all-empowering and egalitarian society by

promoting the protection of women’s rights, gender

equality and the rights of the disabled. We see those

issues not only as human rights issues, but as essential

components of sustainable development, peace, social

justice and security. At our first session of Parliament,

my Government ratified the Convention on the Rights

of Persons with Disabilities. We have gone further and

have appointed a distinguished son of the soil, who is

visually challenged, to serve as our representative to

the United Nations. We have also appointed a plethora

of women to serve in the Upper House of Parliament

as ambassadors and in other key positions within

the public sector. It is my Government’s pledge to

continue to work towards full gender equality and the

advancement and empowerment of women.

When the President of the General Assembly opened

the Assembly’s sixty-ninth session, he remarked that

“to say that we are living in tumultuous times would

seem an understatement” (A/69/PV.1, p. 3). He noted that

the entire world is facing challenges such as poverty,

hunger, climate change and rising sea levels, persistent

unemployment, armed conflicts and the Ebola virus

epidemic. He called on this global body to tackle those

challenges “with dedication, single-mindedness of

purpose and compromise” and “a sense of resolve and

resilience” (ibid.) He was right to do so.

Crises are staring human civilization in the face,

including climate change, the Ebola virus and the threat

posed by the Islamic State. As a result, we all face a

future where those challenges can only be dealt with

through joint international action. The United Nations,

the parliament of parliaments, is the place where such

joint action is to be decided and implemented. We need

to strengthen the United Nations capacity for such

action, whether military or humanitarian. There is no

substitute for the United Nations. Antigua and Barbuda

pledges its continued support of and participation in the

work of the United Nations.