Barbados, 1994

Mr President, it is a pleasure

for me to congratulate you, Foreign Minister Essy, on your

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its

forty-ninth session. The Barbados delegation has

cooperated closely with Your Excellency in the past, and

we have every confidence that you will guide the work of

this session with distinction.

It is with a deep sense of pride and satisfaction that I

also offer my Government’s congratulations to our outgoing

President, Ambassador Rudy Insanally of Guyana. As the

first representative from the Caribbean to hold that high

office, Ambassador Insanally has represented the entire

region with exemplary skill and diplomacy, and has left

much seminal work for us to build upon over the coming

months.

I also extend the good wishes of the Barbados

Government to our distinguished Secretary-General, Dr

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whom the Barbadian people had the

honour of receiving in Bridgetown earlier this year. We

offer him our continued support in his difficult task at the

helm of the Organization at so crucial an epoch in world

affairs.

On 23 June this year, the Republic of South Africa

received a warm and emotional welcome back to this Hall

as it formally resumed its participation in the work of the

Assembly.

As it did then, Barbados warmly welcomes the

return of South Africa to the community of nations. As

we rejoice at the demise of apartheid, we are still greatly

moved by the tremendous sacrifices made by the men,

women and children of South Africa that made a

democratic South Africa possible, and by the

steadfastness and the statesmanship of the South African

leaders, particularly President Mandela, whose great

stature and wisdom captivated this body some seven days

ago. We also acknowledge the sterling contribution of

the Special Committee against Apartheid, which for

32 years worked unremittingly to achieve this remarkable

outcome.

South Africa is well poised to play a significant role

in this Organization, and the international community has

much to learn from the South African experience.

It is, however, imperative that we recognize that

South Africa still very much needs our assistance with the

great challenges that lie ahead. The Government of

Barbados pledges to support the Government of South

Africa as it strives to improve the quality of life for its

citizens.

Barbados is greatly encouraged by the progress made

in the search for a just and lasting peace in the Middle

East since the signing of the Washington Declaration by

Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in

September last year. The Cairo Accord, which paved the

way for the commencement of Palestinian self-rule in the

Gaza Strip and in Jericho, and the Israeli-Jordanian

Declaration, signed in Washington in July this year, are

welcome steps on the difficult path towards the attainment

of peace in that region.

Barbados hopes that future resolutions on the Middle

East will be reflective of these advances and will serve as

a fillip to the parties engaged in the negotiation process

as they strive to achieve a comprehensive peace in

accordance with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967),

338 (1973) and 425 (1978).

The people of Barbados went to the polls on

6 September and, in an incident-free election, voted a new

Government into office. I am honoured to be a part of

that new order. The democracy that Barbados practices

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is ingrained in the culture and habits of its people. For

them, freedom of speech and association and freedom to

vote at regular intervals for a Government of their choice

and to have the Government installed in an immediate and

orderly transfer of power are the simple and natural norms

of life. Yet, sadly, what we in Barbados take for granted,

others close by in our own hemisphere still struggle to

achieve.

My country, Barbados, has gained international

recognition for its comprehensive network of social

services, its people-oriented development policies and its

high quality of life, which have earned it first place in the

developing world in the United Nations Development

Programme’s Human Development Index. The present

Government of the Barbados Labour Party fully recognizes

the challenges that lie ahead for a small, middle-income

country like Barbados to sustain that achievement in an

international economic environment that continues to

marginalize the small and fragile in the developing world.

With few resource endowments, our survival must depend

exclusively on the skills of our industrial and committed

people and on the God-given beauty of our natural

environment.

The new Government has responded immediately to

that challenge in its manifesto "Charter for Change", a

fundamental policy document that represents a solemn

compact by this Government to work together with its

citizens in seeking for Barbados a strong, strategic position

in the global community of nations as we approach the

twenty-first century. We are determined to use the

opportunities created by the technological and

communications revolution to overcome the obstacle of size

and to harness our natural and strategic assets to convert

Barbados into a full-service economy. We will encourage

the development of tourism and the international financial

services and informatics sectors to their fullest potential.

We will create a business-friendly environment that will be

conducive to new investment, both local and foreign. We

will facilitate the growth and development of the small-

business sector and encourage entrepreneurship. A

radically restructured Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign

Trade and International Business, under my direction, has

been put in place to spearhead this endeavour.

Against this background, the people of Barbados view

with concern the tragic situation of Haiti. For far too long

Haiti has been a burden on the collective conscience of the

region. For too long a just and equitable solution has not

only eluded the countries in our own hemisphere, but

eluded also the grasp of the Security Council of the United

Nations. We are greatly encouraged that the deployment

into Haiti of the multinational force took place under

peaceful circumstances and that the spectre of a bloody

confrontation was averted. The participation of Barbados

in the multinational force and the United Nations Mission

in Haiti, authorized by Security Council resolution 940

(1994), is testimony to our commitment to ensuring that

the will of the Haitian people is finally respected and

their lawful President and his administration restored to

office without delay. The clear terms of resolution 940

(1994) must be honoured in full, and the power of a

brutal and lawless military and its callous leadership

effectively and permanently neutralized.

As stated by Prime Minister Owen Arthur of

Barbados in his recent address at the White House on

behalf of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean

Community (CARICOM):

“Where democracy has taken root, it should be

encouraged to grow and to flourish. Like the Soviet

Union and South Africa, Haiti too deserves its

rendezvous with democracy. The Haitian people

wished for it. They suffered for it. They voted for

it. And now they are dying for it.”

Haiti’s rendezvous with democracy has now begun

in earnest. Hope is finally returning to a people that for

a very long time had felt that all was lost. But as we in

CARICOM have warned on numerous previous occasions,

the ballot box is merely the beginning of the democratic

process. The international community must now

orchestrate a massive effort to put in place the

institutional infrastructure necessary to maintain and

strengthen the fledgling Haitian democracy and to bury

forever the ghosts of the past. The reconstruction of Haiti

entails the creation of conditions that will ensure that the

rights and freedoms of all Haitian people are respected.

It must also respond effectively to the critical

development needs of the Haitian population and to their

just aspirations to share equitably in the resources of their

country.

The Governments of the Caribbean Community are

committed to playing their part in this vital phase of the

process, and to this end have agreed to provide assistance,

in concert with other members of the international

community, in the development of a civilian force as a

professional organization for maintaining the peace and

respect for human rights in Haiti. They are also prepared

to make available to the constitutionally appointed

authorities in Haiti a cadre of officers from the public

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service of the member States of CARICOM to provide

training in public administration, the conduct of elections

and other activities in support of the institutionalization of

the democratic process.

As we look across the Caribbean Community, we see

much that gives us cause for hope. The private and public

sectors of our subregion are collaborating more and more,

while, at the same time, intergovernmental cooperation has

increased. The political dialogue between Heads of

Government is flourishing, and economic cooperation is

expanding. Concerted efforts are also being made to boost

intraregional trade and to improve the economic, social and

cultural well-being of our peoples.

This year the Caribbean Community celebrated its

twenty-first anniversary. A pioneer among integration

movements in our hemisphere, CARICOM has sought to

respond to the reality that Caribbean peoples share a

common destiny, which is best realized through

coordination and cooperation in pursuit of their economic,

social and political well-being.

This year also, building on the foundations laid by

many statesmen of the Caribbean and on the ideas most

recently developed by the West Indian Commission, the

leaders of 25 States whose shores are washed by the

Caribbean Sea met at Cartagena, Colombia, to sign the

Convention establishing the Association of Caribbean

States. The Association will bring together in their

common pursuit of development 40 Caribbean-basin States,

countries and territories with a total population of

200 million. Its stated aims are: to promote, utilize and

develop the collective capabilities of the Caribbean region

to achieve sustainable cultural economic, social, scientific

and technological advancement; to develop the potential of

the Caribbean Sea through interaction among member

States and with third parties; to promote an enhanced

economic space for trade and investment with opportunities

for cooperation and concerted action, in order to increase

the benefits which accrue to the peoples of the Caribbean

from their resources and assets, including the Caribbean

Sea; and to establish, consolidate and augment, as

appropriate, institutional structures and cooperation

agreements responsive to the various cultural identities,

developmental needs and innovative systems within the

region.

Barbados fully supports the aims of the Association

and welcomes its establishment as an important step in the

consolidation of the regional integration effort. But our

aims to foster development across the Caribbean will not be

complete until all of the partners are free to participate on

an equal footing. In this regard we believe the time has

come to remove the last vestige of cold-war rivalry from

our hemisphere. We join the international community in

appealing to the United States to lift its punitive economic

embargo on Cuba and to facilitate the economic

reintegration of that neighbouring State into the world

economy. We urge that political will be found to resolve

the remaining differences between the two countries

through further dialogue.

Earlier this year, 116 countries and 150

non-governmental organizations were represented at the

Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of

Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados. The

first follow-up activity to be held in fulfillment of a

mandate from the International Conference on

Environment and Development, the "Earth summit", the

Conference aimed to develop a blueprint of priority

actions for the implementation of Agenda 21 in the

specific context of small island developing States. The

results of the Conference will shortly come before the

General Assembly for its endorsement at this session.

We urge the international community to lend its full

support to the measures proposed to ensure sustained

follow-up and implementation of the proposals contained

in the Barbados Programme of Action.

On 16 November, the United Nations Convention on

the Law of the Sea will come into force, 12 years after it

was opened for signature at Montego Bay. We welcome

the recent developments which have enhanced the

prospects of universal participation in the Convention and

look forward to the inauguration of the work of its

relevant organs. We look forward too to the successful

conclusion next year of the Conference on Straddling Fish

Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, and to the

adoption of a legally binding regime to regulate the

conservation and management of these threatened stocks.

The wise observation by the Secretary-General that

“development is a fundamental right and the strongest

foundation for peace” has been recognized by the General

Assembly, which in recent years has been giving priority

attention to social development by convening a number of

international conferences devoted primarily to social and

economic issues, as envisaged in Article 55 of the

Charter.

The recent International Conference on Population

and Development spoke volumes about the changing

nature of international dialogue and the changing role of

8

women. In greater numbers and with greater strength, civil

society in the form of non-governmental organizations

worked alongside Governments to craft a plan of action

which might realistically address the reproductive health of

women and the broader needs of women in the

development process. We owe a debt of gratitude to

Ms. Nafis Sadik, Mr. Fred Sai and the rest of the

Conference leadership, who pushed for and achieved a

broad consensus on many difficult issues which fall into the

realm of the population and development dialogue.

For my country, the outcome of the International

Conference on Population and Development and the Plan of

Action confirm much of the effort which has been spent on

improving women’s access to family planning and health

services. I stand before the Assembly as an example of the

progressive attitude which Barbadians hold regarding

women’s status and leadership potential. I am also

reminded that we too need to work on areas highlighted by

the population Conference proceedings: difficult issues

such as reducing maternal mortality, addressing the needs

of special groups such as youth, and looking at how our

policies and programmes further women’s empowerment.

Still, I am heartened by the openness of the United

Nations processes to the contributions of citizens’ groups

alongside Governments, and will watch with great interest

the progress at the social summit and women’s conference.

These conferences, together with the 1990 World Summit

for Children and the 1992 Rio de Janiero Conference,

extend along a continuum which urges action to look into

the difficulties faced by our citizens and at how

Government policies can relieve the uneven pressures which

are put upon women.

Barbados considers that these meetings are of vital

importance and that their core themes demand the adoption

of a meaningful programme of action that would

demonstrate a firm commitment to the oft-repeated concept

that the human being should indeed be placed at the centre

of development. Poverty, unemployment, gender equality,

children’s rights and other integrated issues must be tackled

with the same urgency and resolve as other aspirations of

the Charter if this Organization intends to signal a true

turning-point in its human-development strategy.

The United Nations has contributed significantly to

promoting and ensuring respect for and observance of

human rights since the adoption of the Universal

Declaration on Human Rights on 10 December 1948. The

legal framework and the established human rights

machinery have been greatly strengthened by the Vienna

Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the World

Conference on Human Rights held at Vienna in June

1993. The Conference affirmed that democracy,

development and respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually

reinforcing, and especially emphasized that the right to

development is a basic human right.

At its forty-eighth session, the General Assembly

honoured the Latin American and Caribbean region by

appointing His Excellency Mr. José Ayala Lasso of

Ecuador as the first United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights as a first step in implementing the

Vienna Declaration. At its forty-ninth session, the

General Assembly must now seek with equal vigour to

implement the other important measures of the Vienna

Declaration. Barbados urges that the Working Group on

Human Rights pursue its mandate in a coherent,

transparent and balanced manner in order that the long-

term interests of human rights may be truly served.

Barbados believes that every human being is entitled

to the unfettered enjoyment of all human rights and that

the ultimate human right is the right to life. In this

context, we urge that the Assembly give serious

consideration at this session to the harmful impact that

illicit drug trafficking, organized transnational crime and

terrorism have on the effective enjoyment of human

rights. Barbados welcomes the recent decision of the

Commission on Narcotic Drugs to establish a working

group to pursue areas of collaboration with the

Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in

maritime trafficking. We are also encouraged by the

progress the Working Group has made on the draft statute

for an international criminal court and support the

recommendation by the International Law Commission

that the General Assembly convene an international

conference of plenipotentiaries to study the draft statute

and to conclude a convention on the establishment of an

international criminal court.

My Government has always been a strong supporter

of the United Nations. We believe that in the emerging

new world order it is more critical than ever for the

United Nations to be capable of fulfilling its role as the

primary guarantor of the security and independence of

small States, and as the protector of the powerless and

economically vulnerable who form the vast majority of its

membership. It is also important for the small, but

morally authoritative, voices of this world body to

continue to stress the absolute necessity for the

9

international community to use equitably and responsibly

the powers conferred upon it in the Charter.

Over the past year, priority attention has been given in

the work of the General Assembly and the Economic and

Social Council to the task of elaborating an Agenda for

Development as a necessary corollary to, and indeed a

prerequisite for, the "Agenda for Peace". We have taken

careful note of the Secretary-General’s report to the forty-

eighth session in this regard and look forward to giving

detailed consideration to the recommendations which he

will present in his report to this session.

While we recognize that the United Nations has an

inescapable responsibility for the maintenance of

international peace and security, we must acknowledge also

that peace and development are indivisible. The root

causes of most conflicts are to be found in the legacy of

poverty and dispossession that underdevelopment

engenders. While we agree that the world body must of

necessity respond to critical conflict situations as they arise,

it must at the same time be pointed out that the vast

majority of the world’s population does not live in a state

of war or civil conflict. The betterment of the economic

and social conditions of that majority deserves a central

place in the deliberative and decision-making bodies of the

United Nations and must be the principal objective of an

Agenda for Development.

An Agenda for Development must promote a new

consensus on international cooperation for development and

an integrated approach which is people-centred.

Furthermore, it must be based on creating a new

cooperative relationship between the United Nations and the

Bretton Woods institutions, one which recognizes the

fundamental importance of the social dimension to

development. The policies pursued by these institutions

over the past decade, particularly within the framework of

structural-adjustment programmes, have left a legacy which

convinces us of the need for radical reform.

We must remind ourselves that the improvement of

human well-being is the fundamental criterion to which the

development objective must respond. There is little value

in short-term economic growth if the measures used to

attain it result inevitably in social disintegration. The

Barbados delegation therefore strongly supports the view of

the South Centre that fresh approaches must be sought and

a new social contract established if social, political and

economic objectives are to be reconciled. The United

Nations is the appropriate forum to ensure that this

reconciliation of objectives can be promoted in a

universal, transparent and democratic manner.

Several useful views have emerged over the past

year during the discussion of the Open-Ended Working

Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on

and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council.

We look forward to an intensification of these discussions

during the forty-ninth session. Any enlargement of the

Council must only be contemplated within a context that

deals also with the issue of equitable geographical

representation, the question of the veto, and the question

of increasing the transparency of the operations of the

Council and its accountability to the wider international

community. Decisions arrived at hastily to deal with only

one aspect of the issue, or merely to respond to an

arbitrary deadline of next year’s celebrations, will not

provide a lasting solution to this critical issue.

The United Nations will have reached a remarkable

milestone in 1995 as it celebrates 50 years of tireless

service to the goal of enabling all mankind to live in

dignity and enjoy better standards of life in larger

freedom. While it is fitting that we acknowledge this

milestone with appropriate ceremony, we must recognize

that the United Nations will be called upon to face

challenges in the twenty-first century that could be

immeasurably more difficult than those of the previous

era. Global stability will depend more and more on the

ability of the United Nations to promote economic and

social justice than on its ability to silence guns.

The kind of challenges I have in mind are poignantly

etched in the following quotation from an unpublished

work in progress entitled "The Rwanda Poem" by the

distinguished Barbadian poet and writer Mr. Kamau

Brathwaite, who, only a few days ago, received the

Neustadt International Prize for Literature:

"Sa/hell crumbles into these flickering miles

Miles of the silences of holes

Of the cold dry moon in our belly

Marrow burning its protein into its sound

Skin smouldering to ash

Holocaust of dome - there is no music anywhere

Heads propped up on sticks of skeletons

Bald headed children naked of all else

But large deep agate space-age eyes"

Global stability will be difficult to maintain if the

cries of the majority of the world’s peoples, whose lives

are marked by a lack of food, shelter and education and

10

who are afflicted by poverty, disease, and other forms of

social misery, continue to go unheeded and are merely

reflected as glaring statistics in United Nations reports on

the world’s social situation.

It is Barbados’ belief that the challenge that will

confront the United Nations in the era ahead will lie

undoubtedly in the humanitarian sphere. This Organization

is the only universal body with the legitimacy to take up

this challenge. But if it is to meet this challenge

successfully, it must be made more efficient, effective and

alert. In this context, prevention must supersede reaction.

As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the

Organization next year, "We the peoples" must renew our

commitment to this unique body and strive to ensure its

relevance to the twenty-first century. Mr. President, be

assured of Barbados’ commitment to these endeavours.