Barbados, 1995

It is my pleasure to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of this

historic fiftieth session of the General Assembly. The

Barbados delegation shares the confidence expressed in

your leadership, and offers our full cooperation as you

preside over the deliberations of this landmark event.

I also commend your predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Amara Essy, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Côte

d’Ivoire, not only for his outstanding stewardship of the

Assembly during the last year, but for the vision and

direction he has given to the ongoing work designed to

fashion the United Nations of the twenty-first century.

Let me also take this opportunity to extend a warm

welcome to a fellow member of small island developing

States, the Republic of Palau, whose admission to the

United Nations took place in December 1994.

Fifty years ago, the United Nations rose from the

ashes of a devastating world war. Understandably, the

Organization was shaped and influenced by the

experience of that war and by the coalition of Powers that

prevailed in 1945. It also grew to reflect the forces

underpinning the post-war system of international

relations — a system characterized by that paralysis of

international political will known as the cold war.

Yet, to its credit, the United Nations has fostered

remarkable progress on such vital issues as

decolonization, development and human rights, as well as

on a wide array of international standards, which we have

come to take for granted. Through its extensive network

of organs and specialized agencies, the United Nations

system has made tangible and lasting improvements in the

lives of men, women and children all over the world.

But that old order has come to an end, and we face

anew a world of tumultuous global change. Barbados sees

this world through the eyes of a member of the small

island developing States — joint products of

decolonization and the relative geopolitical stability that

the United Nations has ensured since our independence.

As a group, we have had mixed success in transforming

the legacies of colonial tutelage into genuine and

sustained development for our peoples.

As small and fragile members of the global

community, we are constantly reminded of our own

economic and political vulnerability. For us, what happens

outside our borders, beyond our control, whether man-

made or natural, sometimes has more impact on our way

of life than anything we may do at home. One hurricane

can wipe out, in a matter of hours, an entire small island

economy. Only three weeks ago, Hurricane Luis wrought

such devastation on a number of our Caribbean

neighbours, causing major set-backs in their economic

development. We extend our sincere sympathy to our

brothers and sisters at this time of distress. Barbados is

cooperating fully with others in helping to restore normal

life to these Caribbean Member States.

For small island States, how we recover from

disasters such as this, and perhaps more important, how

we work towards ensuring that we make ourselves less

vulnerable: these are paramount to our survival. Clearly,

short-term assistance and the sympathy of the

international community, while crucial, are not enough.

Small size also means that our entire society, not just

areas of it, is equally vulnerable to dislocations of the

global economic system, including currency and

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Fiftieth session 13 October 1995

commodity price fluctuations, new international trading

arrangements, and the changing fortunes of the major

industrial economies.

Notwithstanding these natural or man-made

constraints, many small island States, including my own,

have achieved rising per capita incomes and improved

human development indicators but such indices provide

only an approximate measure of the present, based on the

past. They do not, and cannot, measure our vulnerability,

the resilience or lack of resilience of our economies and

entire societies in the face of natural disasters and rapid

global economic change.

It is in this broad context that Barbados has given the

highest importance to the Global Conference on the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, which my country had the honour to host last year.

The Programme of Action, adopted by consensus,

underscores the role which the stewardship of small island

States plays in the preservation of the global commons. We

urge international action to step up the support pledged in

the Declaration of Barbados and the Programme of Action.

My delegation therefore calls for the steady implementation

of the commitments and recommendations contained in

General Assembly resolution 49/122 of 19 December 1994.

As a small vulnerable State, Barbados views some

areas of the global political scene with deep concern.

Following the end of the cold war, the people of the world

yearn for an era of peace and economic prosperity — but

peace, so far, has proved elusive. The outbreak of violence

and ethnic strife has reached unspeakable levels of human

suffering, taxing the capacity of the United Nations support

system to the limit.

In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the large

majority of Member States looks on in agony and

helplessness at a crisis which has called into question the

very credibility of the Organization and the integrity of its

peace-keeping function. We recall words of the late Sir

Winston Churchill today: But Bosnia has not been the

United Nations “finest hour”. But let us not forget that the

United Nations is no more, no less, than the collective will

of the Governments it serves.

For vulnerable small States, United Nations protection

is critical. Developing countries, particularly those least able

to afford it, bring no influence to bear on major peace-

keeping decisions, yet must pay their assessed share of

peace-keeping costs, diverting scarce resources from the

development effort. Barbados welcomes the encouraging

signs which have recently emerged from the peace

process between the parties of former Yugoslavia, and

hopes that an end could be soon brought to the strife and

bloodshed in this war-torn region.

Barbados shares the anguish of the people in the

strife-torn countries of Africa, in particular, Rwanda,

Burundi, Liberia, and in similar areas of conflict around

the world, and hopes for early progress towards lasting

peace in those areas. At the same time, we welcome the

positive developments in the peace process in Angola and

that between Israel and Palestine. We hope that a peaceful

and durable settlement to the problems elsewhere in the

Middle East may soon be reached.

In Haiti, where democracy is beginning to take root,

Barbados is proud to have participated in the multilateral

initiatives and mission which resulted in the return of

Haiti’s democratically elected government. The return of

President Aristide underscores this continuing success and

this continuing process. Haiti is a prime example of a

vulnerable small island State receiving, at long last, the

support and protection needed from its neighbours and the

international community. Much still needs to be done if

Haiti’s recovery and development, long neglected in the

face of political turmoil, are to be assured.

We urge the international community to stay the

course with Haiti. We know that progress will be uneven,

but we applaud the Government’s commitment to the

democratic process. Haiti is a Caribbean country with

which Barbados shares strong bonds of history and

culture. The Haitian people can be assured of our support

in their struggle to nurture its fledgling democracy, and

improve the economic and social conditions of its people.

Barbados applauded the decision of the United

Nations last May when it extended indefinitely, the Treaty

on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). But

now the spirit of this agreement has become a casualty of

recent events. Barbados deeply regrets the decision by

some States to resume nuclear testing, which runs counter

to the spirit of the NPT and the commitment by nuclear

weapons States to exercise the utmost restraint, pending

entry into force of a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban

treaty. As a small island developing State and a non-

nuclear-weapon State, Barbados has a vested interest in

the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the

disarmament of existing nuclear stockpiles.

Barbados therefore supports the moratorium on the

testing of nuclear weapons in place, and urges nuclear

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Powers to heed the call by the international community to

refrain from any activity that violates the spirit of the

Treaty. As an island State whose people depend on the sea

for a large part of their livelihood, Barbados is gravely

concerned about the potential danger to its fragile marine

ecosystems. We are therefore implacably opposed to the

transshipment of nuclear materials and hazardous wastes

through the Caribbean basin.

International terrorism, transnational crime, drug

trafficking and money-laundering, are matters of grave

global concern, particularly to a small country like

Barbados. The destabilizing threat of related cartels to the

democratic order in small States is particularly serious.

While Barbados has been put on full alert, we recognize

our limited capacity to effectively police our own borders.

We deeply appreciate the bilateral assistance in this area,

and will continue to work closely with other regional

partners and related international bodies to combat this

global cancer.

The year 1995 is a special one for the United Nations.

It is a year for solemn reflection on the mission and

achievements of the Organization, and for new directions to

meet the challenges ahead.

The world we face is characterized by increasing

globalization of production, liberalization of trade, and an

explosion of information technology. Increasingly, States

find themselves restricted in their capacity to control or

influence the flow of international capital, other than by

providing hospitable conditions to attract it. Moreover, there

is an emerging consensus on the reordering of the role of

the State in economic development, in the direct creation of

wealth and in the complementary nature of the public and

private sectors.

A significant feature of this changed world is the

emergence of non-governmental organizations as a major

influence in domestic and international public policy.

Barbados welcomes this participatory power of civil

society, which has deepened and enriched the debate on

international issues and helped shape the global agenda to

better reflect the popular will.

The framers of the Charter demonstrated this foresight

in the Preamble, not with the words “We the

Governments”, but with the words “We the peoples”. And

as we approach the new millennium, the slow but sure

triumph of peoples over institutions is becoming

increasingly evident. An appreciation and analysis of these

global changes is critical to a reformed United Nations if it

is to meet the challenge of the twenty-first century while

remaining faithful to the original ideals of the Charter.

But good governance still is, and always will be, the

best instrument for the expression of the popular will.

Government is, after all, when exercised responsibly and

accountably, a profoundly moral vocation. And just as

Governments cannot, domestically, retreat from that moral

function of fostering peace and upholding justice and

liberty, neither can they do so internationally.

Barbados supports the reform process. A reformed

United Nations system should be cost-effective and

efficient. The process should be orderly and informed by

solid analytical work, with decisions based on rigorous

evaluation of the mandates and performance of affected

institutions and their relevance to the changing demands

of developing countries. In this connection, Barbados

believes that the abolition of the United Nations Industrial

Development Organization and the United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development would be

premature. Restructuring of these institutions may well be

warranted, but due process should first be served.

Reform of the United Nations must not mean an

abandonment of international cooperation and a retreat

into isolationism by the strong and powerful among us.

The growing interdependence on which the welfare of all

our people depends makes isolationism an irresponsible

fantasy. The problems that beset us — the degradation of

the environment, the plight of the poor and the

dispossessed, narco-trafficking and money-laundering,

human rights abuses, and, especially, ensuring the equal

rights of women and children — can be solved only

through more intense international cooperation.

Let us by all means streamline this Organization and

its allied agencies. Let us make them more effective in

the delivery of programmes of direct benefit to our

peoples. But let not calls for better management and

increased efficiency cloud any lack of resolve by the

more fortunate among us to discharge their international

responsibilities, or hamper the Organization’s capacity to

fulfil the mandates entrusted to it by Member States.

The United Nations has before it a daunting task. It

must enlarge the Security Council to better reflect the

realities of membership since 1965 as well as the

geopolitical changes in the global environment. In

particular, it must redesign its peace-keeping machinery

to cope with the changing nature of conflicts in today’s

world — namely, conflicts mainly within nations, not

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between nations. Barbados supports the structure for such

reform contained in “An Agenda for Peace”, and salutes the

Secretary-General for his distinctive leadership on this

crucial issue.

In the economic and social fields, the United Nations

must intensify its support to the development effort of

developing countries. Barbados supports the framework for

an “Agenda for Development”, prepared by the Secretary-

General. The United Nations now has before it a

comprehensive development agenda created by the

continuum of United Nations Conferences in New York, in

Rio, in Vienna, in Barbados, in Cairo, in Copenhagen and

in Beijing. Barbados reaffirms the central role of women in

development, which is acknowledged in the respective

Programmes of Action of all these Conferences. Women

bring their unique perspective to the development

process — and without it, the whole is impoverished.

Implementation of these expanded programmes is

crucial. They must be carried out with commitment and

dispatch. But even with expected improvements in

efficiency, these critical tasks cannot be accomplished

unless the United Nations system is placed on a sound

financial footing. This is why we urge early action to solve

the acute financial crisis of the Organization.

All States, big and small, powerful and weak, learn

that power must be exercised responsibly. The big and

strong have a special role to play in a reformed United

Nations, particularly in the maintenance of peace. It is

unrealistic not to recognize this. But the small and weak

also have their own vital contribution to make. Both must

act responsibly and within both the letter and the spirit of

international law.

Barbados is confident that Member States can rise to

this collective challenge. The machinery is already in

place — in particular, the Open-ended High-level Working

Group on the strengthening of the United Nations system.

Barbados will participate fully in this historic session.

It will work to revitalize and strengthen this unique

institution, where humanity’s greatest hope for peace,

security, development and social justice resides. Together,

we can forge a renewed United Nations capable of fulfilling

the promise enshrined in “We the peoples”.