Barbados, 2001

I join with other

delegations in congratulating Mr. Han Seung-soo on his

election to chair the proceedings of the General

Assembly at its fifty-sixth session. I also take this

opportunity to express my deep satisfaction at the

award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the United

Nations and to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It is a

well-deserved vote of confidence in the Secretary-

General’s leadership as well as recognition of the

pivotal role being played by the United Nations in an

era of immense challenge for the international

community during these early years of the twenty-first

century. We are greatly reassured that his firm guidance

will continue for a further term to shape the direction

of the Organization.

At this time of renewed sadness for the people of

New York and of the Dominican Republic, may I also

offer my deepest condolences to the families and

friends of those who lost their lives in Monday’s tragic

crash of American Airlines flight 587.

For all of us, this year’s journey to New York to

address the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session

stands in stark contrast to the comfortable annual

routine we have grown to appreciate. We come instead

to a city behind barricades, a people traumatized and

bewildered, a mood of foreboding and uncertainty on

the streets and in these corridors. The horror of

terrorism — one that has scarred innocent lives for

decades in the Middle East, in Northern Ireland and

other parts of Europe, in Asia, in Africa and in Latin

America — has now landed on these shores with a fury

and intensity that few of us would have thought

possible.

The Government of Barbados has been explicit

and unequivocal in its condemnation of the terrorist

attacks of 11 September and has pledged to cooperate

fully with the international community in the sustained

effort to respond to this global threat. No cause or

grievance can ever justify the use of violence as a

means of settling disputes or legitimize the taking of

innocent lives. The use of terrorism is incompatible

with the ideals of the United Nations and cannot be

allowed to prevail.

Barbados shares America’s grief, for we have lost

five proud and hard-working citizens to this senseless

carnage. We share America’s bewilderment and

disbelief, for our citizens, too, have experienced that

sense of violation and loss of innocence that comes

with an unprecedented terrorist strike. Twenty-five

years ago, on 6 October 1976, the unthinkable

happened to Barbados with the terrorist downing of a

Cubana Airlines flight just outside our territorial

waters. Although the masterminds of that attack were

identified and apprehended, they were never punished

for their crime, but were instead encouraged to remain

actively engaged in their campaign of terror. We share

America’s sense of outrage and determination to bring

the perpetrators of the 11 September attacks to justice.

We must also insist that there be zero tolerance for

terrorism, whatever its source or ideology.

Terrorism is a global problem which requires a

global solution. For many years, the United Nations

has recognized the threat which terrorism poses to the

promotion and maintenance of world peace. Since

1963, when this Organization adopted its first anti-

terrorism convention, some 12 related conventions

have been approved by the international community.

Barbados is a party to seven of these instruments.

Earlier this week, I had the honour of signing the

International Convention for the Suppression of

Terrorist Financing. Our Government is actively

reviewing the remaining conventions and their

administrative and legislative implications with a view

to providing for early adherence.

Barbados is committed to taking all necessary

measures to minimize the risk of terrorist acts being

perpetrated or financed in or from its national territory.

A thorough review of security has been undertaken at

our airport and seaport, and our authorities have taken

immediate action to ensure compliance with the

enhanced International Civil Aviation Organization and

Federal Aviation Administration guidelines issued after

11 September. We have also taken legislative action to

further strengthen our already well-regulated financial

services regime through amendments to the Money

Laundering (Prevention and Control) Act and the

Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act. Within the

Caribbean Community we have agreed to increase

cooperation in intelligence-gathering, analysis and

dissemination among our security and enforcement

personnel. We expect shortly to be in a position to

report in detail to the Security Council on measures

taken in compliance with the terms of resolution 1373

(2001).

Just as we agree that terrorism is a global

phenomenon to which no country can consider itself

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immune, so too must we understand that it is a complex

problem necessitating a multidimensional response. As

the Secretary-General has so aptly put it in the 44th

meeting, in his opening statement of the general

debate:

“We face two possible futures: a mutually

destructive clash between so-called civilizations

based on the exaggeration of religious and

cultural differences, or a global community,

respecting diversity and rooted in universal

values. The latter must be our choice, but we can

achieve it only if we bring real hope to the

billions now trapped in poverty, conflict and

disease.”

We must all accept that the struggle against

terrorism can never hope to succeed if it is viewed

simply as a military campaign to strike at the power

base of the latest practitioners of terror. It must also

seek to find effective and lasting solutions to the

problems of underdevelopment, poverty and

deprivation, inequality, intolerance and injustice that

marginalize so large a percentage of the world’s

population. For it is from these conditions of

hopelessness and despair that spring new converts to

the cause of terrorism.

The events of 11 September and the extent to

which they have had an impact on the economic

fortunes of all of our countries have shown us the other

face of globalization: the reality of our growing

economic interdependence. Now more than ever, there

is a need to recognize the value of multilateralism and

the pre-eminent role of the United Nations in the

search for lasting solutions to the challenges that will

confront us in the early years of the twenty-first

century. The importance of giving priority to a

revitalized development agenda cannot be overstated.

In this regard, Barbados looks to the International

Conference on Financing for Development as a

constructive forum for refocusing the dialogue on

effective mechanisms for the implementation of the

stalled development agenda. We agree there is need to

reform the international economic and financial

architecture to meet the current development

challenges. We are pleased that international tax

cooperation will be one of the issues discussed at the

Conference.

Many developing countries, including Barbados,

were encouraged to diversify into the financial services

sector as a viable development alternative and now

derive a significant proportion of their national revenue

from that source. We therefore continue to insist on the

need for universal participation in decisions that affect

the operation of this sector.

Barbados is far advanced in the implementation

of its national commitments under Agenda 21. We

believe that the World Summit on Sustainable

Development presents an important opportunity to

build a new and expanded relationship with our

development partners for the full implementation of

commitments already undertaken at Rio. Johannesburg

should not merely review the status of progress of Rio,

but should also outline strategies for dealing decisively

with the sustainable development challenges that have

emerged since 1992. For all small island developing

States, follow-up of the Barbados Programme of

Action will form an integral part of this process.

Naturally, the Caribbean Basin countries will

continue their efforts to create a special regime for the

Caribbean Sea with the ultimate goal of achieving its

recognition as a special area in the context of

sustainable development.

It is no secret that the efforts towards the creation

of a new international trading system have resulted in

bitter disappointment for the majority of developing

countries, which have been severely disadvantaged by

the imbalance of rights, obligations, benefits and

concessions agreed at Uruguay, and by the failure of

Seattle to address that imbalance. We hope that the

Doha decision to launch a new round will lead to a

meaningful resolution of these critical developing

country concerns. We are convinced that sustained

economic and social progress for the developing world

will be achievable only within the framework of a fair,

equitable and inclusive trading arrangement that gives

due recognition to the differences in size and level of

development of Member States.

We welcome the agreement on drug patents,

which represents a major victory for the efforts of

developing countries to respond to their priority public

health needs and is of great significance in the fight

against HIV/AIDS.

The impact of the 11 September events on the

Caribbean has been immediate and severe. The

economic repercussions have served to emphasize the

extreme fragility and vulnerability of our small States

in the international economy. The countries of the

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Caribbean Community, whose economies are heavily

dependent on tourism and financial services, have

joined forces to coordinate a regional emergency

response and recovery strategy to mitigate the effects

of the crisis.

It is clear, however, that responses at the national

and regional levels alone will be inadequate to deal

with the magnitude of this unprecedented situation. In

the words of the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Right

Honourable Owen Arthur:

“the international financial community has

traditionally required developing countries to rely

heavily on policy responses to deal with

economic crisis. But the situation that we face has

not been caused by policy failure, recklessness or

financial excesses by developing countries.

“Policy responses without the commitment

of real financial resources will therefore not

suffice. Barbados therefore stands ready to

support a well-conceived response from the

international financial community to the crisis at

hand.”

It is the mission of the United Nations to promote

the peaceful coexistence and the political, social and

economic welfare of the world’s peoples. It is in this

context that we must recognize the significance of the

World Conference against Racism, Racial

Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance

and renew our confidence in the capacity of

multilateral organizations to resolve differences and

promote a sense of shared values. This Conference

presented a unique opportunity for countries to take a

proactive approach in defusing both historic and

contemporary conflicts and in coming to terms with the

injustices of the past and creating new understandings

for the future.

We regret that in many respects the Conference

did not get the serious high-level attention it deserved

and that the treatment of its fundamental issues was

less wide-ranging and definitive than we would have

wished. In the words of Professor Hilary Beckles, of

the Barbados delegation:

“The crisis of modernity that finds expression in

spiralling racial hatred, xenophobia and related

intolerance is not the sole burden of any one part

of the global community, even though the victims

of the crimes of which I speak continue to feel in

the course of everyday life the kind of pain and

anguish not easily imagined by others.”

The citizens of the Caribbean are a transplanted

people, who have forged from the crucible of slavery,

colonialism and economic exploitation a vibrant,

pluralistic, multiracial society built on tolerance and

respect for ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. In

these difficult times, we believe that there is much that

can be learned from our experiences and much that can

be done to promote the culture of peace and

understanding, especially among the youth. In this

regard, Barbados attaches importance to the early

convening of the General Assembly special session on

children and to a rededication of efforts to achieve the

international development targets already set.

We would do well to remember that, in the words

of the Secretary-General, “none of the issues that faced

us on 10 September has become less urgent”. Indeed, it

would be an unfortunate irony if the global response to

terrorism were conducted in such a manner — through

the massive redeployment of resources from other

priorities, such as the fight against narcotics

trafficking, extreme poverty, disease and environmental

degradation — as to further exacerbate the economic,

political and cultural instabilities which are the primary

breeding ground for terrorism.

Small countries like my own are not part of the

problem, but we are nevertheless required to be part of

the solution, in circumstances that place a

disproportionate burden on our financial, human and

administrative resources, which had already been

struggling to respond to the global economic recession.

Barbados remains fully committed to the United

Nations system and to the values it seeks to promote.

We are keenly aware of the important work the United

Nations continues to carry out in the eastern Caribbean.

We are pleased to provide tangible support for that

work through the provision of purpose-built

headquarters to house the seven agencies whose

subregional offices are located in Bridgetown. We will

continue to work closely with the agencies in

developing a model partnership for eastern Caribbean

development.

In this context, we welcome the support of the

United Nations Development Programme, in

partnership with the International Monetary Fund and

the Government of Canada, for the Caribbean

Technical Assistance Centre, which was inaugurated

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last week in Barbados. We look forward to similar

levels of United Nations cooperation for other

important programmes, in particular that of the United

Nations International Drug Control Programme

(UNDCP), whose work is providing critical support to

the region in an extremely volatile international

economic and security environment.

Two years ago, the Prime Minister of Barbados

emphasized that we were leaving the twentieth century

and entering the twenty-first conscious of the dangers,

but excited by the prospects. Recent events must not be

allowed to dampen our optimism. We must remain firm

in the hope that humanity possesses the fortitude and

determination to triumph in the face of extreme

adversity, and that respect for diversity, human dignity

and the sanctity of human life will prevail.

We are not expected to complete this task, but

neither are we at liberty to abstain from it.