Belize, 1997

Permit me first to offer you,

Sir, the congratulations of Belize’s delegation on your

election, and the assurance of our fullest cooperation as

you follow through on the accomplishments of your

distinguished predecessor, Mr. Razali Ismail of Malaysia.

As the world shifts gears towards a preoccupation

with what could be described as millennium fever, our

annual stocktaking exercise becomes particularly poignant.

And if truth be told, the record of our success —

measured against the historical vision of the founders and

against current challenges — is not an unsullied one.

Nevertheless, in every sphere of human endeavour, in

every tangible advance of international comity, the

signature of the United Nations can be found. We have

contributed to fundamental changes for good in the fabric

of the global community. Of course, and as is always the

case with less than perfect man-made enterprises, our job

is far from done.

As the Secretary-General noted in his report on the

work of the Organization, we live in an era of

realignment. Belize shares his view that this Organization

has to continue adjusting to the changes which envelop

today’s world, so as to maintain the balance in favour of

a more secure and predictable peace, greater economic

well-being, social justice and environmental sustainability.

Despite sea changes in the international climate, the

relevance of the original objectives of the Organization’s

Charter remains acute. There is still need to respond

rapidly to threats to international peace and security.

Economic and social development must be further

advanced. Human rights, the rule of law and the ideals of

democratic, accountable governance must be concretized

in our daily life. And the changes, such as globalization

and reshaping of the United Nations environment must

strengthen the commitment of nations large and small to

international cooperation. The one fundamental lesson that

the experience of the last 52 years has taught is that we

cannot go it alone. There is large benefit to be derived

from multilateralism; and to our mind the United Nations

is the one organization with the wherewithal and capacity

to take global action on a global agenda.

We have been promised that the renewed United

Nations system sought by the Secretary-General will

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become both more effective and more efficient. The

extensive and far-reaching set of changes proposed in his

Programme for Reform are said to be designed to achieve

greater unity of purpose, coherence of effort and flexibility

in response. Belize therefore joins with those voices

applauding the attempt to strengthen and streamline the

United Nations and enhance its institutional capacity. My

delegation will eagerly await opportunities to hear comment

and will participate in joint analysis of the proposed

Programme for Reform.

One major hindrance to the Organization’s capacity is

its dire financial situation. We have noted proposals within

the Secretary-General’s Programme for Reform designed to

ensure a viable financial basis for the Organization. It is my

delegation’s view, however, that there is still a need for

greater clarification if financial solvency is to be assured.

We are not entirely convinced that the creation of the

proposed Revolving Credit Fund will alleviate the situation.

We would rather see implementation of measures for

harsher censure in cases of tardiness in meeting obligations.

Let us again state our view that this Organization should be

granted some measure of autonomy in generating revenue

from sources outside national Administrations.

There is an ongoing parallel at the national and

organizational level aimed at economizing. Streamlining,

downsizing, or the process of retrenchment by any name,

carries with it a human cost. We must therefore make every

effort to ensure that the product of reform is greater than

the sum of its parts. Within this context, we wish to offer

the caution that in our eagerness to integrate Secretariat

entities and units the critical thrust and focus of various

departments, divisions and programmes, should not be lost.

The gasp of the weak and poor all too frequently can barely

be heard above the loudly trumpeted agenda of powerful

constituencies.

Democracy, human rights and the rule of law have

taken on renewed paramountcy, particularly in the post-

conflict societies of Latin America. Good governance is the

foundation upon which we build structures to ensure

sustainable development and durable peace. In both the

subregions to which Belize belongs this is a principle that

achieves practical as well as intellectual expression. And we

find this fact noteworthy: that so soon after internal

conflicts convulsed the isthmus, the countries of Central

America have been able democratically and constitutionally

to reinvigorate their societies. It is also remarkable that so

harmoniously has their economic integration movement

advanced, that they are now prepared to contemplate the

next step of political union. While this is logical, it is also

a quantum leap.

Now, for juridical and historical reasons, Belize can

only be an observer in this process. But we wish to assure

our Central American brothers that in our heart of hearts

we too are Morazanistas. We too are uplifted and inspired

by this great visionary. And we sympathize keenly with

the spirit of the legacy that now animates his modern-day

progeny.

In the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the

coming of the single market is only the most dramatic

expression of a new solidarity that Belize enthusiastically

embraces. We continue to draw vital sustenance from

what is, after all, a West Indian partnership rooted in a

shared love for, and practice of, democracy, a democracy

that is not resting on its laurels, but that is engaged now

in a process of revitalization based on the urgent search

for collective economic security and social advance.

The proposals for reform encompass suggestions to

achieve greater coordination and cooperation among the

United Nations agencies and entities which help nations

like mine pursue the central priority of sustainable

development. We hope, however, that the effectiveness

and responsiveness of individual agencies will not be

compromised.

More will have to be said about seeking innovative

means to attract greater capital to finance development.

The argument that a development dividend can be

realized by a shift of resources from administration to

development activities, is not, to our mind, persuasive.

Any possible savings in administrative costs could hardly

be adequate enough to make significant progress in our

collective effort to eradicate poverty.

We have yet to hear any general admission of

satisfaction with the outcome of the nineteenth special

session of the General Assembly to review and appraise

the implementation of Agenda 21 and other agreements

reached at the 1992 United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development. The special session

clearly did not meet expectations for the adoption of clear

targets, commitments and specific initiatives as we

progress along the road from Rio. Long-term commitment

and concerted action in the field are still critical if we are

to continue to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing

global population without depleting the resource base on

which our very subsistence depends.

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We are heartened that the practical agreements reached

at the so-called Earth Summit + 5 included those of major

concern to small island developing States, such as climate

change, tourism and natural disasters. Belize, a country with

a low-lying coastal plain, several coral atolls and more than

100 coral islands, experiences challenges similar to those

that face small island developing States. At the United

Nations we participate within the very active Alliance of

Small Island States, and we remain faithful to the

implementation of the Programme of Action for the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, adopted at the 1994 Global Conference in Barbados.

We look forward to the in-depth assessment of the

Barbados Programme to be conducted at the forthcoming

two-day special session to be held immediately preceding

the fifty-fourth regular session of the General Assembly.

Belize will continue to insist that the constituency of

low-lying coastal States be accorded the deserved support

of the international community so that we too may share in

the tangible benefits to be accrued.

Countries like mine will also increasingly depend upon

the United Nations to steer the way forward in building the

new framework within which developed and developing

nations interact. Against the backdrop of globalization and

market liberalization, a new partnership is called for. The

role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) and the regional commissions in

examining the issues pertinent to globalization and

development and the effective integration of developing

countries into the international trading system is especially

key, for the recent negative rulings by the World Trade

Organization on the European Union banana regime, which

secured access for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries,

fully demonstrate the dangers inherent in unbridled

liberalization shorn of consideration for the special needs of

small, vulnerable and disadvantaged economies.

In the current climate, it is perhaps basest apostasy to

question the new catechism of free trade. “Revisionism” is

a bad word, and heresy will no doubt be swiftly repaid by

excommunication. But has not the zeal of the convert

blinded us to the humanism of the original aims of

preferential access? After all, this was not some hopelessly

capricious or unreasoning altruism. Preferential access

regimes represented, rather, a real and sincere effort to

enable small developing countries to produce for the

international marketplace, to offer their societies a chance

at a decent standard of living and to assure them a special

stake in the global economy.

Although economic thinking has changed, the

objective conditions of poor countries have not. Fervent

recitation of the new mantra alone can never wipe out the

diseconomies of scale for small, primary-producing States.

We cannot now compete on equal terms. Yet our calls go

unheeded for the comprehensive capital inflows and

technical assistance so vitally necessary to achieve the

structural adjustment that will enable us to participate

equitably in the new trading arrangements. I repeat to the

industrialized world what surely has now become our cri

de coeur: do not cut off our legs, then tell us to run.

Development is still one of the most important

aspirations in today’s world. To return to my earlier

complaint, the achievement of economic growth and

sustainable development has not been balanced throughout

the five regions that United Nations comprises. It is an

understatement to say that globalization and economic

liberalization have had a different kind of impact on some

of us. A few nations now enjoy the increased well-being,

while others are visited only by deepening

marginalization.

The recently adopted United Nations Agenda for

Development stresses the role of the Organization in

development matters. The Agenda is one concrete manner

in which we can collectively address the issues and

problems relevant to development and, in particular,

development’s peculiar relationship with peace,

democracy, good governance and human rights.

Belize repeats its call for an annual observance by

the General Assembly at which development policy would

be the focus of debate. Such encounters could maintain

the Agenda’s impetus, as well as provide a forum for

discussing effective and coordinated follow-through with

regard to commitments made at the several global

conferences.

Preventive diplomacy and peacemaking are still the

best means at the Organization’s disposal in its efforts at

conflict avoidance. The wide range of activities carried

out in the name of preventive diplomacy must ever be

mindful that success can be guaranteed only with the

consent of all parties.

Both the Security Council and the General

Assembly, in extending existing operations or authorizing

additional ones, must continue to issue clear mandates. In

the light of the financial situation, some collective

discipline will have to be applied in authorizing mandates

when adequate resources are not available.

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On a related subject, we have learned of efforts under

way to develop the Organization’s rapid-deployment

capability. This dimension is necessary, but any deployment

in this sense must withstand the scrutiny of national

consent. Again, we would prefer to see the preventive

aspect stressed rather than the enforcement side. Further, a

rapid-reaction capability is not needed solely to respond to

threats to peace in the traditional sense. Recent measures

employed to enhance the Organization’s humanitarian

response to both man-made and natural disasters are also

demonstrative of the requirement for the institutionalization

of a rapid-response capability.

In the Secretary-General’s programme for reform,

deserved emphasis is placed on strengthening international

cooperation to combat the new threats to civil society. The

deleterious effects of crime, drugs and terrorism know no

borders.

The administrative changes to be instituted by the

Secretariat to focus action through the United Nations crime

prevention and criminal justice programme should give us

the upper hand in waging war against the forces of uncivil

society.

Countries such as mine expend huge amounts of

limited resources in addressing these concerns, which, in a

small State, can amount to nothing less than threats to

national security. Further, we are convinced that the global

nature of the problem requires the highest level of

international cooperation that can be achieved. This must

embody the concept of multilateralism and reject unilateral

devices which disrespect the sovereignty of States.

Belize’s declaration affirming respect for the

personality, sovereignty and independence of States, which

was sponsored by 30 members of the Organization of

American States (OAS) at the twenty-seventh session of its

General Assembly at Lima, Peru, speaks directly to this

issue and strongly promotes the spirit of partnership that

must underpin an interdependent approach to addressing the

common problem of narcotics trafficking and abuse.

International cooperation in this regard must mean the

avoidance of not just political, but also of economic,

unilateralism. For example, the banana industry in my

country may well be destroyed by the efforts of the very

people who claim to be our partners in the fight against

illicit drugs. We have a saying in Belize that the same knife

that sticks the sheep sticks the goat. If the prosperity of

strategically vulnerable southern Belize is to be sacrificed

now on the altar of the new orthodoxy, it will not be long

before the substitute blandishments of the drug trade

undermine our national anti-narcotics efforts to the point

where they too become only burnt offerings at the feet of

the deity. The immutable, compassionless law of the

market is very much a two-edged sword.

It is in this context that the forthcoming special

session of the General Assembly on illicit drugs is

especially timely. It will afford Member States an

opportunity to discuss joint action in preventing money

laundering, international cooperation in judicial affairs and

law enforcement. But the debate must be a thoroughly

holistic one that looks carefully at the interrelatedness of

economic well-being and effective anti-narcotics policies.

We commend the prudence of this Assembly in its

decision that the Open-ended Working Group on the

Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in

the Membership of the Security Council and Other

Matters Related to the Security Council should continue

deliberations during the current session.

In the absence of any general agreement within the

Working Group, Belize would find it difficult to accept a

strict deadline in relation to Council expansion. Further,

we do not wish to see qualitative distinctions in the

decision making ability of existing and possible new

permanent members. We note with gratitude that Belize’s

comprehensive proposals on the subject are still included

among the views being considered.

On another issue related to reform, the principles of

equitability and universality confer urgency on the claim

for consideration of the Republic of China on Taiwan.

Twenty-one million people living in a successful, robust

and prosperous democracy should be entitled at the very

least to a discussion of their circumstances. The blanket

“no”, the annual ritual that continues to slam the door

shut on even the possibility of debating their aspirations,

is irrational and unenlightened. A way must be found to

review this situation in a manner consistent with the

rights of the parties and the spirit of the Charter.

This Organization, it appears, is completing a period

of intense self-examination and introspection. We must

continue to counter the influences that would ascribe a

diminished role to multilateralism. Our flexibility and a

visible search for consensus have enabled us to retool.

We are demonstrating that we are still equal to the tasks

ahead. With reform and renewal moving to the fore this

year, it is clear that the crisis of confidence is over.

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With an able chief executive, the United Nations is

now, therefore, strengthening and repositioning itself to

surmount the challenges that face us.

It is our sincere wish that in the weeks ahead we will

reach a new pass in our great undertaking, and that

momentous debate will result in keen, relevant and timely

decision-making.