Grenada, 1998

My delegation congratulates

the Secretary-General and his staff on their efforts to make

the United Nations more responsive to the needs of

Member States and of the international community,

especially the developing nations.

My delegation also wishes to congratulate Mr. Didier

Opertti on his election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its fifty-third session. We also wish to thank

Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, the former Foreign Minister of

Ukraine, for his exceptional performance in the conduct of

the proceedings of the fifty-second session of the General

Assembly.

The philosopher Thomas Aquinas admonished us thus:

“It is better to light up than merely to shine; to deliver

unto others contemplated truths, than simply to

contemplate.”

In the context of the fiftieth anniversary of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in obedience to

that admonition by Aquinas, the Grenada delegation humbly

offers to this noble Assembly, for its reflection, a few

contemplated truths in relation to human interaction within

individual societies, as well as among nations.

In his Lines Written in Early Spring, the poet William

Wordsworth wrote:

“I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sat reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

“To her fair works did nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.”

In book I of The Republic, Plato made the

observation that

“Mankind censure injustice fearing that they may be

the victims of it, and not because they shrink from

committing it.”

And Michael de Jouvenal, in his foreword to a

twentieth century work on the history of the disintegration

of ancient Greece, urges that

“we study history to learn from history, to acquire

political prudence”.

The ideal of peace among the nations of our world

has twice during the course of this century inspired the

institution of a body to moderate, if not regulate,

international interaction. Regrettably, with respect to both

of those initiatives, the focus was on the avoidance of war

and not on the concept of peace, so insightfully

adumbrated by Aquinas as the tranquillity of order.

The League of Nations collapsed ignominiously. It

perished for lack of honour. It was unfaithful to even the

rather limited principles upon which it had been founded.

The weak were sacrificed on the altar of expediency, in

veneration of military might. So ended the first attempt at

seeking to realize international peace through the pursuit

of avoiding war. Continued appeasement and non-

involvement then spawned the Second World War.

Yet, following the horrors of the Second World War,

which prompted the setting up of the United Nations, the

late Winston Churchill, in persuading the British people

and, indeed, the rest of the world, to join in the second

attempt to pursue peace among nations, advised that

“To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war”.

History records that we have not succeeded in

avoiding war.

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As we in the Assembly engage in the observation of

events among nations, as well as within them, the Grenada

delegation sincerely and humbly suggests that we should

reflect on the question of why we have not examined

relevant history to acquire the relevant political prudence?

Can it be that there still exists among us a

predominating subscription to the notion that might is right?

Or is it that there remains an overriding precept which

determines the operations of the United Nations and its

subsidiary bodies: that wealth necessarily merits the

enjoyment of special privileges — albeit to the significant

disadvantage of the less wealthy, and especially the poor?

Can it be that such a precept continues to inform

perceptions as to what is truly acceptable in relation to the

composition of the Security Council and the veto?

History attests to the human experience across the

entire spectrum, in the context of the Pax Romana as well

as the rule of recent empires.

When will we acquire the political prudence to order

human interaction, within and among nations, so that the

resulting tranquillity will ensure that peace will prevail in

our world?

It is with deep humility that Grenada suggests that

peace among men and among nations will be realized only

when human rights are truly respected and honoured

universally. Indeed, Grenada submits that the several human

rights which have been individually identified may all be

encapsulated within a single enunciation: the right to the

realization of the fullness of human dignity on the part of

every person.

In this regard, Grenada expresses concern about the

fate of the Kuwaiti prisoners whose human rights are being

violated as we speak.

Prominent among the causes of erosion of human

dignity are poverty and deprivation in relation to the

prerequisites for the sustaining of life. In this regard,

physical disablement warrants particular inclusion as a

significant cause of erosion of human dignity.

Accordingly, Grenada supports unequivocally the call

for the eradication of poverty from our world and urges that

this objective be pursued as a matter of urgency. Grenada

expresses deep concern over the sanctioning by the United

Nations of trade embargoes which include food and

medicines. Grenada humbly urges that this kind of mandate

be speedily revisited. As to maiming injury, Grenada

urges that all anti-personnel landmines now in existence

be destroyed, and further production banned forthwith.

Moreover, Grenada now repeats another of its earlier

exhortations: that the battlefields of war, past and present,

should, as a United Nations sponsored project, be cleared

of all weapons of war which still possess the potential for

causing injury and even death, to dumb animals or to

man.

In narcotics there resides an extremely powerful

potential for the erosion of human dignity. The voluntary

use of illicit drugs by individuals does not negate this

destructive potential. Indeed, such voluntary indulgence

merely hastens the transformation of latent potential into

virulent activity.

Accordingly, Grenada urges the United Nations to be

increasingly unrelenting in its campaign against narco-

trafficking. Indeed, we suggest that the United Nations —

with support as is appropriate in each case — sponsor

national programmes whose purpose is to eradicate the

use of illicit drugs by the pupils and students in our

schools, and by all youths throughout our world.

In this regard, we applaud the drug abuse reduction

education (DARE) project and commend it for use

throughout the world, modified as may be most

appropriate to particular circumstances.

Disasters occur in many forms. Yet whether natural

in origin or the product of human device, physical

disasters constitute a most significant threat to human

dignity, as they do to human life.

As to natural disasters, humankind is aware of that

threat. Hence the awe experienced when we are

confronted by such disasters. That very feeling of awe,

though, may well, in its embrace, extend to an acceptance

of the consequences as being inevitable — and less only

in degree than the inevitability of the disaster itself. This

may well explain the inadequacies of actions for disaster

preparedness which are so regularly observable. We must

confront this form of resignation.

We must also confront the deliberate and wilful

human imposition of physical disaster.

Human dignity is assaulted also by economic

disaster. Recent experiences in the Far East, and the

current ones in other parts of our world, bear telling

testimony to this.

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Grenada contends that the United Nations and its

relevant subsidiary bodies, as well as its appropriate

agencies and agents, must, as a matter of conscience, revisit

the concept of globalization which has informed various

regimes, especially in relation to trade of all kinds, which

have caused such degradation of human dignity and such

pain among the peoples of the world.

Trade that is not informed by concern for humanness

does not promote human well-being. Indeed, it cannot. For

the very ignoring of such concern is one of the hallmarks

of a diabolical origin.

Our world needs to be humanity-centred and

humanity-friendly. Grenada urges that we regulate the many

systems which together compose our global interactions.

Grenada humbly invites attention to, and consideration

of, the observations of an international non-governmental

organization committee on human rights in trade and

investment. By a letter dated 20 July 1998, the committee

invited our Prime Minister and our Foreign Minister to

reflect on some potential threats to our people’s enjoyment

of their human rights. The potential for these threats resides

in one or another of the multilateral investment agreements

and the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements.

Five such threats were identified, and we accept the

validity of the arguments adduced in each case.

Nonetheless, only three are presented here so as to

stimulate curiosity, and thus further contemplation.

First, the human right to self-determination embraces

the right of all peoples to determine their economic future.

This subsidiary right may well be frustrated, if not denied,

where freedom is given to foreign investors to operate

without a requirement of social responsibility to the overall

community in which they do business.

Secondly, pursuance of the concept of non-

discrimination in trade and investment may well militate

against the pursuit of governmental policy to eliminate

unjust discrimination, on the one hand, and, on the other, to

promote the relaxation of equality on the part of vulnerable

groups.

Thirdly, stipulated conditions in favour of foreign

investors may very well be inimical to the right to realize

the fullness of one’s human dignity.

Earth, with its physical environment, is a divine gift to

all the people of the world, and there devolves upon all of

us a collective responsibility to protect both our planet-

home and its environment. Further, we have been given

authority over the locality in which we choose to live —

such authority, however, not extending to destructively

impinging on any other similar locality, irrespective of its

size or population. Thus, every nation has the right to

develop the resources of its territory, but not to the

detriment of the people of any other nation.

Accordingly, to engage in the transportation of

nuclear waste through the terrestrial or marine

environments of other countries is to engage in violating

the human rights of the people of those countries. The

same is true of dumping toxic waste, or food considered

in the country of origin or of processing to be hazardous

to health, on the markets of the less developed countries

of our world.

Attention has already been invited in this

presentation to the ignominious collapse of the League of

Nations, as well as to the cause of that calamity. Suffice

it, therefore, simply to refer now to instances of

membership in the Untied Nations of both components of

what hitherto were single sovereign States.

The people of the Republic of China on Taiwan —

and they number more than 22 million — have exercised

the right to participate in international organizations,

including the United Nations. And in the further exercise

of that right, they have chosen to contribute

internationally towards the realization by the peoples of

the less developed countries of the fullness of their human

dignity. And the Republic of China on Taiwan has chosen

to do so within the compass of certain regional and

international organizations which are associated in one

way or another with the United Nations system. To deny

those 22 million people the right to exercise that choice

is to violate their human right to choose. Further, to

engage in such denial is also to enforce a restriction on

the enjoyment of enhanced benefit by the peoples of

States which are members of those organizations.

Grenada therefore calls for the granting to the

Republic of China on Taiwan of an appropriate form of

membership that would allow for participation by the

Republic of China on Taiwan in the World Health

Organization, the World Trade Organization and the

Caribbean Development Bank.

Grenada does not condone terrorism. Indeed, we

condemn it, whosoever the perpetrators may be. In so

condemning terrorism, we are especially mindful of the

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vicious action-reaction spiral relating to engagement in

terrorist activity, whose viciousness increases with each

cycle. And in this latter regard we perceive as engaging in

terrorism any action that is calculated to strike terror into

the minds and hearts of people anywhere.

Quite early in this presentation, reference was made to

Aquinas’s concept of peace. But no attention has yet been

given here to the achievement of the tranquillity of order,

which Aquinas defines as peace. Comment has, however,

been made on aggression and violations of one kind or

another. Accordingly, it is fitting that this presentation

should end with a succinct elaboration of Aquinas’s concept

of peace, which it must be stated, is not taken from any of

the works of Aquinas. Rather, it is taken from a little

booklet entitled Golden Moments, and this particular piece

bears the caption “If there is”:

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will

be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the

character, there will be harmony in the home. If there

is harmony in the home, there will be order in the

nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be

peace in the world”.

May God bless everyone who participates in the

deliberations of this Assembly, whatever the business or

occasion, so that this Assembly may truly be a blessing on

our world.