Guyana, 2001

Although the embers

from the towering infernos which resulted from the

attacks on 11 September have not fully died, it may

nevertheless be possible to analyse the impact which

that horrific disaster has had on international relations

and, more particularly, the political, economic, and

social consequences which it is likely to have for the

world. Such an analysis, it is to be hoped, will instruct

us on how we may best respond to these new

challenges and pursue the twin goals of global peace

and development in this new, twenty-first century.

Mr. President, it augurs well that this examination

will be conducted under your guidance, since, coming

as you do from the land of the morning calm, you will

no doubt bring to bear on our debate not only a fresh

and dispassionate view, but also a ray of hope after the

long dark night through which we have just passed. My

delegation offers you our warmest congratulations and

good wishes as you continue to preside over the work

of this historic General Assembly, which, though

inaugurated in the depths of despair, may yet hold out

the promise of salvation for mankind.

It would be remiss of me were I not also to

extend our gratitude to your distinguished predecessor,

Mr. Harri Holkeri, who presided with great verve and

vigour over the Assembly through very difficult and

interesting times. He has contributed much to the

revitalization of the General Assembly.

To the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, I

convey our greetings and commendation for his sure

and steady leadership of our Organization. The recent

award of the Nobel Peace Prize to him and the United

Nations is a source of great satisfaction and pride for

Guyana and, indeed, for the entire membership of this

body.

As was so aptly stated by the Economist of 15

September, the terrorist attack on the United States

altered the geopolitical landscape as indelibly as it did

the Manhattan skyline. The world is a changed place

since that horrendous event, changed in that we

suddenly find, under threat, by unorthodox and hitherto

unimaginable means, the values by which our

Organization is driven, values the attainment of which

have been the object of our onerous and protracted

labours for a period extending over many decades. We

cannot help but feel a sense of sorrow and shame that

such a barbaric act — as the destruction of the World

Trade Center and a part of the Pentagon most certainly

was — could have occurred in this day and age only a

short distance from this house of our common

humanity.

Like most leaders of the civilized world, the

President of Guyana was swift to condemn this

egregious crime. As a small and vulnerable State, with

limited ability to defend itself in the event of

encroachment on its territorial integrity, Guyana cannot

accept the threat or the use of violence to resolve

conflicts and disputes, whether inter-State or intra-

State. All differences must be settled, as called for in

the Charter of the United Nations, by peaceful means,

such as those prescribed in Article 33.

The violence which was visited two months ago

upon some 5,000 human beings — including many of

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our own nationals — in this our host city and, indeed,

before that, upon so many other peoples and places in

the world, must be not only roundly condemned but

also condignly punished. The international community

must now develop an arsenal of appropriate legal

instruments, including a comprehensive convention

against terrorism, to combat this new enemy of our

times. The message must be clearly sent to all who

would use terrorism to pursue their objectives that their

actions will not be tolerated by the Members of this

Organization but, instead, will be dealt with firmly

with the full force of the law.

At home and in our various regions, we must

build defences that are strong enough to keep out

terrorism and its concomitants, such as arms and drug

trafficking and other forms of transnational crime.

Within the Caribbean Community, of which Guyana is

a member, we have agreed to set up mechanisms for

information sharing and coordinated action to deny

these criminal elements access to our territories. A

regional task force has been established to identify

measures necessary to creating a cordon sanitaire to

help insulate us from their onslaught. This is not an

easy mandate since, as the immigration doors in the

developed countries become more tightly closed,

hundreds of criminals who have grown up in these

societies are being deported now to our countries

which, because of severe financial and human

constraints, are ill-equipped to handle this influx.

Although perhaps not as immediate or striking as

these political and security consequences, the economic

and social impact of the 11 September disaster has

been no less powerful and pervasive. All countries

have undoubtedly been affected by the disaster, but

small and vulnerable States such as my own will find it

especially difficult to cope with the resulting hardship.

Our countries, with far fewer alternatives available to

them than to the more developed, because of an

unfavourable international economic system, high

levels of external debt and unequal terms of trade, will

suffer disproportionately. The exporters of primary

products, now as in the past, are the first to suffer a

downturn in the world economy and the last to

recover — a process that occurs with a frequency that

is altogether too depressing.

These imbalances and asymmetries which

seriously affect the progress of developing countries

are now likely to become even more pronounced in the

rapid process of globalization. Still, as is often said,

“It’s an ill wind that does not blow some good”. We

would therefore wish to believe that out of the calamity

will come an improvement in our lot. We should not be

so foolish, however, as to think that this will happen

automatically. Salvation will depend on our willingness

to learn from our experience and to do better in the

future. From the ashes of the Second World War arose

the phoenix of the United Nations, giving hope to new

generations that they could live in peace, prosperity

and larger freedom. Sadly, the end of the cold war did

not generate a similarly bold enterprise, leaving

humanity to wander aimlessly in search of peaceful

coexistence. We must therefore, before it is too late,

honour our commitment to the United Nations Charter

and create a new vision and strategy with which we

may face the challenges of this new era.

In keeping with the spirit and substance of our

historic compromise, we must act responsibly to

remove from our midst all threats to global peace and

security. Foremost among these is the situation in the

Middle East, at the core of which is the Palestinian

problem, stemming from the persistent denial to an

entire people of the enjoyment of their basic and

inalienable rights. The peace process must be

immediately re-engaged with seriousness of purpose

and determination to put an end, once and for all, to the

senseless violence and bloodshed which has been the

unhappy fate of the Palestinian people and others.

They, as well as all other peoples in the region, must be

allowed to live in a State of their own, free from fear or

want, within safe and secure borders. However, it is not

only the Middle East which suffers from the ravages of

conflict. In far too many places — in Africa, Asia,

Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe, the risk

of violence is ever present, fuelled by a variety of

factors and made more dangerous by the possibility of

further conflagration. To avert these threats, we must

fully utilize the machinery provided in the Charter for

the peaceful settlement of disputes.

Yet, it is important in all of this that the Agenda

for Peace not be allowed to diminish or to displace the

Agenda for Development since, were this to happen,

the prospects for any durable peace anywhere would be

virtually non-existent. Peace and development are

inextricably intertwined, and any attempt to separate

them would not only be artificial but totally dangerous.

We would do well to bear this in mind should recent

events prompt a reordering of global priorities and lead

to a diversion of attention from economic and social

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issues to purely political and security concerns.

Already, in the immediate aftermath of the attack, the

President of the World Bank was reported to have said

that the 2015 target for halving global poverty could

not now be reached and that, in fact, poverty would

increase over the next year or two. This deterioration is

not easily contemplated by small economies like our

own and those of the Caribbean region.

In our view, it is imperative that the United

Nations now actively pursue the Agenda for

Development to enable developing countries,

especially the small and the vulnerable, to ride out the

current political and economic storms. The upcoming

International Conference on Financing for

Development, which will take place in Monterrey,

Mexico, next March, represents a unique opportunity to

examine both the internal and external constraints that

significantly affect the mobilization of financial

resources for development, as well as to collectively

address the inefficiencies and inequities of existing

financial markets. The high concentration of these

markets on existing financial assets aimed at short-term

profit, rather than on new assets linked to the creation

of wealth and employment for longer-term

development, remains a source of great concern and

must be remedied.

I think that we all must now acknowledge that the

prevailing international system of development

cooperation is seriously flawed and has failed to

achieve its primary objective of increasing growth and

improving the quality of life in poor countries. Inherent

in this system are many debt and poverty traps that

continue to ensnare millions of the world’s poorest

people, many of whom now have to face diseases such

as AIDS. Not only is the experience painful, but it

often also deprives the poor of their basic human

rights, there being an undoubted nexus, now

universally recognized, between the actualization of

human rights and economic development. It is out of

this recognition that my delegation, last November,

brought resolution 55/48 before the General Assembly

on the role of the United Nations in promoting a new

global human order.

The proposal for such an order acknowledges that

the major constraints affecting economic and social

progress in developing countries reside in the capacity

limitation in the critical areas of markets,

administrative and institutional infrastructures in both

the public and private sectors, the leveraging of

resources and the ability of developing countries to

negotiate as equal partners in a number of forums

outside the United Nations. This proposal therefore

seeks to improve the effectiveness of development

cooperation programmes, to optimize scarce financial

resources and to reduce the spread of poverty. It also

addresses new ways of managing development

cooperation that would significantly overcome

problems of aid dependence, current imbalances and

asymmetries in international trade, and the high

indebtedness that continues to plague developing

countries.

These objectives, in the view of the Government

of Guyana, can be achieved through a comprehensive

dialogue among Governments, based not only on

political and economic considerations, but also on

ethical and moral principles that are necessary to the

creation of a more humane and just order in the world.

This dialogue, which began at the last session of the

General Assembly, will be renewed at the fifty-seventh

session, when, we hope, the concept will be further

embedded in the international consciousness and

ultimately accepted as the way forward to a more

enlightened system of international relations.

It is entirely appropriate that this dialogue should

be held within the United Nations, since the

multifaceted and transnational nature of today’s

challenges requires a multilateral, rather than a

unilateral, approach. There is no doubt that the United

Nations is ideally suited to promote this global

partnership in an environment that today requires firm,

focused and inclusive governance. Given the

universality of the Organization’s membership, the

principles and values that it has long upheld and the

growing interest of civil society in its activities, the

United Nations has a singular opportunity now to

exercise a leadership role in international political,

social and economic policy-making.

At this time of great uncertainty and trepidation,

therefore, we must recognize, now more than ever

before, the continuing need for the United Nations

Organization which, despite its many achievements in

its 56 years of existence, has yet to fulfil its full

potential with regard to international cooperation. We

must therefore not allow complacency, self-interest or

unilateralism to compromise that global vision of the

founding Members.