Saint Kitts and Nevis, 1995

As we

commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations,

it is indeed an honour for me to address this distinguished

Assembly. I take pride in conveying to it fraternal and

cordial greetings from the new Labour Government and the

people of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The United Nations has made noticeable progress

and important strides during the past five decades through

sheer determination, assiduity and the unrelenting faith of

its Members. This is faith in an Organization that has

been able to balance the interests of the weak with those

of the strong, faith in our collective will to preserve

democracy, promote peace and improve the quality of life

for all our peoples. The occasion of the convening of this

historic session of the United Nations General Assembly

provides an important impetus to galvanize our

Governments to reaffirm our commitment to the causes of

world peace, international security and development. This

faith represents the very essence of what we celebrate not

only this year, but every year as well.

Fifty years ago a few men of great courage and

vision cast aside national differences to come together to

plant new seeds of hope in a future that would one day

bear fruit for humankind to enjoy. The historic legacy of

cooperation and partnership that triumphed over

individualism should burn like an eternal flame in our

minds, serving to remind us all that peace, one of the

most precious of commodities, is not ours to squander,

but merely on loan to us. We have a solemn

responsibility to pass it on to future generations. The

Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis salutes those

visionaries of half a century ago and thanks them for the

rich legacy bequeathed to us all.

I wish to join other delegations in expressing

warmest congratulations and good wishes to you, Sir, our

new President, elected to preside over the Assembly in

this landmark year in the history of the United Nations.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis wishes to assure

you, Mr. President, of its continued cooperation and

support. We are confident that your presidency will be

marked by adroit leadership, which will ensure a successful

outcome to these deliberations.

On behalf of my Government, I am pleased to express

gratitude to the outgoing president, His Excellency

Mr. Amara Essy of Côte d’Ivoire, for his diligence and able

guidance in a year characterized by varying degrees of

political turmoil and other serious challenges.

I salute the Secretary-General, His Excellency

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his tenacious leadership, his

goodwill, and his diplomatic skills par excellence, which

have been tested with great frequency since he took office

a few years ago. My Government congratulates the

Secretary-General on the outstanding manner in which he

has carried out the mandates of the Organization with

regard to peace-keeping and humanitarian efforts. As our

nations continue to work together to build a better future

for our peoples, I wish to assure him of my Government’s

continued cooperation, support and goodwill.

As regards human rights, my Government is of the

view that, as an international fraternity of nations, we find

it incumbent on us all to remember that every single human

being has an inalienable right to freedom, to the pursuit of

happiness and to a better standard of life.

The sanctity of human life is not negotiable; it is

paramount. My Government remains steadfast in its own

efforts, and supports those of the United Nations to protect

and preserve human rights.

I now call attention to the question of representative

democracy. The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis

warmly welcomes the unprecedented pace of democratic

reforms taking place around the world. However, we are

concerned with the growing complexities of recurrent

problems and the emergence of new and more complicated

ones which still pose serious threats to world peace and

international security.

Consequently, my delegation commends the resolve of

the United Nations and its willing leadership to steer

Member States along a steady and purposeful course

through the turbulent seas of political upheavals.

It is encouraging to see that, despite obvious problems,

democracy continues to spring up in the far-flung corners

of the world. This should propel us to channel our

collective energies into ensuring that those peoples still

yearning for a taste of freedom will one day come to

experience the triumph of democracy.

The Caribbean breathed a sigh of relief when the

horrid spectre of dictatorship was removed from the

Haitian landscape. Finally, the people of Haiti can begin

to harvest the rewards of peace as they proceed to build

a lasting and viable democracy.

At present the Caribbean and Latin America enjoy

a period of relative peace and the rule of law. We wish

for this to continue infinitely. It is certainly not my

intention to be the harbinger of doom. However, we

cannot afford to take this situation for granted, because

history bears frightening and credible witness to the fact

that political instability and poverty in areas where

democracy is fragile, tend to form a treacherous alliance.

Democracy as a mere concept, without the requisite

support of infrastructural development and institution-

building, cannot survive. In order for democracy to

remain viable in countries which are unaccustomed to it

and/or which suffer from high or increasing levels of

poverty, democracy should be buttressed with the

appropriate support systems.

My Government firmly believes that the United

Nations is a people’s Organization. Therefore, we the

Members should impress upon the poor masses, which are

often easily led and misled, that democracy works, that it

can work for them, and that eventually, if given a chance,

it will deliver the political and material benefits they

require to improve their lives.

I wish to state here clearly that my Government is

not appealing for hand-outs. On the contrary, we appeal

for a reliable hand of genuine cooperation and

partnership. Because our countries share a common world

community, with common concerns and interests, we

should become our brother’s keeper. Failure to work

together effectively means that we foreclose the

possibility of learning from the past, and at the same

time, we shall be burning the bridges to the future, built

with selfless courage by our predecessors.

It appears that whenever we succeed in solving one

major problem another more complicated one is foisted

upon us. The post-cold-war world has given way to the

re-emergence of agonizing, old ethnic tensions, worsening

levels of poverty and widening economic inequalities

which, together, continue to force their way to the top of

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the international agenda. These new challenges require

innovative and collective strategies. They require

partnership.

The prevalence and the length of the conflict in the

former Yugoslavia seem to elude attempts at an effective

and lasting solution. None the less, we support the

international efforts to find a diplomatic resolution of this

conflict.

Therefore, my Government welcomes the timely

initiatives of the United States Government, which we

consider to be crucial in laying the groundwork for future

progress in ending the war. Also, we wish to compliment

efforts by the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization to broker a lasting peace in the former

Yugoslavia.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis strongly

condemns the outrageous and cowardly acts of genocide,

“ethnic cleansing” and indiscriminate killing of the innocent

and helpless, on all sides in this brutal conflict. It is my

Government’s sincerest hope that the persons found to be

responsible for these atrocities will be brought to justice.

I wish now to turn to another volatile region, the

Middle East, which has for a long time been one of the

lingering trouble spots in world affairs.

Times are changing, and in the interest of peace some

Governments in the region have begun to respond to these

changes by taking appropriate steps to reconcile their

differences and to ensure that their peoples can live

together in peace. The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis

applauds the initiatives of the Government of Israel and the

Palestine Liberation Organization to rescue peace from the

clutches of terrorism and violence. This augurs well for

peace not only in the disputed territories but also

throughout the Middle East. Further, we urge nations in the

region to respect Israel’s right to exist and to follow the

lead of the recent accord reached between the Governments

of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan.

We hope that other countries in the region will heed

the call of peace and use diplomacy in the pursuit of their

objectives. Also, we urge all Governments to declare war

on terrorism and to make a commitment to its eradication,

wherever it may lurk. My Government is unambiguous in

its belief that an act of terror against any man, anywhere,

is an act of terror against all mankind, everywhere.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis welcomes

the decision taken last year by the Iraqi Government to

recognize the State of Kuwait. Kuwait’s territorial

integrity and sovereignty must be maintained. We also

call on the Government of Iraq to comply with all United

Nations resolutions and to release all Kuwaiti nationals

detained illegally in Iraq.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis is

convinced that the United Nations is about people.

Consequently, we expect this Organization to advance the

causes of all our peoples. To achieve this, however,

Member Governments must fulfil their obligations to the

Organization so that it can function more effectively. At

the same time, the United Nations has to accept that it is

accountable to its vast membership. Also, Member

Governments and the Organization should seek to

reconcile this critical relationship and work more closely

in the future to devise new approaches to problem-

solving, development and security. The time has come for

us to change the way we do business. Our Government is

in favour of the reform of the Security Council to reflect

the current configuration of world affairs.

I should like to focus the Assembly’s attention on

the question of membership. As we all are well aware,

one of the fundamental principles of this Organization is

that of universality of membership. My Government

perceives the United Nations as a people’s organization;

therefore, we believe that Member States will appreciate

the need to consider the timely readmittance of the

Republic of China on Taiwan to this body. The

Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis maintains that that

country’s 21 million inhabitants have the right to be

appropriately represented in this Organization. Taiwan

continues to comply with international law and has taken

due steps to ensure the democratization of its politics and

respect for and protection of human rights.

I now wish to refer to the important subjects of,

first, the vulnerability of small island States and,

secondly, sustainable development. Although these issues

are not new, my Government remains convinced that the

international community cannot afford to forget them. We

commend the United Nations for hosting a Conference

last year in Barbados to address these crucial issues.

However, we need to go further. This will require

partnership, cooperation and resolve from both developing

and developed nations.

Many small island nations are painfully aware of the

potential dangers that environmental degradation holds for

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small island States like Saint Kitts and Nevis. Some of

these dangers are: rising sea levels, coastal erosion, sea

pollution and natural disasters. These problems are easily

compounded, because small island States with limited

resources, such as those in the Caribbean, lack the financial

and technological capabilities to deal with them.

The environmental vulnerability of small island States

is intricately interwoven with our economic dependency and

openness to external forces. My delegation therefore

appeals to the international financial community to review

its policies on concessional lending to small island States.

Statistics can be quite misleading. The tendency to

judge a country and its people’s development based on

figures such as per capita income quite easily distort the

objective reality of our situation.

Just last month, for example, Saint Kitts and Nevis

was ravaged by two hurricanes. Unfortunately, the passage

of the first was sufficient to disrupt seriously the daily lives

of my people, to destroy the physical infrastructure, and to

undermine severely the economic life of both islands. My

country’s main export crop, sugar, was almost completely

wiped out, and prospects for the 1996 sugar harvest are

discouraging. Further, my country’s main hospital suffered

extensive damage, placing the health of the people of Saint

Kitts and Nevis at great risk. I take this opportunity to

thank the international community for the quick response in

providing emergency relief to the people of Saint Kitts and

Nevis.

This, first and foremost, is the reality of small island

States. It is this reality — not cold statistics — that should

inform world policies towards them.

Returning to the subject of the environment, my

delegation puts forward the view that, to a large extent, our

islands have inherited problems that are not always of our

own making. This is not meant to lay blame. On the

contrary, we wish to suggest that all countries take

appropriate measures to reduce the possibility of

environmental degradation and that those in a position to

help in environmental protection lend assistance to those

unable to do so.

My delegation makes a fervent appeal to the

developed world not to link the granting of development

assistance to guarantees of environmental protection from

developing countries. Instead, we propose a much closer

and more constructive working relationship aimed at

creating more meaningful, long-term strategies to solve

environmental problems.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis

vehemently condemns attempts by some countries to use

the waterways of the Caribbean as a transshipment lane

for their toxic and hazardous wastes. Clearly, this region

suffers from a high vulnerability index. We therefore

cannot afford any increase in this index.

We call on countries responsible to find safer and

more appropriate means of dealing with their toxic and

hazardous waste.

Saint Kitts and Nevis categorically supports the

indefinite, unconditional extension of the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and we

anxiously await the successful conclusion of negotiations

on a comprehensive test-ban treaty. Also, we urge all

nations to impose a ban on nuclear tests.

With regard to women in development, we applaud

the convening of the Fourth World Conference on

Women in Beijing to examine issues affecting women

throughout the world. We appeal to Member States to go

beyond the conference halls and to make genuine efforts

to promote the interests of women. The protection of

human rights and the pursuit of sustainable development

cannot be viewed as distinct from the development of

women and their rights. They must go hand in hand.

Women play a central and critical role in the process

of development. Their contributions should be recognized

and rewarded appropriately. My Government is

committed to further legislation to eliminate gender

discrimination and to institute policies that address the

inequalities that women face.

We also have a duty to protect the lives of our

children and to ensure that we provide them with

adequate protection for their individual growth and future

prosperity. We hold their future in trust, and we therefore

have a sacred responsibility to them, as well as to future

generations.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis strongly

condemns any form of discrimination and violence against

women and children. We urge all Governments to wage

war on the barbarism of child prostitution, infanticide and

abortion on discovery that the foetus is female. The right

to life is fundamental, universal and sacred.

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In conclusion, the catalogue of problems confronting

our nations bears ample testimony to the tremendous tasks

ahead of us. Our countries share common goals such as the

pursuit of peace, world security, and better standards of

living for all our peoples.

Our predecessors have sown the seeds, and today we

celebrate their legacy. My Government is convinced that we

can achieve our individual goals by working collectively.

And indeed we can. I know we can. Most importantly, we

owe it to those who elected us, as well as to those who will

follow.

As we, the peoples of the world, celebrate our past

achievements, let us resolve to achieve even greater

successes in the years ahead.