Saint Kitts and Nevis, 1996

I should like to

begin my presentation by congratulating Mr. Razali Ismail

on his election to the presidency of this session of the

General Assembly. It bears testimony to this Organization’s

confidence in and high regard for his skills and abilities.

Also, I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Freitas do

Amaral for the efficient manner in which he presided over

the fiftieth anniversary session of the United Nations.

At last year’s session, I spoke of the faith of the

Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the United Nations

as the only global Organization able to balance the interests

of the weak against those of the strong. I spoke also of the

need for individual countries to work to develop approaches

to collective problem-solving and partnership. Saint Kitts

and Nevis reiterates this faith, which, I believe, is amply

justified.

Very recently the United Nations came to the

assistance of my country and made available support and

resources to aid the process of constitutional reform, which,

hopefully, will avert further fragmentation and preserve the

integrity of Saint Kitts and Nevis. I should like sincerely to

record my thanks to the Secretary-General for this kind

gesture.

I said previously that my Government does not ask for

hand-outs. We do not expect charity. Our participation in

this forum is the result of our commitment to

multilateralism. All we ask for is genuine partnership,

opportunity and an environment in which we all can

prosper.

My party, while in opposition, developed an action

plan for the progressive growth of the people of Saint

Kitts and Nevis. Today, as the duly elected Government,

we have readily realized that the problems facing small

developing States keep increasing. But this has not

diminished our resolve. One year ago, my Government

began the difficult and trying task of implementing our

policies and devising new strategies to address the

stubborn problems facing my country. We recognize that

the coexistence in any society of the threat of narco-

trafficking, youth unemployment and poverty is a recipe

for social chaos. We in Saint Kitts and Nevis are

therefore committed to ensuring that the young people

inherit a legacy of hope and live in an environment in

which dreams are not only kept alive but are realized.

We fully appreciate that the challenges ahead are

great, but we also see great possibilities, and we are

determined to embrace the opportunities. However, to

move our people forward we will require partnership; we

cannot do it alone.

To this end, I welcome with enthusiasm the

statement last week by the Secretary of State for Foreign

and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom. I am

encouraged by his intervention because it speaks to the

fundamental issues that we in small States have for so

long worked to bring to the top of the international

agenda.

Last year I appealed to Member States to commit to

a genuine partnership between the developed and the

developing worlds. The developing world — small States

in particular — have for far too long been languishing on

the periphery of international affairs and are often

corralled into the mainstream only when issues of votes

or candidatures are at the centre of debates and individual

national policies.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and

Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom spoke of

the need for the developed world to pursue policies that

will allow the economies of developing countries to

expand through export-led growth and the abolition of

barriers to trade in the developed world. I fully support

this call. My delegation would like to see the Bretton

Woods institutions come to the aid of small States by

creating adequate structures to allow these States to

develop economically and participate better in the world

17

system. There must be a period of transition to encourage

small States to integrate into the mainstream of

international interaction.

We all share a common responsibility to ensure that

developing countries are more equitably integrated into the

world economic system. We must break the insidious cycle

of dependency and replace it with bonds of partnership and

cooperation. We are our brothers’ keepers. This must be

given priority in our national and international policies.

The developed world must avoid outmoded

perceptions that suggest that it is best qualified to prescribe

strategies for growth in developing countries. Attention will

also have to be paid to indigenous priorities in developing

countries. I say to the Assembly that there can be no

prescription without consultation. Attempts at development

without recognizing the peculiar problems of small States

and the responsibilities of the developed world will not

promote sustainable growth.

We speak repeatedly of hope, and the promise of the

new millennium, yet sometimes overlook many of the

problems plaguing us today. My Government looks to this

new era with great optimism and unbridled hope that we

can achieve sustainable development, that sustainable

human growth can be realized, and that our people can

afford to dream of a life beyond the expectations of their

forebears.

However, I fear for our children’s dreams in a world

where the products of developing countries are

discriminated against and dubious tariffs make our goods

seem uncompetitive. I see definite cause for concern when

friendly countries that are fully cognizant of the need for

the limited preferential access our region enjoys, pursue

policies inimical to the development and growth of our

countries. This strategy is not free trade. I fear for the

progress of my people when development is measured in

cold statistical terms that ignore social transformation and

sustainable development.

I fear for the future of my children if small, vulnerable

States such as my own are continuously graduated out of

aid-recipient-country status simply because the gross

national product per capita is considered high. This policy

does not take into account our high per capita cost of

infrastructure development; it does not take into account the

frequency of hurricanes and other natural disasters, or the

diseconomy of scale faced by our small enterprises.

I fear for my brothers and sisters in the Windward

Islands, whose very livelihood is threatened and could be

seriously undermined by the disputes over Windward

Island banana exports. If the economies of the Windward

Islands are affected, my country, too, will suffer. Our

economies are very closely linked. We share a common

currency, a common central bank and, of course, a

common future.

It seems that the international community would

readily punish growth. Whenever small States experience

relative growth, instead of lending further assistance to

ensure that they emerge from the quagmire of deepening

poverty, necessary resources and support systems are

taken away, and these countries find themselves being

graduated out of concessional assistance programmes.

This is wrong. This is inhumane. When we rob a man of

the means to feed and educate himself and his family,

how can we expect him to contribute productively to civil

society? This is a world of people, and its organization

must be about people. Their needs should not become

secondary to systems, policies and experiments. Structures

should be used to further the goals and aspirations of our

peoples despite differences in economies, populations and

size. Our peoples all share a common dream: the dream

of freedom to chart their own destinies; the dream of self-

reliance; the dream of a better standard of living.

On the question of the environment, it is

inconceivable that the very countries that agree to

contribute to coastal erosion management and fund studies

on environmental protection would wish to trans-ship

hazardous toxic waste through our waterways. The

fragility of my region’s ecosystems, the openness of the

economies, the overwhelming reliance on food imports,

and the susceptibility of the tourism product put us

precariously, and, perhaps, uniquely, at the mercy of

external forces.

Saint Kitts and Nevis intends to preserve the

standard of living we have achieved and to ensure a

prosperous future for all of our peoples. My Government

strongly urges the international community to respect our

determination to make the Caribbean a nuclear-free zone

and to keep it free from toxic pollutants. The region

already suffers from the consequences of rising sea levels,

coastal erosion and the destructive effects of natural

disasters. The catalogue is very long; we cannot add

further problems to it.

Small island developing States require committed,

long-term assistance in environmental protection. I am

18

convinced that sustainable development and environmental

preservation are inexorably linked. We cannot make token

gestures of support on one level only to undermine support

on another. We need to enforce existing international

instruments, promote cooperation and allow the United

Nations to play a more central and coordinating role in

developing appropriate machinery for bringing together

political will and financial and technological resources to

guarantee results.

I call on the United Nations to devise a comprehensive

and integrated approach to addressing sustainable

development. Additionally, I urge developing countries to

work more closely together to develop indigenous strategies

and innovative approaches in order to solve the problems of

development.

The plethora of issues which come before the United

Nations are critical. Therefore, it is necessary that the

United Nations undergo substantive reform that will address

resource distribution and the implementation of

recommendations. We must be careful not to address

reform in a superficial way. We have to commit ourselves

to reforms which allow the Organization to respond more

effectively to the problems which face Member States.

It is our collective responsibility to restore and

strengthen the international agenda of the United Nations

and support its role and performance in the social,

institutional and economic fields. I believe that the

Organization can help to fuse our individual and collective

goals. However, Member countries must believe in the

international relevance of this Organization.

It is important for us to promote consensus in

addressing the important questions of budgetary and

administrative reform of this, our Organization.

Irrespective of national ambitions, irrespective of size

or resources, the United Nations is the only global

institution whose membership gives it the mandate to

examine the vast array of problems that affect the entire

community of nations.

The work being undertaken to reform the United

Nations should be structured in such a way as to eliminate

unnecessary wastage and bureaucratic inefficiency. At the

same time, we should not use the problems as an excuse to

diminish our commitment to the strengthening and re-

energizing of the United Nations.

When we look at international affairs, democracy is

still one of our most sacred aspirations. But it needs

tangible institutional and infrastructural support. My

Government welcomes the extension of the United

Nations mission in Haiti which we believe is crucial to

consolidating and furthering the cause of democracy and

human resource development in Haiti. We should not

expect to strengthen democracy in Haiti without

addressing the systemic causes of poverty, illiteracy and

violence and the absence of democratic institutions. The

people of Haiti will eventually inherit the rewards of

peace when commitment to long-term social, political and

economic development is assured. It is unwise for States

to use politics and partisanship to impede progress in

Haiti. Its people long for an opportunity to become

masters of their own fate, and they should be given that

chance to pursue their national aspirations.

My delegation welcomes the prospects for peace in

Bosnia and Herzegovina and the progress towards

implementing the recommendations of the Dayton

Accords. We welcome the willingness of the parties to

develop democratic institutions, enhance human rights and

see to the return and settlement of displaced persons. The

situation in this region is still quite fragile. We must

continue to struggle for peace, and people must be made

to believe that such atrocities will never, ever happen

again.

The situation in the Middle East has regrettably

taken a turn for the worse. I appeal to the region’s

Governments to recommit themselves to peace, the only

viable option for attaining coexistence, security, stability

and genuine progress for all parties concerned. We further

urge the Governments to continue to respect the

agreements reached and to commit to their

implementation. The successes of past years should never

be squandered.

The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis lends its

support to the work of the International Criminal Tribunal

for Rwanda and commends the work of the United

Nations and the Organization of African Unity in

attempting to resolve these challenging and often thorny

issues. We also urge all factions in Burundi to give

negotiations a fighting chance. Violence breeds violence,

but peace gives birth to partnership. Peace gives birth to

growth and to economic development.

We have circulated a document which reflects our

policy regarding Taiwan. Our policy is to respect the

territorial integrity of all countries and to refrain from

19

interference in the internal affairs of all Member States.

Because of our traditional relationship with the 21.3 million

people on Taiwan, we have come to respect their economic

stability and progress. Their growing democracy and their

contribution to the developing world have not gone

unnoticed.

We believe they have an important and continuing role

to play in international development strategies. We are

confident that whatever difficulties exist between the

Chinese people separated by the Taiwan Strait can be

resolved by the Chinese people themselves and in a spirit

of fraternity and good will. We urge the international

community to be ready, if necessary, to provide the

mechanisms to facilitate dialogue and cooperation.

Resolution of the stalemate would significantly contribute

to the cause of development worldwide and to peace and

security in the region.

We look forward to the implementation of the

Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World

Conference on Women in Beijing. My Government believes

that this is a significant step and a triumph for all women

worldwide. It will allow them to achieve full equality of

opportunity and equitable integration into the mainstream of

decision-making and the development process.

We should bear in mind when discussing the question

of human rights that we commit a fundamental error by

selectively disregarding the right to economic survival and

social well-being. When we single out human rights and

freedom we do grave injustice to those people languishing

below the poverty line, unable to determine the course of

their own lives.

Fundamental to achieving tangible results is the

necessity of adopting a comprehensive and wholesome

approach to human rights. It is not nearly enough to ensure

political suffrage and freedom of expression, although these

are extremely important, without establishing mechanisms

to foster social self-reliance and economic independence.

To promote human rights in the wider sense is to

complement and consolidate a democratic culture within

any given society.

Human rights protection also means protecting the

rights of children against hunger, against mental and

physical abuse, against prostitution, against trafficking in

children and against pornography. Therefore, we must

attack the ills of poverty, illiteracy and deprivation and

enact punitive legislation. We support the first international

conference on the sexual exploitation of minors, held in

Stockholm, as a significant step and an important

initiative to raise awareness and develop strategies.

In conclusion, I challenge the international

community to give effect to promises with solutions and

tangible results. If we fail to design appropriate strategies

today to address present problems, we are doomed to

repeat past mistakes.

The time for action is overdue. Please, we can wait

no longer and we must delay no longer.