Saint Lucia, 2003

It is neither pride nor

the prospect of privilege that moves us to assume the

Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly

but a certain determination that is the unspoken

strength of islands. Nor is it merely that we are

honoured — though indeed we are — but that we also

feel worthy, as worthy as any other member of this

community and determined to make our contribution to

the progress of humanity and the welfare of the world.

Saint Lucia recognizes and appreciates that this

Presidency became a reality only with the support of

the Latin American and Caribbean family.

Our preoccupation is not with size, sovereignty or

power but with people, and by this measure we are not

small, nor are we just an island, for we do not stand

alone. We stand as one Member of this Organization,

proud of the legacy and the vision that we can offer the

world. We assume this role because we wish to offer

that vision to the world — because it is larger than our

238 square miles and larger than our population of

159,000 people. It is a vision we wish to place at the

service of humanity.

It is our hope that Saint Lucia’s presidency will

offer a fresh perspective, an alternative view, and a

different, but not discordant, voice to the heart of the

Assembly. As such, the people and the Government of

Saint Lucia express both their appreciation and their

determination to the members of this international

community — appreciation for the faith and trust

bestowed upon us with the presidency of this

institution, and determination that we shall not fail it,

but be judged equal to the task before us. If it is a task

of Herculean proportion, then we will face it with equal

confidence, certain that the rebuilding of our broken

humanity is a matter which we encounter in the

company of equally resolute and undaunted partners.

Since the end of the cold war, the legitimacy,

credibility and relevance of this time-honoured

institution have never been so questioned as they are

today. The United Nations Millennium Declaration was

designed to revive the dying pulse of all humanity but

has itself become comatose. Indeed, Secretary-General

Kofi Annan was moved to state that:

“It is uncertain whether the consensus and

the vision that the Millennium Declaration

expressed are still intact.”

Saint Lucia therefore calls on the international

community to heed the appeal of our Secretary-General

to seek balance between the imperatives of military

security and human security. In the interest of

redistributive justice, global peace and security, the

developed countries must not renege on their

commitments to the developing world in the areas of

trade, debt relief and aid.

The Millennium Declaration goal of halving

global poverty is receding into nothingness, but it can

be rescued if developed countries make good on their

pledges. Moreover, we might challenge ourselves

beyond merely halving global poverty, by aspiring to

its virtual elimination. By now, it should be clear to us

27

all that poverty issues are inseparable from human

rights issues, as are environmental issues from

economic and political development issues. National

security and international stability can be realized only

where there is justice.

It was the prophet Isaiah who reminded us that if

mankind is brought low, everyone will be humbled. Yet

if we, the international community, retreat from the

ideals of the creation of a greater humanity, we would

also be retreating from the core values and principles

enshrined within the United Nations Charter. More

importantly, we would be tacitly endorsing the return

and consolidation of a global uncivil society — the

symptoms of which are already manifest within our

global society. Religious intolerance, tribal aggression

and civil war continue to ravage many parts of our

planet. Among the victims are the poor, the

marginalized and the vulnerable — often women and

children, who play no part in the making of war but

find themselves stripped of their human dignity and

basic human rights. Terrorist attacks in Bali, Kenya,

Saudi Arabia and Baghdad add to our symptoms of

impending rupture.

The arteries of conscience are becoming hardened

by the frequency of wanton violence, yet on occasion

there are incidents that shock our sensibilities. The

murder of Sergio Vieira de Mello and other United

Nations colleagues reminds us of the mindless horror at

the heart of that darkness. Saint Lucia joins the

international community in expressing sympathy to

their families, and we reiterate our profound respect to

those international workers who are so willing to make

the ultimate sacrifice to extend humanitarian

assistance, security and comfort to those in peril and in

need.

In this environment, it is essential that we

maintain a United Nations which steadfastly adheres to

its original core values. Saint Lucia will resist any

attempt to de-legitimize the United Nations system.

Any strategy which claims to embrace peace, security

and justice and yet excludes the United Nations belies

a flawed and unreal conception of world affairs. This

Organization has been instrumental in the preservation

of the nation-State within a framework of binding

relationships among Governments. More importantly,

the United Nations has been a devoted guardian of

individual rights and freedoms. Saint Lucia maintains

that the United Nations, precisely because of its

diversity, is the only organization with the political and

moral legitimacy to deal adequately with global issues.

This universal body — this United Nations — has

no other choice but to heed the lessons of the past and

the wisdom of the ages in its attempt to better serve

humanity. When our predecessor organization, the

League of Nations, was discarded as irrelevant, we

witnessed the advance of disorder and human

catastrophe on a scale never before envisioned. If we

stand idly by now, while this time-honoured institution

is rendered irrelevant and toothless, we will have

commissioned an epitaph for humanity.

Saint Lucia therefore calls for the completion of

the efforts at reforming the Security Council to better

reflect the realities of this new century and to make it

more representative — more democratic, legitimate

and transparent. The existing veto system is too easily

influenced by national interests to address serious

issues afflicting humankind. If a coalition of the

willing could be assembled for war, then surely we can

also gather a coalition of the willing to address the

problems of poverty, disease, illiteracy, hunger, and

trade imbalances. There can be no sanitizing of one

corner of the globe while contagion, despair and

desperation fester elsewhere. There is no security for

the one while insecurity plagues the other.

But, ultimately, the strength of the United Nations

must come from the political will of the Member

States — a political will that must accept that everyone

should adhere to, abide by, and implement all the

decisions taken and resolutions adopted by the

Organization. We cannot, in the name of national

interest, observe only some resolutions and expect to

have a strong United Nations.

The United Nations cannot be strengthened if we

do not have the political will to accept that its activities

cannot be dictated by the agendas of a few powerful

States. It must embrace, in equal measure, the concerns

of the small and the weak that are the majority of its

Members. No single State, by virtue of its economic or

military might, should determine, on its own, the

obligations and responsibilities of the rest of humanity.

“Muscular unilateralism” and the emerging

doctrine of diplomatic unilateralism cannot be the

preferred approach to serious global issues.

Exceptionalism within the international system is

certain to fragment international cooperation, making it

28

less likely that countries will forgo aspects of national

sovereignty in the interest of the common good.

It has become abundantly clear that the

international community will not succeed in its war

against terrorism if it fails to address root causes. The

current war on terrorism is designed to capture, confine

or eliminate existing terrorist networks without

addressing the causes of terrorism. Terrorism does not

stem simply from the arrogance and madness of a few

dictators and misguided fanatics; it is also the result of

deep-seated inequity and, sometimes, bigotry. If the

status quo denies opportunity, freedom and fulfilment

to those who hunger and dwell in despair, the appeal of

chaos and extremism as an avenue to change becomes

that much more attractive. If, on the other hand, we

perceive that the world order works in the interests of

all of us, there will be a universal commitment to

sustain that order. Consequently, it is imperative that

the international community jointly address economic

injustice and political exclusion as common enemies of

us all.

Your assumption, Sir, of the presidency of this

institution at this time, as a representative of a small

island developing State — one of the smallest

Members of the United Nations — is both a tribute to

the democratic principles of the United Nations and a

signal of the need to conclude the process of

revitalizing the work of the General Assembly. We

must conquer delay, procrastination, repetition and

inaction.

Many years have passed since deliberations on

the reform of the Security Council began; and yet there

is no end in sight. Consultations on the revitalization of

the General Assembly first began 13 years ago, and on

that issue, too, there is no end in sight.

For some reason, the United Nations seems to

enjoy operating in decades. We create decades for our

programmes, and when we fail to take action in a

particular decade, we simply declare another decade.

And so the cycle continues — for decades. This body

can no longer afford the luxury of “decade syndrome”,

compounded as it is by bureaucratic operations bound

by tradition and habit.

We must be extremely proactive on the question

of the revitalization of the General Assembly. Saint

Lucia therefore wishes to propose that during this

session we review all the draft resolutions before us,

and determine which need to be consigned to the

record books and which merit the continued attention

of the Assembly. We need to restructure the time

frame, as well as the working methods, of the

Assembly and its Main Committees, so as to make

more productive use of an entire year, rather than

engaging in a three-month frenzy of activities.

Furthermore, we should consider making the agendas

of the Main Committees and the Assembly more

relevant to the general debate. It is our view that these

should flow from the themes enunciated at the general

debate.

The United Nations must not compromise its role

in global economic governance and development. Saint

Lucia calls for Members to resist attempts to dilute the

development agenda through cuts and freezes of

regular and core budget allocations.

Saint Lucia reiterates the need for reform of the

system of global economic governance so as to allow

for fair trade and special and differential treatment for

developing countries. The current global governance

system has failed many small States by eliminating

commodity protocols and the quota and price

preferences that sustain small economies.

Unfortunately, they have been replaced by the

conspicuous indifference of neo-liberal economic

practice. This has contributed to the decimation of

many Caribbean economies. It is Saint Lucia’s earnest

plea that the distortions in farm trade about which —

despite their prevalence — discussion is conspicuously

avoided, will be treated in a manner reflective of the

redistributive priorities of this Organization. We are

therefore determined that a more inclusive and

transparent global governance system should hold as

sacred the goals and aspirations of those of us in the

developing world who strive against all odds.

Among the most vulnerable countries in the

world today are some of the territories that are on the

United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

These countries, the majority of which are small island

States in the Caribbean and the Pacific, have yet to

exercise the right to self-determination. In the words of

the Secretary-General, it is time for the United Nations

to bring to a close this colonial chapter of history.

We therefore welcome the cooperation that the

Special Committee of 24 on decolonization has

recently been receiving from the administering Powers

of those Territories and the advances that have

consequently been made in the work of the Committee.

29

We further welcome the negotiations that have just

begun, for the first time, between the Special

Committee and the United Kingdom on the process of

decolonization in the Caribbean. We look forward to

continued cooperation with the administering Powers

so that the goal of self-determination for all of these

Territories can be achieved in less than a decade.

We believe that this General Assembly

presidency is both symbolic and strategic — not just

for ourselves, but for this Organization and the

revitalization of its development agenda. That a small

developing country should aspire to and attain such

high office is a testament to the magnanimity of this

noble institution. It is an opportunity to demonstrate

that global equity and universal democracy remain

meaningful constructs of the world community.

Our voice can be ignored or it can be heeded, but

it will not be silenced. The choice of an appropriate

response rests with this community. Our presence here,

however, is a manifestation of our belief that humanity

demands conscious renewal — renewal to guarantee

that the international community resists war,

remembers the poor and is prepared to give tangible

meaning to the Charter, to which we all subscribe as

responsible members of the world community.

But there can be no renewal if faith in the United

Nations system is not also restored and retained. The

United Nations must remain as the moral epicentre of

world politics. Any re-conceptualization of the

architecture of global governance that excludes the

United Nations will leave the world weaker, more

divided, vulnerable and less secure. This cannot and

should not be our legacy to future generations, who

will judge us not by our words or espoused principles,

but by the actions we employ to render this world fit

for human habitation.