Saint Lucia, 2014

Exactly one year ago,

on 30 September 2013, I had the unsurpassed glory of

delivering my maiden address to the General Assembly

(see A/68/PV.21), and I used that occasion to pay homage

to the great architects of world peace who fostered the

birth and initial dynamics of our United Nations. In so

doing, I used the principles set out in the Charter of the

United Nations as a ready compass to set my course

as I navigated the issues that occupied the forefront

of our attention at that time, under the captaincy of

former President John Ashe, who successfully piloted

our Organization of peace through the turbulent seas of

global uncertainty.

The issues that commanded the attention of the

international community then included global terrorism

and the tensions in the Middle East and the Korean

peninsula. Those were compounded by concerns

around geopolitical conflicts and unresolved trade

issues, as well as trade and macroeconomic approaches

that favoured industrialized countries to the detriment

of developing nations.

Given that in nature’s irreversible onward

march, unresolved problems are brought forward and

compounded by succeeding problems, this year the

General Assembly has convened at a time of increased

turmoil. Since our discussions last September, it is

undoubtedly the case that dissension and conflict

have increased in the Middle East — the arena

that inevitably sets the price for petroleum and its

associated products, which are utilized by the peoples

of the global community, rich or poor. On the other

hand, the benefits expected from the end of the Cold

War, with the potential for normalizing relations on the

European continent and in lands and regions far distant

from Europe, now seem to be doubtful of fulfilment,

as signs, tensions and pressures once associated with

the Cold War are evolving, bringing about renewed

concerns for the international community as a whole.

When such tremors emerge, it is much harder for

small States like ours to get the attention of the major

Powers with regard to the evaluation and discussion

of our own issues and objectives. Those can be

successfully resolved only if the dominant members of

the international community can relate to them, without

the positions and tensions that emphasize allegiance on

the part of small Powers to this or that side. That is

why we, from our small corner of the globe, venture to

express the view, in this most significant of international

forums, that the tensions and the tendencies towards

war now emerging should be subordinated to the search

for solutions in which the principles and objectives of

the Organization, particularly its preference for the

negotiated resolution of conflicts, are pursued as far

as practicable. The escalating conflicts have negative

effects on the access of small States to the attention

of larger Powers, and therefore they retard the positive

contribution of the international community to our own

concerns.

In that connection, we have observed, with a

certain disquiet, tendencies in Europe that indicate a

possible resumption of the Cold War on that continent.

We believe that that can only be disadvantageous to

small countries like ours, because in forums such as

this we tend to find a return to demands for automatic

commitment to one side or the other. As a small country,

we have called for negotiations to prevail in the pursuit

of the rearrangement of continental European relations,

following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the

Warsaw Pact. Despite being a small country far away

from the situation in Europe, we have long had, and

continue to have, an integral relationship with that

continent. It is particularly on that basis that we call for

diplomacy to prevail, and we have been gratified to see

recent signs indicating that that is likely to be the path

pursued on the European continent.

We are relieved to see that the contentions in the

Middle East, specifically in respect of the Palestine

issue, have returned to the negotiating table. That is in

concert with earlier developments relating to contentions

between the NATO Powers and Iran, as the various

parties were able to adopt postures of mutual discussion

and engagement. That has led recently to what seems to

be jointly negotiated stances to the extremely complex

situation in Syria and to the emergence of the so-called

Islamic State, which has been spreading disorder and

contention in the wider Middle East.

From our perspective, we can only express the wish

that negotiations and cooperation among the larger

Powers and between themselves and other Middle

East countries continue, even as some members of the

international community felt it necessary to resort to the

use of force in the area. We reaffirm, even in the midst

of great global complexity, our country’s commitment

to the peaceful resolution of disputes.

While many developments in our world hold the

seeds of our region’s continued marginalization, we also

want to accentuate the more positive trends emerging

in the international community that are leading to the

creation of space in our global arena. Consequently,

Saint Lucia is encouraged by the possibility of

enhanced flexibility in decision-making being

permitted to members of the international community

via the emergence of large, developing States in such a

manner that they are now characterized as increasingly

significant actors in decision-making relating to the

resolution of global issues.

When I addressed the Assembly last year, I referred

to the emergence of institutions such as the Union

of South American Nations, which includes some

members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),

and to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our

America — Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA). They

have opened up opportunities for assisting our countries

to meet the Millennium Development Goals, to which

we are all committed.

Saint Lucia reiterates its appreciation for the

work of ALBA, an institution committed to assisting

countries without requiring ideological commitment

to this or that position but recognizing the priority of

economic and social development and preferring the

peaceful resolution of disputes above all other concerns.

In consonance with that posture, we commend the

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for its contribution to

the Ebola eradication budget, and Cuba for its dispatch

of 156 doctors to West Africa to assist in the fight

against the deadly Ebola virus.

Saint Lucia welcomes the initiative by Brazil,

India, China and South Africa, along with Russia, to

extend and deepen the assistance available to other

developing countries, thereby widening the scope

for their advancement towards the achievement of

the Millennium Development Goals. Specifically,

we would mention the establishment of the New

Development Bank, which further facilitates the efforts

of developing countries for economic reconstruction.

The establishment of the World Trade Organization and

the single-minded immediacy with which it has pursued

international trade liberalization have threatened the

very foundations of our economies, particularly in

agriculture, which has suffered sudden and certain

destruction. From our perspective, therefore, another

dimension has been added to the efforts of small States

such as Saint Lucia to navigate the consequences of

sudden international economic liberalization and

globalization.

In that context of the emergence of new balances of

economic and political power and new flexibilities in

the use of diplomacy, including within our hemisphere,

Saint Lucia once again reiterates its plea for the removal

of the blockade imposed against the Republic of Cuba.

More specifically, my Government calls for the removal

of Cuba from the so-called terrorist watch-list. That is a

residual effect of the Cold War, which is over.

Given the scourge of the traffic in narcotics in

particular, we call for further cooperation among all

countries in the hemisphere and a setting aside of the old

Cold War postures as necessary conditions for balanced

development and peace. A specific example of where

that applies relates to our efforts in pursuing collective

arrangements and unimpeded cooperation against

the menace of the movement of narcotics through the

Caribbean Sea and their decimating march across the

moral, social and economic fabric of our region. The

drug barons make no ideological distinctions among

countries as they continue to exploit weaknesses

deriving from outmoded political stances that impede

effective regional cooperation. As we all know, those

pursuing the sale of narcotics make special efforts

to attract the youth of our countries, compromising

the essential resource base for our future economic

development and social stability.

Once again, I draw the attention of this body

to Saint Lucia’s firm and consistent belief that the

historical anomalies of the Cold War still in our

international system should not be allowed to inhibit

the contribution of countries desirous of participating

in, and enhancing, the advancement of developing

countries simply because there are issues surrounding

their particular status.

In that connection I would refer, as I did on behalf

of the Government of Saint Lucia last year, to the

participation of Taiwan in international organizations,

particularly those that focus on technical arrangements

or the resolution of important issues that are of

value to the international system as a whole or to its

member States. My country again makes a plea for

fuller participation by Taiwan, particularly in the

World Health Organization and the International Civil

Aviation Organization. Taiwan has the experience

of engaging in a technological revolution that has

enhanced its economic development and the welfare of

its people, and in many respects that State has become

a viable economic development model for small States.

Hence we believe that the Government and people of

Taiwan have much to offer developing countries, and so

we would support any institutional initiative that would

allow that country to make a contribution through those

mechanisms of the United Nations that are devoted

to solutions to issues of technological, economic and

social development.

I shall now turn to the theme of this year’s

General Assembly, “Delivering on and implementing

a transformative post-2015 development agenda”,

to navigate two issues of paramount importance to

Saint Lucia as a small island developing State. At

this juncture, I must congratulate the President of the

Assembly and his country, Uganda, on this theme,

which is charged with invaluable significance for

my region and for Africa, as we are challenged in

building an impregnable substratum of economic and

technological self-determination to successfully deal

with the development challenges of our times.

First, speaking of Africa and the Caribbean region

in that context, I come to a matter of great historical

and contemporary concern to the people of Saint Lucia

and the Caribbean Community as a whole, which I

adumbrated in my address to this body last year. It is

the issue of the need for the metropolitan Powers to

come to terms with the manner in which the Caribbean

States were historically created and organized and the

consequences of that for their standing and situation in

today’s world. Specifically, at their meeting in July 2014,

the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community

decided that a case for reparations should be elaborated

beyond the relationship between ourselves and the

relevant European Governments and that Caribbean

States should, in seeking support for that objective,

“advance the reparations case during the sitting of the

United Nations General Assembly in 2014”.

I carry out that mandate now on behalf of the

Government and the people of Saint Lucia, who, in

concordance with the peoples of other CARICOM

member States, seek the award of reparations as a

specific way in which those who in centuries past

held the reins of power without accountability can

now in recompense make a specific contribution to

the nation-building programmes of our Governments

beyond existing commitments. In that regard, we make

a case for reparations as a matter of principle.

Secondly, Saint Lucia has welcomed the

deliberations of the third International Conference on

Small Island Developing States, held in Samoa earlier

this month, and the efforts made in that regard by the

United Nations. The recent Samoa Pathway conclusions

have re-emphasized the persistent and peculiar

problems inhibiting the development of small island

developing States (SIDS). In the words of the recent

SIDS declaration, there is an insistence that “small

island developing States remain a special case for

sustainable development”, without which “success will

remain difficult”. As the Commonwealth Secretariat

recently pointed out, research has shown that countries

most exposed to preference loss are mainly SIDS,

such as Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica,

Jamaica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. From

our regional point of view, the Caribbean Community’s

continental States of Belize and Guyana are included

in that list.

The Commonwealth Secretariat has also shown

that, while the compound annual growth rate of per

capita income of SIDS between 1970 and 2000 was

0.73 per cent, that of the world economy was almost

three times higher, at 2.07 per cent; and that, in the

period between 2002 and 2012, SIDS had one of the

lowest compound annual growth rates, at 1.23 per cent,

as compared to 4.96 per cent for developing countries,

4 per cent for least developed countries and 3.23 per

cent for sub-Saharan Africa.

The Saint Lucia Government wants the

recommendations of the Samoa Conference to be given

the international attention that they deserve. That is

critical, considering the fact that along with the specific

problems that have been identified as continuing to

inhibit sustainable development, the instability of the

present international economic system only serves to

aggravate the precarious position of small States. In

that connection, we stress, as we did when addressing

the Assembly last year, the importance of assistance

arrangements, including further development of the

Adaptation Fund so that our countries can cope with

the negative effects of sea level rise.

In view of Saint Lucia’s urgent requirements,

we also emphasize assistance for the construction of

facilities that can protect our countries against untimely

natural disasters due to climate change. Losses from

disasters in SIDS continue unabated and continue to

outstrip our capacity to cope. Over the past decade,

many SIDS have lost considerable momentum in their

development progress by having to contend with post-

disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction costs, which

invariably have brought increased debt. The Caribbean

has been a particular victim of those events since I

spoke here last year, and we hope that following the

recent Samoa Conference, a certain urgency will be

attached to the matter.

Saint Lucia would like to reiterate a few points.

First, we emphasize the persistent use of diplomacy

as a prime instrument for the pursuit of normalized

relations among all States.

Second, the rapidly changing nature of international

relations mandates the need to subject the United

Nations system to new levels of critical examination,

with the central objective of strengthening the internal

machinery of our Organization and reforming it to truly

reflect today’s geopolitical reality.

Third, we must as an international community do

all within our power to ensure that the Cold War does

not resume even though the post-Cold War dividends

have not yet materialized for much of humankind. Now

is an excellent time to divest ourselves of any residual

effects of the Cold War, such as the blockade imposed

on our sister island of Cuba and to remove Cuba from

the so-called terrorist watch list.

Fourth, we make a plea for reparations as a matter

of principle.

Fifth, we must take advantage of new, meaningful

opportunities for cooperation and partnership, not

only with traditional partners but also, setting aside

long-standing geopolitical contentions, with a range of

non-traditional partners, such as Taiwan.

Sixth, developed countries should not pursue trade

and macroeconomic approaches that are detrimental to

the well-being of small island developing States.

Seventh, we must determine a clear and effective

strategy by which SIDS can translate the outcomes of

the Samoa Conference into concrete results — results

that build on existing international commitments and

include the means of implementation to support the

national and regional development efforts of SIDS.

Without that, the Samoa Conference could be construed,

in the words of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., “as a

meaningless drama on the stage of history ... shrouded

with the ugly garments of shame”.

Eighth, Saint Lucia stands for freedom, democracy,

non-discrimination, sustainable development, poverty

eradication and special and differential treatment for

SIDS, all of which are important ingredients of our

most precious pursuits and aspirations: peace and

prosperity for our people, the recovery and resilience

of our Caribbean region and stability and security in

our world.

Finally, it is fitting and opportune that as we ponder

the possibilities of “Delivering on and implementing

a transformative post-2015 development agenda”,

we deliberate carefully on the opportunities and

alternatives to the current world order. We must look

to our past to understand our present, and we must plan

our future by analysing our present and applying the

lessons of our past. It is in that connection that I feel

compelled to conclude by inviting careful consideration

of the words of the late United States President

Woodrow Wilson, who asserted America’s historical

leadership and commitment to international democracy

and freedom in these words: “We shall fight ... for a

universal dominion of right by such a concert of free

peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations”.