The Bahamas, 1998

I wish to express the

pleasure of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas at having

Mr. Opertti preside over the deliberations of this fifty-

third session of the General Assembly and to convey to

him our warmest congratulations on his election. He may

count on the full support of the Bahamas delegation to

ensure the success of this session.

The Bahamas also wishes to express its appreciation

to Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine, whose competent

leadership brought the deliberations of the fifty-second

session to a successful conclusion. He has our gratitude.

On 10 July of this year, the Commonwealth of the

Bahamas celebrated its silver jubilee anniversary as a

sovereign nation. Our country is a thriving democracy and

enjoys one of the highest standards of living in our

hemisphere. Our economy continues its rebound from

negative growth early in the decade, and increasingly we

are creating the jobs necessary to provide productive

employment for our young population in all sectors of the

Bahamian economy.

Over the past 25 years, the Bahamas has

demonstrated a consistently strong and exemplary record

in upholding democracy, protecting and promoting human

rights, promoting the advancement of women and

promoting social development and justice.

As a member of the community of nations, the

Bahamas has remained firm in its commitments to the

United Nations and to other international organizations.

Hence, the foreign policy of the Bahamas has been

marked by peaceful cooperation and respect for the

sovereignty of its neighbours.

Nevertheless, we, like many others in the

international community, are constrained to question the

adequacy of delivery on commitments to improve the

circumstances of developing countries. I believe it is fair

to assert that the United Nations record of achievement in

developing countries has been, at best, mixed.

While it is true that many developing countries have

gained a measure of success in their economic and social

sectors as a direct result of United Nations intervention

and assistance, too often such successes have been

overshadowed and continue to be overshadowed by

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serious deficiencies. Too many countries in the developing

world today suffer from abject poverty, deteriorating

environments, poor health standards, high unemployment

rates, staggering levels of malnutrition and hunger,

spiralling inflation, growing criminal activity and masses of

homeless persons displaced by political and economic

conditions. Such problems and challenges defy the meagre

resources, both human and financial, of these nations, and

many assistance programmes mounted to redress them are

limited by their decreasing resources.

These are some of the critical areas where the

Organization can make a difference in the lives of

individuals, especially in developing countries. Another area

where the Organization could make a difference would be

in the adoption of measures to eradicate the abhorrent

practice of trafficking in women and children. We call upon

the international community to make every effort to address

this problem in a comprehensive manner.

The Bahamas continues to be challenged by the

uncontrolled entry of economic migrants to its territory, a

struggle which receives scant international recognition or

assistance, notwithstanding the considerable financial

burden foisted upon our small developing State. Indeed,

undue pressure is frequently brought to bear upon our small

society to absorb such economic refugees without regard

for the serious social and political consequences of such

requests. It is clear that the important United Nations

conventions crafted to address the problems of political

refugees following the Second World War do not

adequately address the problem of today?s undocumented

economic migrants. We call on this Assembly, therefore, to

begin to address the need for a review of the mandate of

the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Bahamas is an archipelago of some 700 islands

stretched over some 80,000 square miles of ocean. We are

home to one of the most important coral reef systems in the

world and of important species of flora, fauna and animal

life, both terrestrial and marine. Our responsibility to

conserve and protect our environment for the welfare of

future generations is clear. Equally clear is the fact that we

require continued international assistance if we are to

succeed. In this regard, I wish to acknowledge and thank

the United Nations Environment Programme (UNDP) for its

continuing assistance to the Bahamas as we seek to enhance

our capacity to catalogue, manage and protect our rich

biodiversity; and to thank also the Secretariat of the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for its

assistance in improving our response to the challenges

created by climate change and sea level rise.

It is important that we begin to deal forthrightly with

the obstacles which impede the United Nations from

playing as effective a role as it ought, or might, in the

global economy. We must be vigilant against slippage in

our commitment to the goals of the Organization so

eloquently embodied in our fiftieth anniversary pledge to

be a people “united for a better world“ in which the

human condition remained our highest priority. We must

all accept that the United Nations can only be, and will

only be, as successful and responsive as we the Member

States allow it to be. The United Nations success is our

success.

The reform measures adopted last session provide a

useful platform from which to refocus and improve our

Organization. In this regard, the Bahamas welcomes the

proposals for both a Millennium Assembly and a

Millennium Forum, so as to forge a closer partnership

with civil society.

The Bahamas also recognizes and accepts the

appropriateness of adopting sunset clauses, establishing

time limits for United Nations mandates. Given the

sensitivity of the matter, however, we strongly

recommend that final decisions be arrived at on the basis

of consensus among the Organization?s membership.

The Bahamas believes that the Security Council as

currently composed reflects some inequities and

imbalances of this Organization. A living organization

must adapt to changing circumstances if it is to remain

relevant. A Security Council reflecting the eminence of

post-Second World War Powers cannot be expected to

adequately address concerns of our post-colonial world.

As we approach a new millennium, it would be in our

interest for this central organ of our Organization to be

more reflective of our present reality.

As a peace-loving nation, and one in which respect

for human dignity has historically been upheld, the

Bahamas condemns terrorism in all its forms. Such

wanton acts are inhumane and wreak havoc on entire

communities. It is for these reasons that the Bahamas will

continue to lend its support to all legitimate national and

international efforts to stem the spread of terrorism and to

work towards its elimination.

To this end, we will continue to cooperate with the

international community to bring the perpetrators of

terrorism to justice, as well as to address comprehensively

the root causes of terrorism. We call on all Members to

act similarly.

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We wish to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for

his untiring efforts in the promotion of international peace

and security. Unfortunately, his recent reports on trouble

spots around the world continue to reveal a disturbing

picture. In a world shrunken by globalization, every trouble

spot has the potential to affect us all. Our energies, exerted

in search of real solutions to these global crises, must

therefore match those expended in pursuit of responses to

our national challenges. Let us seek to mark the fiftieth

anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping with an

enlightened breakthrough in this area.

The continued production and use of land mines

internationally continues to maim and kill thousands of

innocent men, women and children in developing countries.

The Bahamas abhors these actions. We were pleased to join

the more than 100 countries which have signed the

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on

Their Destruction, which we have also now ratified. We

call upon all Member States that have not done so, to do

the same.

The Bahamas is seriously concerned by the

proliferation of handguns and other weapons which

continue to infiltrate small island developing States. The

use of these conventional weapons by perpetrators of crime

considerably raises the level of violence in our societies and

threatens our social, economic and political fibre.

We call on countries manufacturing handgun and other

weapons to assume greater responsibility over the sale and

export of such weapons, and to strengthen their

international collaborative efforts to combat this problem.

For our part, we have joined Member States of this

hemisphere in acceding to and ratifying the Inter-American

Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and

Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other

Related Materials. We commend similar action to all

Member States of this body.

The Bahamas, after experiencing an abatement in the

illicit transit and traffic in narcotic drugs through its

territory, regrets to inform the Assembly that it is again

confronted with this scourge. Drug seizure quantity and

frequency have increased, and the numbers of persons

arrested and charged with drug offences are similarly

increasing. Past experience has taught us that this is not a

problem which can be resolved by any single State.

International cooperation is critical if this menace is to be

controlled.

Notably, we welcomed the recent twentieth special

session of the General Assembly on the world?s drug

problem. That session adopted important decisions

designed to chart the future course in the international

fight to combat the supply, traffic and consumption of

illicit drugs. It is now imperative that Member States

commit themselves to the implementation of those

decisions.

The past 12 months have been a period of turmoil

for the world?s economy, marked in particular by the

crippling financial crisis in South-East Asia. The fallout

from that crisis is now being felt, in varying degrees,

globally.

We have, from time to time, in this forum

underscored the importance of establishing a sustainable

and equitable international framework for highly

integrated global markets. This need remains critical,

particularly in the light of the quickening pace of the

globalization of production and of capital flows, and the

liberalization of trade since early in this decade. Clearly,

these developments have not provided equal opportunities

for all countries to share in the benefits of globalization.

Countries — developing countries, least developed

countries and countries with economies in transition —

ought to be assisted in their efforts to become integrated

into the mainstream global economy, without incurring

disruptive and punitive economic, social and cultural

costs. These are matters of survival for small economies

like that of the Bahamas.

Questions are now being raised concerning the

adequacy of the international financial system to meet the

growing demands of the world?s diverse economies. My

Government is acutely aware that, while private capital

flows have played an indispensable role in the

advancement of developing economies, they should not be

relied upon as the single source of financing for capital

development. In this connection, the Bahamas notes the

recent call for a high-level international intergovernmental

forum on financing for development aimed at furthering

the global partnership for development.

My Government supports this call and applauds the

Assembly?s efforts to explore the matter further by

soliciting input from Member States. We call on this body

to address the issue in as comprehensive and integrated a

manner as possible.

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My Government was also pleased to note the

convening, in December last, of the expert group meeting

on vulnerability indices here at the United Nations. It is my

Government?s fervent hope that work will continue in this

important area. As the Assembly is aware, the Bahamas has

on many occasions repeated its objection to the use of per

capita income as the sole, or principal, measuring tool for

the economies of developing countries. This yardstick does

not, and cannot, take into account the special circumstances

of countries like the Bahamas, with our archipelagic make-

up, our ecological fragility and our economic vulnerability.

Yet these are all integral measures of our state of

development.

My Government looks forward to the upcoming

review in 1999 of the Barbados Programme of Action, and

hopes that all issues of concern to small island developing

States will be addressed in line with the chapters of the

Programme of Action.

The vision of our United Nations to meet the needs of

our people is achievable, but only if our purposes and

principles are designed for the common good rather than

for narrow nationalistic objectives. Otherwise, such motives

will inevitably produce inadequate programmes and

adversely affect relationships.

The lessons of history no longer take centuries to be

deduced. They present themselves starkly before us, often

in our own lifetime. Will we choose to learn from them?

The answer lies with each of us.