The Bahamas, 2009

On behalf of the

Government and people of the Commonwealth of the

Bahamas, I convey my sincere congratulations on

Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki’s election to preside over the

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General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. My

delegation wishes to assure him of its full cooperation

and support throughout this session. I would also like

to take this opportunity to congratulate his predecessor,

Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, on his

stewardship of the sixty-third session.

The current global financial and economic crisis,

possibly the worst since the Great Depression,

threatens to negate all that we have achieved thus far

on our development agenda, at both the national and

the international levels. This threat was acknowledged

at the High-Level Event on the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2008. The

scenario is no better today.

The fallout for the Bahamas has been

considerable. Ours is a very small, open economy that

is closely linked to the performance of most developed

economies. Tourism matters in the Bahamas; it is our

primary industry and it affects all aspects of economic

life in our country. We are in the midst of arguably one

of the most difficult tourism seasons on record. Visitor

arrivals are down, hotel occupancies are down and

revenues earned from tourism are down.

Unemployment has sharply increased. The continued

economic uncertainty means that unemployment will

pose a problem until the global economy is stabilized

and returns to growth. In this regard, we are heartened

by some of the signs of global economic recovery.

The Government of the Bahamas acted quickly to

soften the impact of the international economic

downturn on our population. We took appropriate steps

to ensure the continued integrity of our domestic fiscal

and financial system; we accelerated planned capital

works to generate employment and economic activity;

and we increased targeted social relief for those most

disadvantaged by the crisis. In implementing these

policies and programmes, the Government exercised

appropriate fiscal restraint, so as to ensure

sustainability in the long term as well as the medium

term and to encourage and ensure that the economy

would be well placed to respond swiftly to any upturn

in the global economy. The Bahamas believes that it is

critically important to global financial health that

actions taken at the national level be complemented by

appropriate international responses.

This year the General Assembly will consider the

scale of assessments for the apportionment of the

expenses of the United Nations for the period 2010-

2012, as well as the scale of assessments for the

apportionment of the expenses of United Nations

peacekeeping operations. The Bahamas takes this

opportunity to reiterate its long-standing position that

per capita gross national income (GNI) should not be

given undue weight in determining capacity to pay, as

it often leads to distortions. Nowhere is this distortion

more visible than in the case of the scale of

assessments for peacekeeping operations. The current

scales place the Bahamas, a small developing island

nation, in the same category as the most developed

economies in the world, with the exception of the

permanent members of the Security Council. This

unjust formula creates an onerous burden, and we call

upon this body to address the inequity, which seriously

undermines the development objectives of the

Bahamas, as well as other developing countries.

Clearly the GNI criterion does not properly

reflect either the vulnerability of our economy or the

extraordinary costs associated with the duplication of

infrastructure required by our archipelagic

configuration. Yet, despite our vulnerabilities, we have

never wavered in our responsibilities as a fully fledged

member of the international community and will

continue to meet our obligations to the United Nations

in the manner prescribed and agreed. While my

Government is committed to paying its assessed

contributions in a full and timely manner, we believe

that the proposed scale of assessments is unfair and

unduly burdensome to countries such as the Bahamas,

and should therefore be reconsidered and adjusted,

taking into account those considerations that reflect our

vulnerabilities.

Climate change presents acute challenges for

small island developing States such as the Bahamas,

and we are certainly vulnerable to its impact. One of

the major consequences of climate change for the

Bahamas has been the increase in the number,

frequency and ferocity of the hurricanes affecting our

country and region over the last two decades.

Restoration and recovery efforts required as a result of

these extreme events have taken a toll amounting to

hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade

alone, diverting scarce resources from other critically

important national development programmes and

compromising our efforts at sustainable development.

Hence, we have a special interest not only in

actions taken to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate

change but also in measures designed to slow —

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indeed, to reverse — actions that negatively affect

climate. As a founding member of the Alliance of

Small Island States, the Bahamas has joined with many

like-minded States in our region and around the world

in calling for a global agreement in Copenhagen, with

legally binding targets, that will permit us to achieve

the ultimate objectives of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Bahamas is cognizant that the responsibility

for climate change does not rest with developed

countries alone. Within our limited capabilities, we

have undertaken a number of appropriate actions,

highlighted during the High-Level Event, in order to

increase our resistance to the adverse impacts of

climate change. But it is also important that initiatives

undertaken in the quest for environmental protection

do not cause greater harm than good. For example, the

introduction of an air-passenger levy will damage our

already weakened tourism industry, the industry that is

our economic lifeline. The proposed marine bunkering

levies or taxes are likely to have a similar negative

impact on our maritime registry’s cost competitiveness.

Such supposedly well-intentioned environmental

initiatives come at a time when resources available for

adaptation are not readily available to small island

developing States like the Bahamas.

As an archipelagic nation, the Bahamas faces

particular challenges in the area of maritime safety and

security. My Government has committed tremendous

financial and technical resources to combat illicit

trafficking of drugs and weapons; illegal, unreported

and unregulated fishing and human smuggling, and

underscores the need for effective cooperation and

coordination among States, as well as the development

of innovative approaches to resolve those issues and

complement national efforts. The Bahamas welcomes

the constructive engagement of the United Nations and

the International Maritime Organization in addressing

the issue of piracy. As the country with the world’s

third largest ship registry, the Bahamas will continue to

engage with its partners in the international community

to ensure the safety and security of international

shipping.

Haiti is a near neighbour and a member of our

Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The Bahamas and

the Caribbean Community States are committed to

Haiti’s stabilization and to its political and economic

development in the short and long terms. This cannot

be achieved without sustained support from the

international community. The Bahamas is therefore

heartened by the United Nations active and sustained

engagement in Haiti over the past four and a half years,

through the work of the United Nations Stabilization

Mission in Haiti. We share the hope of the Secretary-

General that Haiti is moving away from a history of

conflict towards a future of peaceful and sustainable

development.

We call on the Security Council to further extend

the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization

Mission in Haiti beyond 15 October 2009, as

recommended by the Secretary-General. We are also

hopeful that the recent appointment of former United

States President Bill Clinton as the Secretary-General’s

Special Envoy for Haiti will help to keep the issues

affecting Haiti at the forefront of the agenda of the

national and international community. The Security

Council meeting on Haiti earlier this month was

certainly most welcome in this regard.

An increased level of criminal activity is creating

new challenges for the Bahamas — a phenomenon

shared with other countries in our region. We continue

to implement national and regional anti-crime

initiatives to combat this scourge, which undermines

our economies and, indeed, affects our social stability.

Illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and small arms

and light weapons are major contributing factors to this

phenomenon. The Bahamas — as many are aware — is

not a producer of illicit drugs; neither the Bahamas nor

the other States members of CARICOM are

manufacturers or suppliers of small arms and light

weapons. Yet, illicit drugs and light weapons account

overwhelmingly for the amount of crime in our

societies. A disproportionate amount of our scarce

budgetary resources are dedicated to fighting illicit

drug and light arms trafficking through our territory

and in dealing with the terrible fallout in our

communities.

The Bahamas is fully committed to enhancing

regional and international cooperation in the area of

peace and security. We are pleased that the United

Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has agreed to

re-engage with the Caribbean region to support the

fight against the crime and violence that today mar our

societies.

In closing, my delegation wishes to state that the

current economic crisis dramatically demonstrates the

interdependence of the economies of the world. This in

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turn shows the critically important role which

organizations like the United Nations can play in

facilitating dialogue and crafting creative solutions to

global problems. As we continue to face these

unprecedented global challenges, the Bahamas

reaffirms its commitment to engaging fully and

constructively with its partners in the international

community to find collective solutions to the

challenges which confront all of us.