The Bahamas, 2012

I wish to say, before my

printed remarks begin, some words not circulated in the

text. It is a particular privilege and honour to represent

my country in this forum, having returned here through

the magic of democracy after five years. For the first

time since the general election in May, our country

now reaffirms its re-engagement in and with the world

community. We are part of the larger Caribbean region,

and in that context we took part in a meeting with the

Secretary-General of this body. We thank him for his

courtesy.

However, it is important that the representation of

the Bahamas on regional engagement with the United

Nations not be misinterpreted as a complaint about

lack of attention by the Secretariat. It was not based on

petulance but on the simple fact that the United Nations

in all its organs and manifestations must live up to its

creed that all nations in this body are equal, and not create the impression that some are more equal than

others. Our delegation will continue to ensure that the

guiding principle of that equality and equity is adhered

to strictly.

I would like to congratulate Mr. Vuk Jeremić on

his assumption of his duties as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-seventh session and to assure him

of my delegation’s support and cooperation throughout.

I also commend his predecessor for his stewardship

over the previous session.

I also wish on this occasion to express thanks for

the stellar work and contribution to our country of

our Permanent Representative to the United Nations,

Ambassador Paulette A. Bethel.

The Bahamas commends the United Nations for the

convening and the outcome of the High-level Meeting

on the Rule of Law at the National and International

Levels last Monday. The Bahamas has committed itself

to the principle of the rule of law and to ensuring the

continuation of good governance for the benefit of

the entire populace of the Bahamas. The Bahamas is

committed also to adhering to the rule at law at the

international level and to upholding the principles of

the Charter of the United Nations.

The Bahamas commends the convening in June

2012 of the third biennial review of the United Nations

Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The Bahamas

unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms

and manifestations and reiterates its commitment

to the fight against terrorism and to the Strategy’s

full implementation. The Bahamas renews its call

for the timely conclusion of negotiations on a draft

comprehensive international convention for the

elimination of terrorism.

The Bahamas condemns in the strongest possible

terms the violence that resulted in the deaths of

Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other

United States diplomats a few weeks ago. We in the

international community must commit wholeheartedly

and sincerely to creating a culture of peace throughout

the world, underpinned by tolerance and understanding,

that precludes such outrageous occurrences and their

causes.

The level of armed violence and crime plaguing

our society — due in large part to the illicit trade

in small arms and light weapons and trafficking in

narcotics, neither of which our country manufactures or supplies — is increasing and cannot be allowed

to continue if we are to save successive generations

from a life steeped in violence and lawlessness. It has

been more than a decade since the adoption in 2001 of

the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent,

Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms

and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Yet there has

been no abatement in the level and intensity of armed

violence impacting our country.

The Bahamas welcomes the recent convening and

successful outcome of the United Nations Conference

to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the

Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate

the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons

in All Its Aspects. The Government reiterates its

unwavering commitment to the full implementation of

the Programme of Action. The lives of too many of our

young people are being destroyed by the use of illicit

weapons in our country. Now is the time to act.

Creating a safe Bahamas is a top priority for the

Government. We are committed to the creation of a

national intelligence agency and a national firearms

control strategy, including the establishment of a firearms

department and database, as well as to the enhancement

of the operations of the country’s Defence Force so that

it can more effectively control the porous borders of the

Bahamas. I would like to take the opportunity to thank

the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs

and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace,

Disarmament and Development in Latin America

and the Caribbean for their support and provision of

equipment and capacity-building assistance in the area

of firearms destruction and stockpile management. The

Bahamas was pleased to conclude an agreement with

the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs last

April and to have participated in a number of regional

training programmes and workshops sponsored by the

Regional Centre on the illicit trade in small arms and

light weapons and the strengthening of border controls.

The Bahamas joins other delegations in expressing

our profound disappointment at the outcome of

the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade

Treaty held in July and the failure of Member States

to agree on a text despite six long years of protracted

negotiations. The Bahamas supports the views

articulated by the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago on

behalf of the Caribbean Community during the month-

long Conference. What we say to thousands of innocent

victims is that their voices must be heard. But what do we say to them and their families, who are suffering as a

result of the irresponsible and unregulated international

transfer of conventional arms? Commitment and a

reassessment of human life and dignity versus profit

are critical if we are to prevail in our fight against the

scourge of armed violence and terror plaguing our

societies. We look forward to a successful outcome in

the next round of negotiations.

The Bahamas solemnly reaffirms its commitment

to the three pillars of sustainable development:

economic, social and environmental. Advancements

continue nationally in important areas pertaining to

the protection of our biodiversity and development

of policies to promote renewable energy. Some argue

that finding out how to provide reliable and affordable

energy may be the single largest factor affecting the

future development of the Bahamas. The issue of energy

is so important that the Prime Minister has made it as

a personal mission to seek to solve the issue. We know

that we must do it sustainably.

The Bahamas has enacted legislation to foster the

sustainable use and management of ecosystems through

better land-use planning. Under the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea, we have initiated

actions to preserve our fish stocks by introducing

penalties for overfishing. We have also taken action

to ban long-line fishing, to establish the Bahamas as a

sanctuary for sharks and to establish and expand marine

protected areas. For the Bahamas, it is imperative

that those sustainable development strategies be

complemented with appropriate actions taken by the

international community. In that connection, we view

the historic outcome of the United Nations Conference

on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) as offering

significant opportunities, particularly for small island

developing States (SIDS). We are encouraged by the

international community’s call for continued and

enhanced efforts to assist SIDS in implementing the

Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable

Development of Small Island Developing States and the

Mauritius Strategy for Implementation. The Bahamas

also welcomes plans to convene the Third International

Conference on Small Island Developing States and will

participate actively in the upcoming General Assembly

consultations to determine the modalities of the meeting

with a view to ensuring a successful outcome.

The Bahamas is also encouraged greatly by

the decision taken at Rio+20 to undertake work on

universal, action-oriented, sustainable development goals. In that work we must take into account different

national realities, capacities and levels of development

and must respect national policies and priorities. The

Bahamas hopes to work in the context of the open-ended

working group for the development of the sustainable

development goals as well as in the intergovernmental

committee on financing, agreed at Rio+20, to ensure

that our special concerns are fully addressed.

In that connection, the Bahamas looks forward to

the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s High-

level Panel on global post-2015 development planning

and commends the level of female participation therein.

The convening of the Panel offers a major opportunity

to learn from the mistakes of the past and build a

vision for global development beyond mere crisis

management. The Panel must be seen to operate with

open transparency. It should also incorporate the views

of geographical and economic anomalies such as those

of the Caribbean subregion, and be innovative and

forward-looking.

The Bahamas welcomes the acknowledgement

at Rio of the need to address the adverse impacts of

climate change.

The Bahamas believes that the United Nations has

a central role to play in global economic governance.

The Bahamas welcomes the efforts of the Group of 20

(G-20), particularly Mexico in the role as current Chair,

in helping to translate G-20 deliberations into effective

actions on a global scale through broad consultation

among Member States and with the United Nations itself

to find solutions to many of the major challenges of our

times, most particularly with respect to strengthening

the international financial system.

The Bahamas also envisions a greater role for the

United Nations in the area of international cooperation

in tax matters. The Bahamas, along with the wider

Group of 77 and China, continues to call for the

conversion of the United Nations Committee of Experts

on International Cooperation in Tax Matters into an

intergovernmental subsidiary body of the Economic

and Social Council, in keeping with the Doha mandate.

We also continue to deplore the use by some States of

their domestic laws for extraterritorial effect in such

areas as human trafficking, financial services and drug

smuggling. We continue to believe that those laws

with extraterritorial effect are misplaced and put an

unfair burden upon small States and that they may be

interpreted as a departure from the international norms of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity

of States.

In order to reverse current economic trends, one of

the core imperatives of the Government of the Bahamas

is the strengthening of the domestic economy and the

attendant creation of jobs, the broadening of Bahamian

ownership in the economy and the attainment of a

higher standard of living. Creating job opportunities

and reversing the unacceptable unemployment situation

in the country, which currently is at a high rate, have

been identified at the highest political level as the

most critical near-term priorities for the Government,

especially in relation to young Bahamians. I wish to

speak especially on their behalf today. The young

Bahamian sector of our country has been most severely

affected by the unemployment problem, and the rate of

unemployment is unacceptable and cannot continue.

We are committed to solving youth unemployment.

The Bahamas underscores the need for enhanced

policy dialogue and international cooperation on the

question of building green economies, which will indeed

require new investments, skills formation, technology

development and transfer and capacity-building.

The gross national income of the Bahamas is

significantly affected by a small population of wealthy

expatriates whose high incomes skew the measure

away from the true economic realities. The construct

of per capita gross national income, therefore, takes

on a unique interpretation in the context of developing

countries like the Bahamas and, I would daresay, the

Caribbean subregion. The Bahamas continues to be

deserving of considerations that will not deny us the

right to develop sustainably, supported by financial,

human and technological resources. Gross national

income per capita should not be used as a pretext to

restrict our access to financial assistance.

The General Assembly is set to consider, during

this sixty-seventh session, the scale of assessments for

the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations

regular budget and peacekeeping operations for the

period 2013-2015. The Bahamas takes this opportunity

to reiterate its long-standing position that per capita

gross national income, for the reasons given, should not

be accorded overriding weight in determining capacity

to pay.

A representative, transparent, responsive,

accountable, democratic and inclusive Security Council,

predicated on an increased membership in both the permanent and non-permanent categories, as well as

on modification of its working methods, is overdue.

My delegation sincerely hopes that the next round of

negotiations on Security Council reform during this

session will result in tangible progress aimed at making

the Council all that it can and should be.

Our desire for the realization of unfulfilled

potential also extends to our regional partner, the

Republic of Haiti. The Bahamas has been unremitting

and consistent in its support for the people of Haiti and

their aspirations for peace, security and development.

The Bahamas commends the important role of the

United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti in

providing security in Haiti and in laying the foundation

for its long-term recovery and stability. Pledges made

toward Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction must be

honoured and fulfilled so that the required work can be

undertaken and completed.

The Bahamas welcomes increased dialogue on

improving international cooperation with respect

to international migration and development. Illegal

migration from Haiti is a vexing issue for our country.

We agree that proper cooperation can certainly help to

ensure that migration occurs through safe and regulated

channels and to leverage the contributions that migrants

can make to the development of our country. The

Bahamas will continue to participate constructively in

the process leading to the second High-level Dialogue

on International Migration and Development, to be

held by the General Assembly in 2013, with a view to

addressing those and other related issues so crucial to

our development.

Given the events over the past year in the Bahamas

with regard to illegal migration, some of which have

been tragic, as well as poaching in our seas by illegal

persons from south of the country, the Bahamas will

be taking stronger measures over the next year to put a

stop to those illegal activities. We appeal to all nations

in the region to prevail upon their citizens to cease

and desist from those unlawful activities. We intend to

work both bilaterally and with the broader international

community to stop these assaults on our national and

economic security.

The Bahamas has made significant strides in the

areas of maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS in

this, the fiftieth year since women obtained the right

to vote in the Bahamas. We are committed to the

achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, as was affirmed by the Minister for Social

Services during the consideration of the report on

Bahamas by the Committee on the Elimination of

Discrimination against Women at its fifty-second

session, held in July. The Bahamas, nevertheless,

remains concerned about the increasing incidences of

non-communicable diseases among the population, in

particular women, who are disproportionately affected

by such preventable diseases.

We can draw much strength, wisdom and

inspiration from the remarkable successes of our

nations’ athletes nationally and subregionally at this

year’s Olympics. On behalf of my delegation, I would

like to pay tribute to the youth of the world for their

stellar displays of camaraderie and talent at the recent

Olympics. In this forum, I wish to salute in particular

the gold medal athletes of the Bahamas, namely,

Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu, Chris Brown and

Ramon Miller. Indeed, the performances of the athletes

from the entire Caribbean Community region are

noteworthy, particularly those of our sister countries

Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Those

examples can be seen as contributing as much to peace

and development in our world as our deliberations

and initiatives at this session, hence, our warmest

congratulations to them all.

My delegation also wishes to record in this forum

the passing of my late friend and brother, the late Paul

L. Adderley, who was the longest-serving Minister

for Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas. His tenure

included the most critical foreign policy challenges

of an independent Bahamas to date. Sadly, he died on

19 September. He believed in this world body and its

tenets and exemplified how it can assist small States.

It is therefore only fitting that we mark and record his

passing.

The Bahamas continues to believe that mankind can

aspire to and achieve a higher inner strength that not

can only cause us to excel even beyond our dreams, but

also can lift all around us, even nations and the entire

world. May each one of us therefore reach for that inner

strength, change our world and transform an agenda of

problems into covenants of partnerships. It remains as

true as always that we need the United Nations.