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STATEMENT
BY THE HON. FRED MITCHELL
MINISTER
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE
58TH
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1
OCTOBER 2003, NEW YORK
Mr. President,
1.
It is my distinct honour to congratulate you on your election to
the Presidency of this the 58th Session of the United Nations
General Assembly, on behalf of the Prime Minister, Government and people
of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
We share in the celebration of the election of a distinguished
son of the Caribbean to steer the course of this body for the next year.
My delegation pledges its full support to you and your bureau in
the performance of this challenging task.
I take this opportunity to also congratulate your predecessor,
Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, for his outstanding leadership of the
57th session.
2.
I would also like to greet and pay tribute to the Secretary
General, who continues to serve with great distinction, honour and
exceptional courage. My
delegation salutes the Secretary General, for the tremendous amount of
work he has undertaken since we last convened this august body.
3. Mr. President, I wish
to pause at this time to pay tribute to Mr.
Sergio de Mello, the late Special Representative of the United Nations
Secretary General in Iraq, and all UN staffers who were killed or
wounded in the deadly bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad on 19
August and 22 September 2003. We feel this loss most deeply.
For us, the United Nations is paramount in ensuring the rule of
law and justice in an increasingly complex world.
An attack on the United Nations is an attack on the principles
that bind us as an international community.
We must stand firm against efforts to undermine those principles.
There is no finer tribute to those who lost their lives than by saying
today: “ Now more than ever we need the United Nations.”
Mr.
President,
4.
Such events remind us that the world is changing dramatically.
It is imperative that we, as an Organization, are able to respond
to these changes quickly and appropriately.
The Bahamas welcomes the ongoing efforts to revitalize the
General Assembly and to reform the Security Council.
It is essential that these principal bodies are able to function
effectively if we are to have any credibility, and if we are to attain
our goals of maintaining international peace, security, justice, and
development. As we are all
too well aware, the process of reform of the Security Council has
stalled, as we remain deadlocked over critical issues.
The time has come for us to take the hard decisions and agree to
a practical programme of reform, that takes fully into account the need
for more representative membership, as well as the need for a more
democratic and transparent Council. My delegation has raised this issue
in bilateral discussions with other concerned delegations and we look
forward to working with you and other delegations as we strive to
rationalize the work of the entire organization, while making it more
transparent and accountable.
Mr. President,
5.
While the problems in our own part of the world may not have received as
much international attention as conflicts in other parts of the world,
their resolution is of paramount importance to us.
The Caribbean is our home, and we will spare no effort to protect
it against those that seek to destabilize the region. The illegal transit of drugs, weapons, and human beings, is
an affront to us, and a serious challenge to our regional security.
The Bahamas is grateful for the support the region has obtained
from the international community in addressing these areas but reminds
that we need to continue to be vigilant. We urge this Assembly to enhance its cooperation with
the Organization of American States (OAS) as that regional body strives
to find solutions to difficult problems involving territorial disputes
between Member States, and as it seeks to promote human rights and
consolidate the foundations of democracy in a number of its Member
States. In this context, we welcome the OAS Special Mission to Haiti as
a demonstration of the region’s commitment in this field.
Mr. President,
6.
The Bahamas is strongly committed to the further strengthening of
international efforts to prevent, combat and eliminate terrorism in all
its ugly forms, and supports the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on the
elaboration of a draft comprehensive convention on international
terrorism. We are continuously reviewing our national legislation in
order to strengthen it in these areas, with particular emphasis on
cracking down on the financing of terrorism. Even now a Terrorism Bill
is before our Parliament. It
will further strengthen the laws which limit the ability of those who
would commit these heinous acts to obtain monies to fund their
activities. The commitment
of The Bahamas in this fight is unyielding.
mr.
President,
7. The fight against the forces that would act
outside the rule of law to achieve political objectives has forced each
country to review its commitment to freedom within and without its
borders and determine how to protect the freedom our citizens so dearly
cherish. Last year in our
address to this Assembly, The Bahamas reminded this body that in our
quest for security we must not undermine the very values that we
indicate that we want to protect, preserve and defend.
8.
But it is clear that our conventions and established and
respected traditions are being challenged before our very eyes, and we
must be careful to guard against this while ensuring that all of us are
safe.
9.
The Caribbean region as a whole is perhaps more sensitive than
any other region to these issues of change and the implications for the
way of life which we enjoy, characterized as it is an abiding respect
for the privacy of the individual. It should be remembered that most of
us in the region are Small Island Developing States, that are especially
vulnerable on security and economic issues, but at the same time our
peoples are fiercely proud of our independence and the traditions of
freedom connected therewith.
10.
No where is the paradox of the pressure on our now independent
status more sensitive and apparent than in the exercise of a presumptive
legal authority by a body of powerful but faceless unelected
bureaucrats, being advanced from some of the developed world’s
multilateral bodies which in the view of many threaten to re-impose the
status of dependence without calling it so by name by undermining our
economies.
11.
In this connection, The Bahamas is particularly concerned along
with its regional neighbours about the threats to its way of life in
particular as it is underpinned by the legitimate wealth creation in its
financial services sector. There
are those who argue that the financial services sectors in our region
undermine economic development and wealth creation in developed states
but we maintain that the evidence shows that the wealth accumulation
facilitated by the financial service sectors in the region assists in
the further development and economic growth of the developed world. Our
country is committed to fair and equitable trade in services on a level
playing field with established rules, without ever changing goal posts.
12.
Over the next year, we shall endeavour to bring this matter more
clearly into focus by calling for and seeking to convene in this and
other assemblies a global forum on the pressures being applied to small
and vulnerable states in ways which threaten the independence of these
countries and which some argue is an unlawful interference in the
internal affairs of a nation state. It is imperative, that any
rule-making forum on these issues be open to all member states of this
august body. Similarly, all
rules emanating therefrom must be equitably applied.
13.
And so Mr. President, The Bahamas as it brings these matters to
the attention of the world repeats the obvious. The fight against
international terrorism must be a major focal point of this Assembly and
so should other matters such as the fight against HIV/AIDS, the
protection of the environment and the sustainable development of our
fragile ecosystems.
14.
The Bahamas is committed to fighting on all of these fronts.
It is especially concerned about the future of the world's
children and young people as HIV/AIDS threatens to undermine decades and
centuries of progress in health care in developing healthy populations
that facilitate economic growth throughout the developed world.
The Bahamas is a leader of the fight against AIDS in the region
and around the world. We
urge the continued and unrelenting fight against the disease, to rescue
the world’s developing
nations from the clutches of this most recent scourge.
It must take all of the political will and financial power of the
world's nations to ensure that the scourge is brought under control and
then eliminated.
Mr. President,
15.
The Bahamas welcomes the outcome of the special session of the
General Assembly on children, held from 8 to 10 May, 2002, and looks
forward to participating in the consideration of the follow-up to the
outcome of the session directly in plenary at this session.
It is of critical importance that we reaffirm our commitment to
implementing the provisions of the outcome document ‘A World Fit for
Children’, in the four priority areas of health, education, protection
of children from abuse, exploitation and violence, and combating
HIV/AIDS. Our country and its people are especially concerned about the
safety and security both physical and economic of children and the need
to foster an atmosphere of love and care so that they may grow into
their rightful places in the adult world.
Mr. President,
16.
The Bahamas, as do many of the Small Island Developing States,
depends heavily on the environment, that is the natural beauty of the
land, the sea and marine life. Tourism is our lifeblood.
For the region the natural environment is the primary source of
sustenance and therefore, we cannot allow our environment to be
destroyed. Doing so threatens our very survival.
We therefore, are acutely aware of the challenges Small Island
Developing States (SIDS) face within the context of achieving
sustainable development. The sustainable development of our country
therefore remains of critical importance to the Government, and thus, we
as a matter of the highest priority, continue to take steps to preserve
and protect our environment.
17.
We are also committed to working with all the other Small Island
Developing States and the other members of this organization, civil
society and all other concerned stakeholders, including NGOs, to ensure
that the Barbados Plan of Action is fully implemented. In this regard,
The Bahamas welcomes the convening of the International Meeting to
Review the Barbados Plan of Action, which is to take place in Mauritius
in 2004, and we are proud to host the Inter-regional Preparatory Meeting
in Nassau which will be held prior to that, from 26 to 30 January, 2004.
It is our hope that the renewed commitment to this International
Meeting by all member states would take us a step closer to honouring
our commitment to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
Mr. President,
18.
It is an inescapable fact that there can be no social or economic
development without security. For
many of us in the Caribbean in particular this security is being
undermined by the activities of those trafficking in illegal drugs and
weapons. By virtue of its geographical location, The Bahamas
continues to be an unwitting transit point for illegal activities,
including the illicit trade in narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances. What is often overlooked by those who are consuming
countries is that The Bahamas neither produces these substances, nor is
it the final destination for them. However, as a transhipment point, The Bahamas is suffering
from a plethora of illegal activities associated with this trade,
including the deadly nexus between illicit drugs and the illicit trade
in small arms and light weapons. These
weapons, which are illegal in The Bahamas, are contributing to an
increase in violent crime in my country, and they are undermining the
economic and social fabric of our nation.
We therefore welcome the outcome of the First Biennial Meeting of
States to review implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent,
Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons
in All Its Aspects, held in July of this year.
At the same time, we call on developed countries to take the same
extraordinary methods they use in seeking to stop drug trafficking into
their countries to stop illegal small arms from reaching our countries
from their countries.
Mr. President,
19.
We believe that the United Nations Charter constitutes a viable
and firm foundation on which the organization can balance and achieve
its objectives, to maintain international peace and security and to
promote economic and social progress.
I wish to reaffirm The Bahamas’ commitment to the principles
enshrined in that universal document which will stand as a guiding
beacon as we continue to chart a rocky, yet inevitable, course toward
peace, security and sustainable development for all of the world’s
inhabitants. While progress
may seem meager, we must not be swayed from our course and we must
remain confident that the benefits of our activities and efforts will
redound to future generations. Now more than ever the world needs the
United Nations.
I thank you, Mr. President.
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