YouSaid · the spoken record

Billie Miller

lines on the record: 158
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 2003-09-24
sittings or episodes: 7
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We believe that the World Summit on Sustainable Development presents an important opportunity to build a new and expanded relationship with our development partners for the full implementation of commitments already undertaken at Rio. Johannesburg should not merely review the status of progress of Rio, but should also outline strategies for dealing decisively with the sustainable development challenges that have emerged since 1992. For all small island developing States, follow-up of the Barbados Programme of Action will form an integral part of this process. Naturally, the Caribbean Basin countries will continue their efforts to create a special regime for the Caribbean Sea with the ultimate goal of achieving its recognition as a special area in the context of sustainable development.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“We agree there is need to reform the international economic and financial architecture to meet the current development challenges. We are pleased that international tax cooperation will be one of the issues discussed at the Conference. Many developing countries, including Barbados, were encouraged to diversify into the financial services sector as a viable development alternative and now derive a significant proportion of their national revenue from that source. We therefore continue to insist on the need for universal participation in decisions that affect the operation of this sector. Barbados is far advanced in the implementation of its national commitments under Agenda 21.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The events of 11 September and the extent to which they have had an impact on the economic fortunes of all of our countries have shown us the other face of globalization: the reality of our growing economic interdependence. Now more than ever, there is a need to recognize the value of multilateralism and the pre-eminent role of the United Nations in the search for lasting solutions to the challenges that will confront us in the early years of the twenty-first century. The importance of giving priority to a revitalized development agenda cannot be overstated. In this regard, Barbados looks to the International Conference on Financing for Development as a constructive forum for refocusing the dialogue on effective mechanisms for the implementation of the stalled development agenda.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The latter must be our choice, but we can achieve it only if we bring real hope to the billions now trapped in poverty, conflict and disease.” We must all accept that the struggle against terrorism can never hope to succeed if it is viewed simply as a military campaign to strike at the power base of the latest practitioners of terror. It must also seek to find effective and lasting solutions to the problems of underdevelopment, poverty and deprivation, inequality, intolerance and injustice that marginalize so large a percentage of the world’s population. For it is from these conditions of hopelessness and despair that spring new converts to the cause of terrorism.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“We expect shortly to be in a position to report in detail to the Security Council on measures taken in compliance with the terms of resolution 1373 (2001). Just as we agree that terrorism is a global phenomenon to which no country can consider itself 13 immune, so too must we understand that it is a complex problem necessitating a multidimensional response. As the Secretary-General has so aptly put it in the 44th meeting, in his opening statement of the general debate: “We face two possible futures: a mutually destructive clash between so-called civilizations based on the exaggeration of religious and cultural differences, or a global community, respecting diversity and rooted in universal values.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Barbados is committed to taking all necessary measures to minimize the risk of terrorist acts being perpetrated or financed in or from its national territory. A thorough review of security has been undertaken at our airport and seaport, and our authorities have taken immediate action to ensure compliance with the enhanced International Civil Aviation Organization and Federal Aviation Administration guidelines issued after 11 September. We have also taken legislative action to further strengthen our already well-regulated financial services regime through amendments to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Control) Act and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act. Within the Caribbean Community we have agreed to increase cooperation in intelligence-gathering, analysis and dissemination among our security and enforcement personnel.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“We must also insist that there be zero tolerance for terrorism, whatever its source or ideology. Terrorism is a global problem which requires a global solution. For many years, the United Nations has recognized the threat which terrorism poses to the promotion and maintenance of world peace. Since 1963, when this Organization adopted its first anti- terrorism convention, some 12 related conventions have been approved by the international community. Barbados is a party to seven of these instruments. Earlier this week, I had the honour of signing the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Financing. Our Government is actively reviewing the remaining conventions and their administrative and legislative implications with a view to providing for early adherence.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Barbados shares America’s grief, for we have lost five proud and hard-working citizens to this senseless carnage. We share America’s bewilderment and disbelief, for our citizens, too, have experienced that sense of violation and loss of innocence that comes with an unprecedented terrorist strike. Twenty-five years ago, on 6 October 1976, the unthinkable happened to Barbados with the terrorist downing of a Cubana Airlines flight just outside our territorial waters. Although the masterminds of that attack were identified and apprehended, they were never punished for their crime, but were instead encouraged to remain actively engaged in their campaign of terror. We share America’s sense of outrage and determination to bring the perpetrators of the 11 September attacks to justice.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The horror of terrorism — one that has scarred innocent lives for decades in the Middle East, in Northern Ireland and other parts of Europe, in Asia, in Africa and in Latin America — has now landed on these shores with a fury and intensity that few of us would have thought possible. The Government of Barbados has been explicit and unequivocal in its condemnation of the terrorist attacks of 11 September and has pledged to cooperate fully with the international community in the sustained effort to respond to this global threat. No cause or grievance can ever justify the use of violence as a means of settling disputes or legitimize the taking of innocent lives. The use of terrorism is incompatible with the ideals of the United Nations and cannot be allowed to prevail.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“At this time of renewed sadness for the people of New York and of the Dominican Republic, may I also offer my deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in Monday’s tragic crash of American Airlines flight 587. For all of us, this year’s journey to New York to address the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session stands in stark contrast to the comfortable annual routine we have grown to appreciate. We come instead to a city behind barricades, a people traumatized and bewildered, a mood of foreboding and uncertainty on the streets and in these corridors.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“I join with other delegations in congratulating Mr. Han Seung-soo on his election to chair the proceedings of the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session. I also take this opportunity to express my deep satisfaction at the award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations and to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It is a well-deserved vote of confidence in the Secretary- General’s leadership as well as recognition of the pivotal role being played by the United Nations in an era of immense challenge for the international community during these early years of the twenty-first century. We are greatly reassured that his firm guidance will continue for a further term to shape the direction of the Organization.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“As we look forward, in the words of the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Right Honourable Owen Arthur: We face the prospect that the simultaneous operation of the enormous power of technological change, the dismantling of barriers to the movement of output, capital, ideas and skills, and the emergence of rules-based, consensus-driven institutions of global scope will create a new global society that is capable of affording development to all, and of putting the scourge of poverty behind us for ever. We will leave the twentieth century and enter the twenty-first conscious of the dangers, but excited by the prospects.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“My country has spoken extensively in other forums about our serious concerns over the unilateral manner in which the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has proceeded on its so-called harmful tax competition initiative, and on the real motives underlying this unfortunate move. The setting of international rules in the area of financial services cannot properly be done by a grouping of 29 countries to the exclusion of all other interested parties. In this age of enlightened multilateralism there is no place for the application of unilateral, extra-territorial solutions to international economic developments. On balance, we must not allow our frustration at the many missed opportunities to obscure the fact that the twentieth century has produced much that is positive.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“But our efforts, we believe, must be met by a similar display of good faith on the part of the World Trade Organization, which must, as my Government has repeatedly stated, review, repair and reform itself, adopt an ideology that is developmental and embrace a developmental agenda that is progressive and balanced in its substance, its processes and its outcomes. That display of good faith is also necessary in promoting constructive and mutually beneficial dialogue between the industrialized countries and their developing country partners on the crucial matter of the regulation of international financial centres in their jurisdictions.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“One of the greatest essential inequalities of the contemporary global economy is that, while the developed world was allowed an extended period over which to properly phase in trade liberalization, to its benefit, smaller, less endowed societies with less scope to absorb the shocks of adjustment are expected to make a potentially beneficial adjustment over an incredibly short period of time. It would not have worked for the developed world; it will not now work for the developing, and is in fact the consideration which argues the case for longer phase-in periods to apply the changes in the global trading regime. Barbados is not opposed to globalization. We have already indeed begun the process of restructuring our economy and repositioning our society to meet that challenge.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“In our efforts to sensitize the developed world to the need for adequate transitional measures for developing countries and for recognition of the special vulnerabilities of small economies, Barbados has frequently pointed to the fact that our Caribbean countries are being asked to undertake in 10 years a process which was carried out by the advanced industrialized societies over a period of more than 40 years, spread over eight rounds of multilateral trade negotiations between 1947 and 1994. In this regard, we have emphasized that, however clinically sound a procedure might be, the compression of its application into too short a time period can often be a fatal therapy.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It is in the rigid application of these elements, however, and their application without regard to the social dimension of development, that distortions have arisen which threaten to widen further the income gap between the developed and the developing worlds. I reiterate that the true challenge of the new multilateralism will be to ensure that globalization does not become an instrument of oppression for the peoples of the developing world, but, rather, becomes a means of offering a better life to all of our peoples.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Globalization is not entirely new. It has existed in various incarnations among trading nations throughout history. What makes the modern incarnation different, however, is the manner in which the accompanying information revolution is making possible the integration of trade, investment, finance, production and services across national boundaries. What also distinguishes it is the philosophy of multilateralism, which offers all countries, developed and developing, a say at least in theory in shaping the rules which will henceforth govern international economic transactions. Nor is globalization as a concept inherently negative. The precepts of expanding market access, trade liberalization, increased technological advancement and more efficient and effective mechanisms of manufacturing and agriculture are all positive elements.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It remains the ultimate goal of the region to have the Caribbean Sea recognized as a special area within the context of sustainable development. In this spirit, Barbados also welcomes the newly established United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Ocean Affairs and intends to be an active participant in the consultative process. We welcome the efforts of the General Assembly to address the problems of over-exploitation of living marine resources and the degradation of the marine environment. The collective efforts of our Governments to alleviate poverty and disease and to help our human capital to take full advantage of the opportunities for 28 economic and social advancement take place within the parameters of a challenging new international order. Naturally, I refer to the phenomenon of globalization.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“We are grateful for the recognition by the General Assembly of the efforts of the Caribbean to protect and preserve our most precious resource. The functions of the Caribbean Sea are many and multi-layered. It is the source of our food, it is the main attraction which drives our tourism markets and it is our primary and most reliable link with the outside world. The destruction that would be caused if there were an accident involving nuclear waste or oil in our waters would be beyond catastrophic and it would take centuries for our environment to fully recover. We look forward to continued assistance from the international community in helping us to achieve the objectives of that resolution to maintain and protect this, our most vital natural resource.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Of particular note too, has been its role in the establishment of an Anti-Money Laundering Authority in Barbados. As a small island developing State, Barbados is very aware that the natural environment performs for us free basic services without which human beings could not survive. At the same time, certain industrial and technological advances have threatened the biodiversity of many of the small island developing States. Therefore, for ecological reasons and for reasons of sovereignty and sustainable development, Barbados, on behalf of the Association of Caribbean States, last year launched an initiative leading to the adoption of resolution 54/225 on promoting an integrated management approach to the Caribbean Sea area in the context of sustainable development.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“They have also eroded the productivity of the work force and led to social discord, violence and a conspicuous erosion of values and respect for the rule of law. The countries of the Caribbean have not remained untouched by this affliction, both as transhipment and, more recently, sadly, as consuming States. In the fight against this menace, the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) has played a crucial role and its subregional office in Barbados deserves special mention for its active support for our own efforts. In Barbados, UNDCP assistance has been invaluable in the establishment of the Integrated Drug Programme through our domestic National Council on Substance Abuse and also in facilitating our community outreach efforts.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Barbados applauds the recommendations of the Secretary-General that the United Nations should adopt as an explicit goal the reduction of HIV-infection rates in persons 15 to 24 years of age by 25 per cent within the most affected countries before the year 2005 and by 25 per cent globally by 2010. The United Nations must make AIDS education and research a priority for the coming century. Determined leadership is needed to persuade Governments and international pharmaceutical companies that a partnership must be developed to combat the disease, both through research and through the provision of drugs at reasonable cost to those who are most in need. The trafficking in and abuse of illegal drugs have paralysed the development of many of our societies.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“In this regard, I am pleased to note the serious attention now being given to the crisis by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and other international financial institutions. Just yesterday in Barbados, a major conference was convened under the auspices of the World Bank, UNAIDS, the Pan American Health Organization/WHO, the United Nations Development Programme, the Caribbean Community and the Canadian International Development Agency to bring together high-level Caribbean health, education, economic development and labour-policy makers to map out a new crisis strategy for the Caribbean region.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It attacks our present workforce not only in its productive, but also in its reproductive capacity, thus simultaneously decimating the economic potential of two generations. It is a sobering reality that AIDS is now the leading cause of death among young men in the Caribbean, and it is projected that the disease may cause a decline in 27 the region's gross domestic product by as much as 4 to 6 per cent over the next decade. We cannot tackle this grave crisis solely on the basis of current strategies and financial flows. Containing the spread of AIDS and dealing with its economic impact is an immediate priority which will require a major commitment of human and financial resources.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“It has been reported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) that, every day, there are 16,000 new HIV infections and that 95 per cent of all reported AIDS cases occur in the developing world. The AIDS pandemic is, in our view, the gravest economic and social crisis facing the global community as we enter the twenty-first century. Many of our leaders and policy-makers are only now beginning to grasp the enormity of the problem and to fully appreciate the devastating impact which AIDS is having, and will continue to have, on the economic sustainability of every country, from the smallest, most undeveloped nation to the largest, most economically viable State, because AIDS is not only a human and a social tragedy it is also an economic one.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“As we approach the new century, the world faces probably one of the most disastrous threats to its sustainability, a threat which has ended the lives of an unimaginable number of persons, crippled the economies and threatened the productive workforce of southern Africa, and taken an increasing toll in Asia and in my own subregion, the Caribbean. I am referring to the pandemic of AIDS/HIV. Current estimates indicate that there are over 33.4 million people worldwide who are now infected with the disease. In the Caribbean region alone, that figure numbers some 330,000, which is an astounding and frightening statistic to contemplate for a country like Barbados, with a population of 267,000 people. Our region has the highest prevalence per capita in the western hemisphere, and a prevalence second only to that of sub-Saharan Africa.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Education has always been one of the highest priorities for the Government of Barbados and a major source of budget expenditure. We are one of the very few countries where access to education is free at point of delivery, mandatory up to 16 years of age and universal at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Currently, the Government of Barbados is embarked upon an ambitious programme within the schools known as EDUTECH 2000, which aims to ensure that every child is equipped to function successfully in the new information age.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Although in the developing world the adult literacy rate has increased by half, from 48 per cent in 1970 to 72 per cent in 1998, the information revolution now threatens to create a new category of functional illiterates. The eradication of illiteracy and the provision of at least primary basic schooling are eminently achievable goals. As an engine of social mobility, education stands as the most important component in ensuring the success of an individual and of a society. It is the greatest social liberator and facilitator of peace and is one of the fundamental pillars supporting democracy, competitiveness and social stability. The development of my country, Barbados, provides ample proof of how education can empower a people and foster upward mobility for each succeeding generation.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“The Secretary-General has challenged the international community to set a target for the halving of the numbers of the population living in extreme poverty by 2015. For this to be achieved, there is an urgent need for a higher level of political will and a shared commitment to create the necessary social and economic framework to enable the poor and dispossessed to redirect their lives. Education remains the most powerful tool for ensuring social progress and the betterment of living standards for the underprivileged. It is therefore one of the most disappointing truths of this closing century that the international community has failed in its collective endeavour to eradicate illiteracy, especially among children.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“The goal of the alleviation and ultimate eradication of poverty remains largely unfulfilled, with desperate consequences for the growing numbers of the world's population who live in extreme poverty. Structural adjustment, the errant compass of the so- called lost decade of the 1980s, has taken its heavy social toll. So, too, has the burden of debt, which, despite the promise of debt forgiveness for the least developed countries and special initiatives for the highly indebted poor countries, continues to constrain future economic prospects for a large number of developing countries. At the same time, the decline in official development assistance has had a direct impact on the most vulnerable sectors of society I refer to women, children, the elderly and the infirm.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Decisions must be based on clearly defined criteria, informed by an objective verification of the facts. Action must be confined to the saving of lives, not the overthrowing of Governments. Humanitarian intervention, however compelling the circumstances, must never be used as a guise for unwarranted interference in internal State governance. The balance sheet for the twentieth century in the area of economic and social development is similarly mixed. While the United Nations, through its 26 specialized agencies and programmes, has made great strides in the fight against hunger, disease and deprivation, that progress has not been evenly distributed.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“One of the most complex issues currently being debated in the context of an enhanced role for the international community in the maintenance of international peace and security is the clash between the opposing tenets of sovereignty and humanitarian intervention. My delegation believes that this is a matter of such fundamental importance that it requires in-depth discussion and the elaboration, by broad-based consensus, of clear new rules under international law. For while we do not believe that the international community can stand idly by in the face of massive and genocidal violations of the human rights of citizens by power-hungry tyrants, we must at the same time ensure that any international response to such situations is not influenced primarily by the national ambitions of third States.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Internecine and intra-territorial conflicts based on religious and ethnic differences have escalated, and the United Nations has seen its peacekeeping role used more in the last decade than ever before. At the same time, the effectiveness of that peacemaking and peacekeeping capacity has been called into question by international public opinion and Governments alike. We continue to expect miracles of the United Nations in ending the bloodshed in the most troubled corners of the world, but we seldom provide it with the tools, the financing and the appropriate mandate to allow for timely and decisive action. Without this support, United Nations peacekeeping efforts will remain reactive, and not preventive.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“We well know that the United Nations is not, and cannot be, the panacea for all the problems of the twenty-first century, but we are convinced that it can and should serve as a mechanism through which the Governments of the world, and their people, can work in common cause to find real solutions to the most pressing global problems and challenges. In our increasingly interdependent world, there is little chance of success for unilateral action. This applies equally to the Organization's mandates for the maintenance of international peace and security and those for the promotion of economic development and social progress. Since the Organization's creation in 1945, the international landscape has changed considerably.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“While a few thousand souls live in obscene luxury, half of the world's population subsist on less than two dollars a day, and millions remain desperately poor, with no prospects of bequeathing a better life to their children. The new plague of the twentieth century, AIDS, continues its decimation, with disproportionate effects upon the poor in the developing world. In sum, our modern civilization has not evolved into a caring and enlightened species, but rather into one that has often abused the positive aspects of its heightened capacity and modernization to the detriment of humanity and of the earth.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“In contrast, it has ushered in a time of unprecedented violence and suffering, visited mainly upon innocent civilians by international and internal warfare fought with increasingly sophisticated and deadly weaponry. The end of the ideological divide has not been followed by an era of peace and development, as we had all anticipated, but by a horrendous upsurge in genocidal, religious and ethnic conflicts. The threat of nuclear proliferation and biological warfare has only partially receded, and the scourges of terrorism, narco- trafficking and transnational crime continue to scar innocent lives and threaten democratic governance.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“And none of us is totally confident that the final reckoning will leave us on the plus side of the ledger. On the contrary, it seems, sadly, that we have become consumed by the show, not the substance; the process, not the result; the plan, not the implementation. In this, the last year of the second Christian millennium, as we review the progress of the peoples of the planet over the past century, we find that, on balance, humankind has not done very well. In many fundamental ways, the twentieth century has not lived up to the promises and expectations that an era marked by such far-reaching technological change and innovation should have produced.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“Then as now, the report card was weighed; then as now, amid critical assessment of its deficiencies and calls for bold reform, the Organization's continued validity was ultimately recognized and its unique and inherently positive role in multilateral relations emphatically supported. We hope that this time the Millennium Summit will have served as more than just a familiar echo reverberating, unchanged, at five-year intervals through these chambers, magnified among the myriad murmurs that linger from other occasions of 25 specialized summitry. For there is nothing inherently magical about the passing of a millennium, or a decade, or even a quinquennium. Indeed, the proliferation of plus fives in this place is enough to confound the entire fraternity of mathematicians and accountants.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“I join other delegations in congratulating Mr. Harri Holkeri of Finland on his election to preside over the proceedings of the fifty- fifth session of the General Assembly, and on Finland's able service as Co-Chairperson of the Millennium Summit. My delegation's appreciation is extended also to the outgoing President, the Foreign Minister of Namibia. I take this opportunity also to express the distinct pleasure of the Government of Barbados at the fact that another member of the fraternity of small island developing States, Tuvalu, has recently taken its place at our table. Five short years ago, the United Nations celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a massive gathering of world leaders not much different from the event which engaged our attention for the better part of last week.”
2000-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 55 (2000)
“We must not delude ourselves into thinking that the fifty-fifth, the fifty-sixth or even the sixtieth session of the General Assembly will take place in an environment any less complex and challenging than our gathering here today. What we do know is that we may not be expected to complete the task, but then, neither are we at liberty to abstain from it.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“As a net contributing country, Barbados is eager to enter into a new partnership with UNDP that can make a significant contribution to our efforts to achieve the next critical phase of our development, the transition to a globalized economy. In appreciation of the United Nations contribution over the years, the Government of Barbados has agreed to construct a permanent home for all United Nations offices located in Bridgetown and servicing the Eastern Caribbean. To this end, we expect to commence shortly the construction of the United Nations common premises in Bridgetown. The new millennium brings with it a sense of giddy expectation, a passion for renewal and the tendency to believe that things will miraculously change for the better overnight.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“We have supported all constructive efforts at reform, but we insist that the Organization can remain viable only if all Members scrupulously honour their financial commitments. We also believe that a healthy balance must be maintained between the United Nations peacekeeping focus and its developmental mandate. In this regard, we continue to be concerned at the declining funding available to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other United Nations agencies, resulting in a diminished capacity on their part to carry out their important mandate. We reiterate the importance of the work of these agencies in support of the national efforts of developing countries to achieve economic and social progress. We very much value the work of UNDP and of the United Nations system as a whole.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“This circumstance has compelled the Caribbean countries to give the highest priority to the development of cooperative efforts at drug interdiction, demand-reduction and the containment of transnational crime. Barbados currently serves as a focal point in these regional efforts, which enjoy the support of the European Union, the United States of America, Canada and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. We will continue to play an active role in support of all coordinated efforts at the regional and international levels to combat the narco-trafficking threat and the dangers posed to the security of the small States of the Caribbean. 28 Barbados is firmly committed to the United Nations Organization.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“The matter takes on greater urgency when it is realized that, four years after the United Nations Summit, international and economic crises have led to a reversal of the gains made in social development. One of the main deterrents to sustainable development remains the illicit traffic in narcotics, which is a major concern to the Governments of the Americas. This transnational phenomenon is one of the more adverse consequences of globalization, which has brought in its wake the associated evils of money laundering, arms trafficking and violent crime. Geography places the Caribbean in the direct path of this phenomenon as a transit point of illegal drugs. It must be borne in mind that the illegal drug trade undermines democracy and can eventually lead to the destruction of the nation-State.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“In furtherance of this objective, the Government of Barbados has created a Ministry of Social Transformation that will be the main focal point for all social and welfare services, with emphasis on poverty alleviation — indeed, eradication — and support for the disadvantaged and the disabled. At the international level, Barbados welcomes and supports the special session that will take place during the next year. This will provide an opportunity to review the actions that have been taken to give effect to the decisions adopted at the World Summit for Social Development. It is anticipated that this special session will lead to a renewal of international commitment to fulfil the objectives of the 1995 Copenhagen Summit.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Barbados places strong emphasis on social development. We are convinced that more needs to be done at the international level to ensure that this emphasis is maintained. It must be understood that economic development cannot be sustained unless a framework for overall development is in place. The alleviation of poverty and the promotion of gender equality, democracy and the rights of the child are issues that must be simultaneously addressed. The first World Summit for Social Development, which was held in 1995, gave an international focus to issues such as poverty eradication, full employment, social integration, gender equality and universal access to education. Barbados remains committed to the maintenance of a sustainable economic, political and social environment that will enable its citizens to achieve advanced social development.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“It is intolerable that in this so-called civilized age people can still find themselves persecuted and terrorized because they vote according to their conscience and in keeping with their vision of their own future. We are following what is taking place in the Middle East and hope that the conditions now exist to resolve all outstanding issues and so bring about a lasting peace throughout that region. The multifaceted areas of the sustainable development process demand a holistic approach. No longer can we service only the economy, the agricultural sector or any one sector at the expense of others. The value of building strong social institutions becomes more relevant when placed against the backdrop of globalization and its effects. Mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that social rights are safeguarded.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“As a small, defenceless State, we are uncomfortable with the notion that intervention can take place without the prior authorization of the United Nations Security Council. We welcome the restoration of democracy and the return of civilian government to Nigeria and look forward to its renewed participation in the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government conference. We hope that concerted action will continue among the parties involved to implement the Lomé Agreement and to bring a final peace to the suffering people of Sierra Leone. We are also heartened by the decision to mobilize a United Nations peacekeeping force into East Timor to end the abominable infringement of the basic human and civil rights of the people of that country.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)
“Today, crises that threaten the very existence of some States remain of deep concern to the international community. Barbados shares the profound anguish and suffering of the people of Kosovo and was appalled by the barbaric slaughter and the massive displacement of innocent people and the destabilizing effect this has had on neighbouring States. We support the role that the peacekeeping forces are playing in restoring order to Kosovo and providing the conditions for the return of the displaced population to their homes. 27 We wish to reiterate, together with the members of the Caribbean Community, that military intervention should be authorized by the United Nations Security Council.”
1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)