YouSaid · the spoken record

Cenac

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS CENAC

lines on the record: 120
first: 1987-09-24
most recent: 1991-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“Always buffeted by the consequences of smallness, remoteness, lack of natural resources and heavy dependence on imports, we must annually undergo the dreadful ritual of keeping a wary eye on the horizon for hurricanes and cyclones which seek to blow away our small, hard-won economic gains. These problems are especially acute for small island developing countries, which, because of severe geographic and demographic constraints, have developmental problems which are unique, and therefore different from those of developing countries in general. Hence, traditional criteria, such as per capital gross national product, which are used to determine the quantum of aid needs and graduation from concessionary financing, should not apply to small island developing countries without substantial use of supplemental criteria.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“During this decade more than half of the least developed countries implemented structural adjustment programmes with the International Monetary Fund, and those programmes did not always have a human face. In such an economic environment the fundamental principles of the New International Economic Order, the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, and the North-South dialogue must remain as valid, important and pressing issues. The wind bloweth where it listeth, but we in the Caribbean are more often than not the victims of its wrath. The destructive impact of hurricane Hugo, which left a wake of disaster as it cut its way across the Caribbean only last month, underscores the extreme physical vulnerability of the island developing countries.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Of the 41 least developed countries, only 12 have recorded positive per capita growth over the past few years, with some even experiencing negative gross domestic product growth. In sub-Saharan Africa real income per head has declined almost every year of the decade and is now 14 per cent lower than it was 10 years ago. The continued use in the developed world of non-tariff trade barriers in such an unstable macro-economic environment further threatens the prospect for trade-led growth in the developing countries. Amid a superfluity of indices of increasing growth and prosperity in the world, we are sobered by the fact that average per capita income in the industrialized countries is about 50 times that of the least developed countries.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Under conditions of extremely tight capital constraints, in 1988 the net transfer of resources from the developing countries exceeded $30 billion. And, especially in Latin America, the crushing debt burden has destabilized some internal economies, affecting both the supply and the velocity of money, and leading to major social conflicts which threaten the political order. Commodity prices, which are essential to most of the developing countries, declined in real terms in this decade by as much as 50 per cent in terms of their purchasing power vis-à-vis manufactured goods. The majority of the least developed countries continue to stagnate, with negative growth rates or growth rates that are too low to keep pace with population growth.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“But in my own region, Latin America and the Caribbean, despite the debt concessions agreed to last year by the Group of Seven and the Paris Club, and despite the proposals made by the Governments of Japan and France and the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Nicholas Brady, all of which have made positive contributions, per capita gross national product has fallen precipitously as debt repayments have risen to more than a quarter of all export earnings. Our aggregate share of world trade has also fallen, as the productivity of labour has declined by about 2 per cent each year of the decade. In the Latin American and Caribbean region alone, it has been estimated, 250,000 young children died last year as a direct result of regressions in the development process.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Undeniably, the 1980s will be remembered for all time as a decade of great political progress on both the domestic and the international front. But, to be sustainable, political liberalization must be coupled with economic, social and scientific progress and prudence, in the South as well as the North. The developed countries cannot expect to succeed in crowning international political progress with North American bilateral trade pacts and European 1992 multilateral economic integration without a supportive reaction, or at the very least a pari passu or lock-step movement, in the developing world. Last year the world economy grew by about 4.3 per cent and world trade increased by about 8.3 per cent, leading to an increase in world output per head of 2.6 per cent. That was beyond all expectations.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“In a statement I made to the press in Port-au-Prince in July I said: "There are different views on whether international aid and the solution of Haiti's many social and economic problems should be a condition precedent for the holding of elections or should await such elections. My colleagues and I are convinced that there is no obvious reason why both sets of efforts national and international development efforts, and the taking of concrete steps towards the holding of elections, should not be pursued simultaneously." In the light of the announcement that local, parliamentary and presidential elections are all to be held next year, my delegation feels justified in urging the international community to renew its aid programme to Haiti, for man cannot live without bread.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Saint Lucia continues to maintain its position in support of all General Assembly resolutions on the matter. The unsettled political situation in Panama is of great concern to us in Saint Lucia. We continue to support the initiatives of the Panamanian people themselves, and those of the Organization of American States, including the mission appointed by the twenty-first consultative meeting of foreign ministers. In Haiti, too, after years of political oppression and economic denial, the people are struggling to create a genuine democracy as a prelude to meaningful and balanced economic progress. Saint Lucia supports them, and calls upon the entire international community to do likewise.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Consequently, Saint Lucia believes that no constructive purpose can be served by any barriers that are kept in the path of either of the two Koreas wishing to become a full Member of the united Nations. Saint Lucia therefore unequivocally supports the desire of the Republic of Korea to become a member of the united Nations family, in the full confidence that it will make an outstanding contribution to the important work of this Organization. Saint Lucia regrets the inability of the recent Paris International Conference on Cambodia to arrive at a comprehensive political settlement. Our position on the Kampuchean question is well known, as we have time and again enunciated it here. It is that the people of Kampuchea should be enabled to choose their own government without outside interference, subversion or coercion.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“In this age of human rights and human dignity, it is regrettable that a nation should resort to the use of army tanks and machine-guns to destroy the human spirit in its peaceful quest for freedom and expression. But the human spirit cannot be destroyed! it always resurfaces, and will do so repeatedly in China, until the political system of that country gives way to genuine democracy." While we have seen some signs of movement towards a constructive dialogue on the question of the reunification of the Korean peninsula, there have been no publicly announced breakthroughs which would lead my Government to believe that the problem will be settled in the very near future.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“In the People's Republic of China, too, recent events have both shocked and disturbed the world community. Saint Lucia's view is best summed up by a statement issued last July by the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the right Honourable John Compton, as follows: "The Government of Saint Lucia is deeply shocked by the Chinese Army's deliberate gunning down, in Tiananmen Square in China, of more than 300 Chinese citizens, the majority of whom were students. The Government believes that this event, one of the most brutal in modern history, makes it imperative for all the nations of the international community, big and small, to unite as one voice to protest the manner in which the expression of human freedom in China has been punished.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Being of the view that the highest form of economic co-operation is political integration, sons of us, members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, will be moving with all deliberate speed towards a federation of our territories. We shall be counting on the support of the international community as we take this bold step. There are still areas where we have failed to make meaningful political progress in the 1980s. In fact, in some places we have seen political regression, as in the beleaguered Lebanon, which seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire of political and religious violence. Saint Lucia hopes that the present cease-fire, facilitated by the Arab League, will usher in a new period of peace and reconciliation. .”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“In this decade we have watched the authoritarian Government of Poland -dragged reluctantly into expressing solidarity with tine sine of Solidarity do a volte-face and agree to almost total economic and political liberalization. Lavish praise must be heaped upon that Government. In tine 1980s we have watched Afghanistan, though still greatly troubled, begin to move towards a final solution to its problems. So, too, have we witnessed tine end of the fratricidal Iran-Iraq conflict. And in Central America, as Esquipulas II takes hold ballots seem ready to replace bullets in Nicaragua, as dialogue slowly moves to replace brutal confrontation in El Salvador. And in ay own sub-region, the Eastern Caribbean, we are trying to take tine political gains we have made to what we believe are their logical extreme.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“In this decade we have watched and applauded as General Secretary Gorbachev has tried to move the Soviet Union away from a Kafkaesque and Stalinist society to a country of glasnost and perestroika, as if saying "let there be light", and taking the accent away from forced collectivisation and "group-think" and placing it on individuality and openness - something only the most optimistic and Utopian of us would have dreamed possible only 10 years ago. In the 1960s we have watched the super-Powers, for decades armed to the teeth and glaring at each other, nod slightly and awake to find that they had concluded a intermediate-nuclear-force agreement and were actually destroying some nuclear weapons - one small step away from mutually assured destruction. The journey of 1,000 miles had begun.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“We cannot but therefore continue to apply and maintain such pressure as could out an end to their affront to humanity. In the Middle East, too, we have seen policies of naked confrontation, which have bedevilled the Organization almost - since its founding, give way to more reasonable, neither approaches which stress dialogue more than confrontation. The Palestine National Council is to be commended for its decision of 15 November last to accent Security Council resolutions 242 ( 1967) and 338 (1973) fully, and consequently Israel's right to exist within secure and internationally recognized borders. The Government of Saint Lucia hopes that the Government of Israel will therefore begin to show greater flexibility in its approach to solving the problems in the Middle East.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“And we began this decade with no more hope than we had had when we came to tine end of the proceeding four decades. But as we close the 1980s the United Nations Transition Assistance Group is in plane, and it now seems certain that a free and independent Namibia, emerging out of free and fair elections, will soon take its rightful place, so long denied it, in the comity of nations. Regrettably, the new South African regime, amidst the sending of conflicting signals, continues to hold tenuously to the repulsive apartheid system. All nations of men are made of one blood. And a regime that denies that this is so, and seeks to perpetuate a ridiculous notion of racial superiority by depriving the overwhelming majority of the people of South Africa of their fundamental human rights, deserves contempt.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“"We the peoples of the United Nations", the first words of our Charter, are increasingly becoming "We the family of the United Nations". And indeed we are drawing closer to the full realization of our "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small". In this decade we have seen signs of progress even in relation to many of our traditionally most intractable political problems, some as old as, or older than, the organization itself. Since the adoption by the General Assembly at its first session, in 1946, of resolution 65 (I), the question of Namibia has been on the agenda off every regular session and several special sessions of the General Assembly.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Truly in this decade many of us have come close to believing the maxim that the pen is mightier then the sword. It is indeed a time for reflection and stock-taking, and for setting new, greater goals for the future. The decade of the 1980s dawned upon a world wherein dictators of the left and of the right had raised impermeable glass shields of sovereignty at their borders, and with impunity proceeded to violate every human and civil right of their people. We could look in, but could not enter. We listened to the screams but dared not speak. Foe what a man did in his own house was his own business. But as the decade comes to a close X am happy to see the emergence of a greater sense of brotherhood in tine world.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“Let me express my delight at seeing Ambassador Garba of Nigeria in the Chair as President of the forty-fourth session of the General assembly. He is an experienced and distinguished son of Nigeria. I have no doubt that his well-recognized ability will greatly facilitate our work in the coming months. He may expect nothing less than total co-operation from my delegation. We have come to the end of a historic political decade, in the affairs both of nation States and of the international community at large. In no other decade of this century have we witnessed such a rapid transformation of socio-economic and political philosophies and ideologies. At no other time in recent memory have so many men, once inveterate enemies, been so eager to step forward with pens rather than swords in their hands, anxious to drown past hostilities in ink.”
1989-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 44 (1989)
“It is up to us." Ά second dawn has broken and a new opportunity arisen to take a truly global approach to solving hat, in the final analysis, are all global problems. Let us not waste this second chance.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We now have, so to speak, a second chance to make this Organization what it was supposed to be, In 1969, U Thant, then Secretary-General, warned us that we had little time left in which to subordinate our ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to defuse the population explosion and to give the required momentum to development efforts. And, to be sure, it is a truism, as laid down in the principles of the Inter-Allied Declaration of 12 June 1941 that: "The only true basis of enduring peace is the willing co-operation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved of the menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Numerous analytical and descriptive studies have shown that small island developing countries have characteristics distinct from those of developing countries in general. As a result, the type of development strategy regarded as appropriate in general is, in many respects, inappropriate for those countries in particular. As we undertake the long-overdue review of the question of island developing countries this year, my delegation hopes that we can move from the stage of the purely academic to one of putting in place specific mechanisms to assist those countries in particular and effective ways.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In general, as we approach a thirteenth-year review, as it were, of the special needs of island developing States, we are pleased that there is a growing recognition of the special problems and needs of island developing countries as reflected in the resolutions passed unanimously in the General Assembly over the past decade on island developing countries, and in the Declaration of the twelfth Annual Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of Seventy-Seven. Since the early 1970s the work of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has contributed to a better understanding of island developing countries and has been a determining factor in assisting the international community to recognize their specific problems.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We are particularly concerned where secret deals and arrangements are worked out between some companies and Government officials, where waste is shipped under false labels, and we urge our sister Caribbean countries to be vigilant In this regard and to preserve the integrity and purity of our environment. We are encouraged that the United Nations In the spirit of General Assembly resolution 42/183 (1987) which condemned waste trafficking, is attempting to regulate the trade, and we hope that the international community will adopt the proposed global Convention on the control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous waste when it becomes ready for signature in 1989.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The dangers of toxic waste for the Caribbean are enormous, even more so than for those countries of affluence which refuse to accept their own industrial effluence. Given the porous nature of the soils in the tropical Caribbean, the toxins contained in the waste can spread rapidly through the food chain. The threat therefore is not merely to our tourism industry from the damage to our beadles, but to life itself - to marine life, the environment, to human life. In the small islands of the Caribbean, life as we know it can therefore easily disappear. We call upon those countries whose companies are engaged in this nefarious activity to take action to halt this trend.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“But, as if natural disasters such as Hurricane Gilbert were not enough trouble for the island developing countries of the Caribbean, we in this region are being threatened with man-made catastrophes, potentially more devastating. Over the past year, Caribbean countries have been alarmed at reports that a number of companies, particularly in the United States, were making arrangements to dump tons of hazardous industrial and nuclear waste in the Caribbean. In fact, in one recent particularly callous incident, a ship dumped such waste on a beach in Haiti after Haitian authorities had denied it permission to enter its territory. A few months later, the Caribbean was placed on the alert for another such ship which seemed headed for our waters with another shipment of that horrible cargo.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Earthquakes have caused damage in Antigua and Barbuda, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The effects of any disaster are more pronounced for a small island than for a larger country with a wide variety of products, back-up facilities and resources for recovery. We therefore eagerly lend our support to the adoption of General Assembly resolution 42/169. Last year, the 1990s were designated as the international decade for natural disaster reduction, a decade in which the international community, under the auspices of the United Nations, will pay special attention to fostering international co-operation in the field of natural disaster reduction. We commend the Secretary-General for his efficiency in establishing an international ad hoc experts group for the international decade.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In the past 20 years, natural disasters have claimed the lives of over 3 million people and caused more than 323 billion in damage. We in the small island developing countries are particularly prone since natural disasters show a marked concentration in tropical and sub-tropical climates. Hurricanes, tropical cyclones and typhoons are essentially a feature of warm oceans and coastal regions. Over larger land masses and temperate seas their violence decreases rapidly. In this century alone, in my own sub-region, hurricanes have struck Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and my own country. Many of these Islands have been hit several times. Volcanic eruptions have devastated Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“And the debt burden hovers at $400 billion. We need to deal with these problems quickly and effectively. My delegation therefore strongly supports both the convening of an international conference on money and finance for development, with universal participation, and the convening of a special session of the General Assembly devoted to the reactivation of economic growth in the developing countries. We are all in sympathy with the peoples of Jamaica and Mexico who suffered so terribly from the devastation of hurricane Gilbert. We in Saint Lucia consider ourselves fortunate by comparison, having escaped with only a few million dollars' worth of damage, caused by flooding and landslides. We urge the international community to support the resolution on emergency assistance to Jamaica to be introduced later this year.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We approach the end of the third United Nations Development Decade with many of the developing countries poorer now than they were 10 years ago. International political gains cannot be sustained without concomitant international economic development. With decreasing per capita gross national product in many countries, deteriorating terms of trade in others, and still others staggering under Tolstoyan debt burdens, the developing countries face an uncertain future. These problems are compounded by an alarmingly high level of net transfers of resources from the developing to the developed countries, and a sharp fall in resource flows to the developing countries. In Latin America and the Caribbean, chronic poverty still plagues more than 130 million people, or over one third of the aggregate population.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Over the past year, Saint Lucia has repeatedly called for a return to the democratic process, for selection by election, and not by dictation, for the fulfilment of the provisions of the new Haitian Constitution, and for the creation of an opportunity for the re-flowering and rebirth of the spirit of a people whose forefathers pioneered the path to freedom in this hemisphere. It is not too late. We urge the new leaders in Haiti to seize the time to launch their country firmly on the path of democratic process, as so many other dictatorships in the hemisphere have recently done. Those who first lit the revolutionary torch so many decades ago should not now be lagging behind in the wake of change. The region awaits a new and democratic Haiti. The people of Haiti desire it. The moment is in their hands.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Saint Lucia therefore welcomes the continuation of dialogue among all parties concerned with a view to achieving this objective, and we believe that, in the interim, membership of the United Nations for both Koreas will not hinder the attainment of that goal. Saint Lucia is concerned that there seems to be a reduction in momentum of the Esquipulas II agreement of the five Central American Presidents signed on 7 August last year. We continue to support a peaceful, negotiated solution to the conflicts in Central America. In the Caribbean itself, we have been concerned at the developments that have occurred in our sister country of Haiti.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Saint Lucia wishes to reiterate its view that the question of Palestine is at the core of the conflict in the Middle East and that no comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region can be achieved without the full exercise by the Palestinian people of its inalienable national rights and the immediate withdrawal of Israel to internationally recognized and secure boundaries. In the Korean peninsula, the problem of a divided Korea is also still with us, and Saint Lucia looks forward to the peaceful reunification of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The South African regime has thumbed its nose at the international community for so long. We hope, however, that these first steps in the right direction ate merely the beginning of a journey which will lead soon to the release of Nelson Mandela and the dismantling of the heinous apartheid system. Saint Lucia is encouraged by the atmosphere of conciliation which seems to surround the peace plan of the Secretary-General and the head of the Organization of African Unity that was submitted to the concerned parties in Western Sahara. We hope that this spirit of conciliation will lead to a speedy, just and lasting negotiated solution to this problem. The situation in the Middle East remains our most intractable problem.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Since 1946 we have dealt with the question of Namibia at 42 successive sessions, at three special sessions, and at one emergency special session of the General Assembly. We have repeatedly demanded that the apartheid regime of South Africa immediately and unconditionally withdraw its illegal administration, occupation army and police force from Namibia, but the racist regime has persisted in its refusal to comply with the resolutions and decisions of the Security Council, thus violating the principles of the Charter and defying the authority of the United Nations. After more than four decades of intransigence on the part of South Africa, there are now some signs of movement in the right direction. Saint Lucia fervently hopes that the Brazzaville agreements will be successful.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Nine years ago, the General Assembly called upon all States to refrain from any interference in the internal affairs of Kampuchea and resolved that the people of Kampuchea should be enabled to choose democratically their own government without outside interference, subversion or coercion. Saint Lucia has actively supported this principle every year since then. We are therefore heartened that, encouraged by indications that all parties concerned are now interested in achieving a political solution to the problem, the Secretary-General has presented to the parties a number of specific ideas intended to facilitate the elaboration of a framework for a comprehensive political settlement. We urge them to consider those ideas seriously.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We urge both parties to bring the necessary political will and flexibility to the table to assure the effectuation of a just and lasting peace in the region. The question of Cyprus, too, has for long been a troubling one. We have dealt with this question, in one aspect or another, for the past 25 years. The decision by the leaders of the two sides, upon an initiative of the Secretary-General, to meet without any pre-conditions and to attempt to achieve by 1 June 1989 a negotiated settlement of all aspects of the Cyprus problem is particularly welcome at this time. Also in South-East Asia there has been positive movement.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Secretary-General, and his representative, Mr. Diego Cordovez, we witnessed the conclusion of the Geneva Accords last April as a major point of departure in the long effort to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Afghanistan. We therefore urge all parties to live up to the letter and spirit of the Geneva Accords so that we may soon realize the outcome which we all desire. The fratricidal eight-year-long armed conflict between Iraq and Iran has been among the bloodiest in this century. From the start of the war in 1980, the United Nations has been active through various channels in trying to get the parties to compose their differences. Saint Lucia is gratified by the cease-fire that was finally secured on 20 August this year.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“For the past eight years Saint Lucia has been among those countries that have called for the preservation of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and non-aligned character of Afghanistan. We have also repeatedly reaffirmed the right of the Afghan people to determine their own form of and to choose their economic, political and social system free from outside intervention, subversion, coercion or constraint of any kind whatsoever. We also called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, and urged all parties concerned to work for the urgent achievement of a political solution in accordance with the spirit of the Charter, and the creation of the necessary conditions that would enable the Afghan refugees to return voluntarily to their homes in safety and honour.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“But the Organization has no sovereignty of its own, so it can only initiate, harmonize and encourage its Members to take effective actions which are in keeping with the spirit of the Charter. In many respects, then, this remarkable Organization, despite the machinations of Member States, has proven to be exceedingly resourceful in meeting the challenges that daily confront it. So, once again, exhausted by the international tribulations of our own creation, we turn to it in a desperate search for respite. We have always looked to the Organization in the social and economic spheres, but now it seems that we have returned to it in attempting to solve our political problems.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“I am proud to say that Saint Lucia was not among those who had lost hope, and we will never lose hope in the importance, effectiveness, or continued viability of this Organization. From the initial use of the term "United Nations" by the American President Franklin Roosevelt, through the San Francisco Charter, to the official dawn of this Organization on 24 October 1945, the United Nations as an organization has been locked in a battle for supremacy of will over the always parochial, often bellicose, actions and intentions of nation States. We are often reminded by our Secretary-General that the United Nations is not a supranational authority. It cannot, without the combined will of all the members of the Security Council, impose its own will upon its Members. It is an Organization made up of independent and sovereign nations.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“And since a nuclear war cannot be won, those whose ambition it is to win wars roust fight conventional ones, and so we have had more than 150 in the last 40 years, killing more people than those that died in the last great war. That is yet another fact. Upon the Organization we piled indignity upon indignity, and allowed it to become nothing more than our best excuse. When we looked into the mirror of the United Nations we saw not ourselves, but a giant piece of machinery, infused with energy to do work. So the United Nations should keep the peace, we said; and our citizens believed it. It is no wonder that they began to lose hope not in their Government, but in the United Nations ~ faith misguided.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Thirty years ago, while still standing in the rubble of the Second World War, we joined, with alacrity, in adopting a General Assembly resolution calling for general and complete disarmament and charged this Organization to oversee it. Yet, since that time we have more than quadrupled our military expenditure in real terms to over $1 trillion a year, all the time adopting more resolutions, now almost 1,000, calling for serious measures towards disarmament. That is also a fact. The paramount raison d'être of the United Nations really must be that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. We all share this view. Nevertheless, we have stockpiled over 13,000 megatons of them, just in case.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“But the result left us angry and bitter, locked in a new cold war and frightened, because the result of that war was the birth of a new weapons system that in itself had the power to end all wars. But to end all wars - indeed to end it all - we should have to use the new weapons system, whose use would end everything, would end us all. But the solution had itself created a new problem. So we created the United Nations to do for us what we could not do for ourselves: stop the ridiculous carnage. But the Organization quickly got in the way of ambitious men, men of power> so we sidestepped it, emasculated it, asked it not to interfere, and turned to it only when convenient to seek maximum propaganda value for our cause. We thus created a vast dichotomy between what we say within the Organization and what we do without. That is a fact.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“I ask the President to accept our congratulations on his election and elevation to his most illustrious and profoundly important position. We are not unaware of his formidable credentials, and I am as confident as we all are that this session will be as fruitful as any. After several years of being shunted into the shadows, of having its moral authority undermined, and consequently driven into decline, the United Nations is again on the ascendancy, though still threatened by the ultimate modern Damoclean sword of financial strangulation. Once again, the phoenix rises from the ashes, as it rose some 43 years ago from the burning heat and debris of conventional and nuclear conflagration, man's greatest folly. Four and a half decades ago we fought the war to end all wars.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“"After all", she said, "if we cannot get along with the man across the street, how can we expect to get along with the people up there?" In our intercourse with the various peoples of the world, there is only one conclusion that can be reached. We are all essentially one and indivisible, in reason, in form, in movement, in needs and. in ideals. Every man cherishes his liberty. No man enjoys being dominated by another. Every man wants to live in peace, to enjoy the good things of life and to see the world rid of ignorance, of poverty and of disease. For our children, and for theirs, we yearn for nothing less, and to these ends, the intellectual treasures of the Earth can and should first be harnessed. There is yet time to begin. When will we begin?”
1987-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 42 (1987)
“In fact, repayments to the Fund from the developing countries last year exceeded new credits by almost $3 billion. All o£ this, added to the burdensome debt of the developing world and the increasing protectionism in the developed market economies, is the right formula for disaster. The sluggish growth of the global economy already reflects the drag of the developing countries' economies} redressing these imbalances is therefore paramount. Each day the global village grows smaller and smaller, as all of us grow more dependent on each other. Upon being told that man would soon embark on a search for intelligent life in space, an old lady responded that it would be nothing more than a search for new enemies.”
1987-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 42 (1987)
“My delegation is consequently preparing some new initiatives which will facilitate the General Assembly's action on this question next year. The economic plight of the developing countries continues to be most unsatisfactory, while global output grew by 3 per cent last year, the developing countries lost $94 billion as a result of constantly deteriorating terms of trade, and national income fell by as much as 10 per cent in some developing countries. This rather undesirable state of affairs is further compounded by a seriously diminishing interest in private sector investment in the developing world, and a general weakening of official financial flows. Non-concessional bilateral credits to the developing countries have also decreased, as have credit flows from the International Monetary Fund.”
1987-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 42 (1987)
“But countries like ours have special problems which need to be addressed quite seriously by this body. Consequently, the slow progress of initiatives in favour of island developing countries after over a decade of discussions and resolutions in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the General Assembly and elsewhere, remains a matter of great concern to Saint Lucia. The myriad special problems of those countries, including vulnerability to natural disasters such as that which struck the eastern Caribbean only last month, continue to pose major hindrances to the development process. We therefore regret that the comprehensive review of the progress made in - assisting those countries, as mandated by General Assembly resolution 39/212 of 18 December 1984, did not take place last year.”
1987-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 42 (1987)
“If we can pool our resources - our markets, our capital, our defences, our people - if we can reduce the costs of our administrations, in which we have seven Governors-General, seven Prime Ministers and 60 Ministers, for a total population of about 500,000, we shall be better able to deliver a higher quality of life for our people and play a more effective role in international affairs· We have already received pledges of support from our colleagues in the wider Caribbean community, and we are sure that, as the wisdom of our endeavour unfolds, we shall be able to count on the support of our neighbours in Latin America, and our friends in the rest of the world. When the Charter of the United Nations was framed, little thought was given to the conception of small States such as Saint Lucia.”
1987-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 42 (1987)