YouSaid · the spoken record

Gonsalves

lines on the record
79
first
2010-04-22
most recent
2021-12-21
sittings or episodes
12
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “One of the essential contributions to be made by small States like ours is the tireless advocacy of the timeless principles enshrined in international law. With no ideological or geostrategic axes to grind, we consider it our solemn obligation not only to articulate these principles but also to ensure that they are applied consistently and upheld in the international community as universal truths, rather than selective, uneven and unpredictable tools to further hegemonic power or Great Power ambitions. The Charter of the United Nations also promises us development and economic well-being, which bear upon international peace and security. Accordingly, our best collective efforts require the fixing of underdevelopment, economic insecurity and vulnerability to external shocks so as to limit unnecessary conflict and discord.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  2. “Similarly, we all know that it is plainly wrong for any State or group of States to be in quest of hegemony or to be engaged in the unilateralist weaponizing of international trade, commerce, finance or banking. We all know that the treasured right to self-defence cannot be exercised disproportionately or outside the boundaries of international law. We all know, too, that it is unacceptable to support or harbour terrorists and international criminals, to facilitate the spread and use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons or to deny people basic fundamental human rights. Yet, in the hallowed halls of our United Nations, there is a daily diet of justification for that which is plainly wrong or unacceptable. We ought to resolve, in this new year, to desist from such justification.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  3. “Every Member of the United Nations knows fully well that which is plainly acceptable or unacceptable within the terms of the Charter and international law. To be sure, there are always spheres of genuine contention and disputatious conversations derived from national interests or technical interpretation. However, too often there is an inclination by too many Member States to present what is plainly wrong as right, and vice versa. We all know that it is unacceptable for one State or a group of like-minded States to drive a horse and chariot through the bedrock principles of sovereignty, independence, the equality of States, non-interference, non-intervention and the peaceful settlement of disputes.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  4. “I adopt and call as my own the words of the Secretary-General and the Chair of The Elders. Fundamentally, the Charter of the United Nations codified and developed an efficacious international legal framework to regulate relations among sovereign States, in a rational and principled way, so as to maintain and promote international order in the interests of all humankind. The international legal framework is, by its very nature, multilateral. It is axiomatic that there cannot be a unilateral United Nations — that is an oxymoron. Its very essence must be multilateral. In holding aloft international law of a deepening multilateralism, the founding fathers drew upon right reason and experience and proceeded to codify and elaborate the requisite statutes, rules, settled customs and norms for authoritative decision-making.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  5. “At the dawn of the second decade of the twenty-first century, and in the seventy- fifth year of existence of the United Nations, it is justifiable and wise to remind ourselves of the enduring core purposes and principles of the United Nations, recommit to them and sensibly reshape and reform our United Nations in appropriate ways to better execute its mandates in a rapidly changing global order. But what we must not do is to reject or dismantle the foundation stone, which the original builders so carefully put in place and which their esteemed continuators have so painstakingly maintained or fortified. In that regard, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines commends Viet Nam for spearheading the initiative to hold today’s debate. We endorse the presidential statement (S/PRST/2020/1) just adopted.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  6. “The foundation stone, known as the Charter of the United Nations, was shaped and laid, by outstanding visionaries and realists, to meet the immediate exigencies of the post-world war global condition and the foreseeable prospect of an evolving comity of nations to dwell together, if not always in unity, but cooperatively in the pursuit of peace, security and prosperity. Each generation, in humankind’s quest for a better life, is always faced with inherited and fresh challenges. Accordingly, each generation is both blessed and burdened with a mission of continuity and change, as the circumstances admit.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  7. “The many-sided complexities, contradictions and challenges manifest in the global political economy and system of international relations conspire to demand, more than ever, a United Nations fit for the purpose of ensuring a multilateral, rules-based international order of peace, security, prosperity and sustainable development for all of humankind. Indeed, we in a country like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an exemplar of small-island exceptionalism, awash as it is with a historical bundle of debilitating and uplifting legacies and the contemporary encumbrances and possibilities of our Caribbean civilization, see the necessity and desirability of a vibrant and well- functioning United Nations as a matter of the highest priority. We signal that with my presence.”

    2020-01-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8699 (2020) · source

  8. “These issues and those delineated by those who have spoken before me are not academic, nor are they theoretical exercises in divining a laundry list of potential challenges on some distant horizon. They are real, existing and intensifying threats to our peace and security. Our challenges, however, are neither intractable nor insurmountable. They are imminently solvable. Yet all that is needed for those multifaceted threats to become complex and contagious sources of global instability is the inaction of powerful multilateral partners. Today there are over 50 countries, with over 50 million people, that are expecting the Council to fulfil the letter and the spirit of its Charter obligations. Please do not let us down.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  9. “The Council must formally determine that climate change, transnational crime, non-State actors and economic strangulation pose special and specific threats to peace and security among small island developing States. It must then consider which recommendations and measures are within the scope of its powers. At a minimum, they must encompass restraints on the actions of external State actors and empower SIDS, at an economic and policy level, to confront internal challenges effectively, all the while fully taking on board the Bahamas' very correct caution against the Council usurping the role or authority of existing multilateral bodies that are grappling with those issues in an inclusive and transparent manner.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  10. “Indeed, the apparent belief that the instability besetting other regions will somehow bypass SIDS is rooted in wishful thinking, neglect and a misplaced faith in the stereotype of islands as paradises populated by carefree carousers. However, that stereotype is belied by facts rooted in low growth, high debt, high unemployment, high murder rates and a lack of fiscal or policy space to engage in transformative social investments. Those facts point to a different and likely outcome of continued multilateral neglect. The Council's mandate is not simply to restore international peace and security, but to maintain it and to prevent instability, through both military and non-military means. Today's open debate must serve as a wake-up call for a Security Council that all too often has turned its back on the needs and views of SIDS.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  11. “As we speak, almost half of the countries of the Caribbean Community are either participating in or have recently emerged from painful, externally orchestrated structural adjustment programmes. Collectively, we are one of the most heavily indebted regions in the world, with high rates of unemployment, particularly among our youth. In the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis, our rates of economic growth have been anaemic at best. The combustible post-crisis mix of low growth, youth unemployment and fiscal straitj ackets has already fuelled global unrest and instability elsewhere, with tremendous negative consequences for international peace and security. SIDS are not immune from that threat.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  12. “In a small island developing State, that same gang's power is multiplied exponentially, and its potential to destabilize a society is immense, particularly in States with modestly equipped, unarmed constabularies with limited experience in thwarting transnational crime. In addition, unlike most of the challenges confronted by the Council, SIDS are probably unique in being beset by largely exogenous threats. The causes of climate change, transnational crime, illicit small arms trafficking, resource theft, cross-border threats and global financial instability are all beyond our borders. That is an important factor in the Council's consideration of the recommendations and measures available to maintain peace and preserve security on behalf of SIDS.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  13. “Hurricane Ivan was a localized disaster in the United States, but a national disaster in Jamaica, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. Flash flooding such as the type that occurred in the eastern Caribbean in 2013 was relatively brief and isolated, but caused death, damage and instability in Saint Lucia, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines damage from which we are still recovering. As has already been said today, climate change is obviously a threat, but it is not simply a multiplier of threats to peace and security. It is a grave and destabilizing threat in and of itself. A relatively small, poorly armed gang of thugs in a large developed country may present a localized or municipal law-enforcement challenge.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  14. “We are candidates also because, in the history of the United Nations, only eight small island developing States have ever served on the Security Council; because only three of the 14 CARICOM States have ever brought their perspectives to bear as members of the Council; and because a full 40 per cent of the countries that have never served on the Council are small island developing States. The result is that, in the great majority of cases, even during the few times that the Council formally considers a small island developing State, there are no small island developing States on the Council to add context and perspective to the deliberations. The special threats to peace and security in SIDS and their solutions must be understood through the prisms of size, openness and exogenous influence.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  15. “Except in those rare instances when an island happens to be the fulcrum upon which global Powers balance, we are ignored. Indeed, one of the most compelling arguments in support of a comprehensive reform of the Council is its demonstrated failure to adapt to a world where SIDS are significant multilateral actors with unique perspectives and issues that merit consideration at all levels of diplomacy. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has put its name forward as a candidate for the Council for the 2020-2021 period, because we believe that we have practical lessons and perspectives to share in contributing to peace and societal harmony without a surfeit of cash or weapons to throw at potential problems.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  16. “Within the Caribbean region - with the exception of Haiti, which has benefited from missions and multilateral engagement by this organ - the Council has only occasionally become engaged when hegemonic dramas have been enacted on island stages, as in the case of the 1983 invasion of Grenada or the Cuban missile crisis. However, other significant incidents - ranging from election violence in one CARICOM. State, which claimed over 800 lives in the 1980s, to Hurricane Ivan's 2004 multi-island swath of death and destruction - many episodes have come and gone with barely an acknowledgement from the Council. To date, the Council remains silent on the obvious threat to peace and security posed by the Dominican Republic's decision to forcibly expel thousands of individuals born within its borders.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  17. “New Zealand's use of its tenure as President of the Security Council to highlight SIDS is of particular importance, given the Council's historical indifference, even antipathy at times, to small island States and our peace and security challenges. While the Council has from time to time pronounced itself, at various levels, on matters involving SIDS, it is nonetheless true to say that small island developing States, our issues and perspectives have been, by and large, excluded from serious and sustained consideration by the Security Council.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  18. “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines applauds New Zealand for its decision to focus the attention of the Security Council on the peace and security challenges facing small island developing States. New Zealand is an island State, surrounded by small island developing States, and it has demonstrated strong understanding and commitment to the specificities and challenges confronting SIDS. I would like to commend you as well, Mr. Minister, for your own display of stamina today, as we have worked through the luncheon interval - a threat to your own food security. I see that the faces around the table have all changed except for yours, and I salute your stamina in that regard.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  19. “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines would like to begin by fully aligning itself with essentially all of the statements that have been made, in particular with the statements delivered by our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) colleagues - the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the Ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas and Barbados. Although the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has yet to speak, I am sure that I can comfortably align myself with what he will say. I would also like to endorse very strongly what was said by the Foreign Minister of the Seychelles, particularly in describing small island developing States (SIDS) as essentially large ocean developing States that extend beyond the rocks upon which we live.”

    2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source

  20. “The Security Council is not a cocoon, a vacuum or an impregnable and fossilized bunker. It is of this world and of this membership. It must therefore reflect this world and respond to this membership. CARICOM hopes that one or more of our members will soon grace the inner sanctum of the Council again. That hope notwithstanding, we desire a Council whose working methods establish it as a nimble, efficient, transparent and accessible body that is open to the Views of the wider membership and reflective of changing global realities.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  21. “Given the acknowledged role of the General Assembly in conferring legitimacy on bodies, decisions and norms, the Council would be well advised to adopt rather than to resist the relevant recommendations that may yet arise from the wider membership. In conclusion, the welcome changes to the Council's methods thus far, as outlined in the concept paper, have served to highlight the promise and possibility of further beneficial changes. It is universally accepted, we believe, that the Council is not operating at its optimum efficiency, transparency, accessibility or effectiveness. Adjustments in working methods, as part and parcel of a wider range of reforms, can assist in remedying these acknowledged deficiencies. The continued evolution of the Council and its working methods is therefore necessary and desirable.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  22. “It is impossible to read Article 30 in such a way as to make it immune from the General Assembly's explicit authority to discuss and make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the Charter relating to the functions of any organ of the United Nations - including the Council - and to make recommendations to the Council on these matters. Articles 10 through 12 of the Charter establish the scope of the General Assembly's powers and its limits with absolute clarity. The Council may have the responsibility of formally adopting its rules of procedure, but the General Assembly is clearly empowered not only to discuss the Council's working methods but to make recommendations to the Council, whether or not those recommendations touch on and concern the rules of procedure.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  23. “For example, CARICOM questions how, as a practical matter, working methods can be determined solely within a body in which two thirds of its members are replaced every few years. If we are to accept the concept paper's assertion that "[f]or many elected members, learning the procedural aspects of the Security Council is a challenge" (5/2010/165, para. 12) how can those elected members, in a limited period of time, both learn and reform the working methods, only to be replaced by a host of new elected members that will have to repeat the process again? And why would incoming members that would not have contributed to the Council's working methods in any way feel any fealty to them? Only the permanent members of the Council would have any degree of influence or allegiance to such an arrangement.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  24. “recognizes the Council's need for efficiency and, indeed, supports greatly enhancing this efficiency and effectiveness. However, optimizing transparency, interaction and efficiency is not a zero- sum exercise. In this regard, we View as particularly useful the suggestions that have been made and refined by the group of five small countries regarding, inter alia, reports, consultations and the implementation of decisions. Fourthly, CARICOM. is curious as to the broad and expansive reading that some States give to Article 30 of the Charter. The argument that only the Council - operating in a vacuum and advising itself - can adjust its working methods unfortunately raises more thorny questions than it answers.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  25. “It is far better for the Council to construe its mandate strictly, and do a small number of things well, than it is for it to be more expansive and do a host of tasks poorly. The seemingly inexorable mission creep of the Security Council is troubling, particularly to Member States like ours, which have been primarily creatures of the General Assembly alone. Any unnecessary encroachment by the 15 members of the Council into the functions and powers of the other 177 non-members will serve to undercut the compelling logic and unique goals under which the United Nations was established. Thirdly, further adjustments to working methods are required to enhance the transparency, openness and interaction of the Council with the wider membership. CARICOM.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  26. “Non-members will have little interest in interacting with a body whose legitimacy is compromised by its stodgy refusal to reflect changing global dynamics. Working methods therefore represent a single component of a comprehensive reform exercise, and must proceed in tandem with these complementary reforms. I note parenthetically that many Members today bemoan the workload of the Council, but efficiency demands that most organizations, bodies and businesses, when faced with an increased workload, expand to deal with and handle the increased workload. Secondly, as a general rule, the Security Council should refrain from encroaching upon the functions and powers that the Charter or tradition has placed within the purview of the General Assembly.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  27. “As such, our historical position as Council outsiders has made CARICOM acutely sensitive to the practical effects of working methods on transparency and interaction with non- members. From our unenviable position of largely being on the outside looking in, CARICOM. recognizes that recent measures and adjustments by the Council have resulted in some improvements. However, a great deal more can and must be done. In that regard, and within the context and constraints of this open debate, CARICOM. stresses the following four points. First, it is critical for the Security Council to accept that reform of its working methods, however far-reaching or effective, must necessarily take place within the context of wider Security Council reform, including an increase in permanent and non-permanent membership.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  28. “Our interest is born of our historical absence from this Chamber, and, indeed the appalling dearth of small island developing States (SIDS) in general among the membership of the Security Council. The last CARICOM. State to serve on the Security Council began its term one decade ago. One year later, in 2001, Singapore became the last of the SIDS to hold Council membership. Seventy-three of the 192 United Nations Member States have never served on the Council. Of those 73 Member States, 29 are SIDS. Therefore, although SIDS comprise only 20 per cent of the United Nations membership, they represent a full 40 per cent of the States that have never served on the Council. Over 78 per cent of SIDS have never held a non-permanent seat on the Security Council - a percentage that is replicated within our own CARICOM. region.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source

  29. “I have the honour to speak today on behalf of the 14 States members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and to align CARICOM with the statement made by the representative of Egypt on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. CARICOM welcomes the initiative of Japan, in its capacity as President of the Security Council, for convening this open debate and for its concept paper of 1 April (see S/2010/165), which is invaluable in shaping today's debate on working methods. CARICOM. would also like to thank the members of the Council for their insights today and their own inputs on this issue. CARICOM, more than most, takes particular interest in the areas of transparency, efficiency and interaction with non-members.”

    2010-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6300 (2010) · source