STATEMENT

BY

THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

H.E. MR. LIONEL HURST

ON

BEHALF OF THE CARICOM COUNTRIES

"THE PROTECTION AND SECURITY OF SMALL STATES"

BEFORE

THE SPECIAL POLITICAL AND DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE

(FOURTH COMMITTEE)


October 18, 1994

New York

Mr. Chairman,



It is my pleasure to congratulate you and your Bureau colleagues on your election. I am confident that under your stewardship, and with the support of the other members of the Bureau, this Committee will make a most useful contribution to the work of the 49th Session. I speak today on behalf of the twelve member-States of the CARICOM, namely: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and my own country, Antigua and Barbuda.


Mr. Chairman,


Since the end of the Second World War we have witnessed dramatic changes in world affairs. The establishment of the United Nations is the most significant single event affecting the relations among States. The United Nations was founded "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war ... and to reaffirm faith ... in the equal rights of nations large and small ..." However, even as the representatives of the free nations of the world affixed their signatures to that very ambitious document called the Charter of the United Nations, the overwhelming majority of today's independent States were then colonies. The twelve countries of the Caribbean, on whose behalf I speak today, were certainly colonies then.


In 1962, two countries of the english-speaking Caribbean were to gain their independence. Between 1962 and 1983, ten more island States and coastal States within the Caribbean were to join this organisation as fully independent members. Our nationals and our leadership made the decision to shrug off colonialism and to assume the sought-after freedom which had been envisioned by earlier generations.


Until the dawn of the nineteenth century, the islands and coastal regions of the Caribbean were objects of conquest by warring nations. Several islands changed hands more than once in the three centuries following the commencement of their modern history in 1492. However, after the signing of several peace treaties, exchanging land for peace, the Caribbean as a region saw little of military conquest. Certainly, by 1962, the likelihood of military conquest by any large power was remote and colonialism was in retreat. A new world order had taken hold. The United Nations appeared to guarantee the integrity of small States under Chapter VII of the Charter and, certainly, following the adoption of Resolution 1514/XV in 1960, there was no doubt that small States would accede to membership in the United Nations.


At the Commonwealth Meeting in New Delhi in 1983, the Heads of small States within the Commonwealth, pressed Commonwealth leaders to give greater consideration to specific problems faced by small States "including that of national security." A Declaration was issued subsequently in which the Commonwealth leaders proclaimed that they "are particularly concerned with the vulnerability of small States to external attack and interference in their affairs."


The Commonwealth undertook to study the vulnerability of the nineteen small member-States it embraced, and the CARICOM attaches great importance to this Commonwealth initiative. May I take this opportunity, on behalf of the CARICOM, to applaud the Maldives for bringing this question to the United Nations and to the attention of the larger international community.


Mr. Chairman,


We would wish this debate to focus mainly on external attacks and outside interference in the affairs of small States. Our twelve countries nevertheless share the view expressed by the Secretary-General on this subject in his Report on the work of this organisation. He wrote :In the altered context of today's world, the definition of security is no longer limited to questions of land and weapons. It now includes economic well-being, environmental sustainability and the protection of human rights; the relationship between international peace and security and development has become undeniable.


Today, in every CARICOM country, there are many more teachers than soldiers, more nurses than marines, more doctors than colonels. We practice democracy and rely upon the law to settle differences. Our security is thus also defined in terms of social well-being and sustainable economic development. Seventy-nine of the eighty-two conflicts which have come to the attention of the international community in the last three years, have been internal conflicts which in several instances have caused the disintegration of the State.

Yet, we cannot fail to recognise the importance of keeping our shores protected from bandits, mercenaries, drug smugglers, and other ambitious criminals who may hatch plots to undermine legitimate authority. We are also aware that the possibility of clashes over border disputes are not completely eliminated. Eight of our twelve countries have formed the Regional Security System (RSS) which is a pooling of our limited military resources for collective defense, as envisioned under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. To the extent possible, we wish to depend upon our own resources for so fundamental a need.


Recognizing the inability of any one of our States to repel successfully a credible threat to its territorial integrity, we have acted on the principle of collective self-defense. By so doing, we have defined the danger which we seek to thwart, the strategy and capability which we can exercise, all in advance of any confrontation. And yet, we consider it necessary to seek to establish mechanisms that may embrace several subregions, or that may grow out of well-bonded associations that are not regional. We are also mindful of a larger regional collaboration which could function under the aegis of our United Nations; besides the evident exponential increase in defensive capability which such collaboration would foster, the contacts among participant States would certainly strengthen relations even among erstwhile opponents.


We have also listened with interest to the views expressed by the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands when he addressed the General Assembly in the general debate on 27th September, 1994. He proposed the establishment of a permanent "fire brigade" capable of rapid deployment in times of urgency. Jamaica proposed a similar approach three years ago. Today, the twelve CARICOM nations repeat this proposal, knowing that it has great merit.


I conclude by noting that ours is a peaceful region and that the CARICOM countries are largely dependent upon peaceful conditions for their economic well-being. Believing that the United Nations can and will abide by the principles enshrined in the Charter, we have come today before this Committee to persuade our member-States of the wisdom of our cause. Having achieved political independence, small States are now requiring our global institution to act in the best interest of peace and security. Our best security lies in the continued effort of all our countries to establish a global commons free of violent confrontations; failing that ideal, we wish to be assured of a viable means for guaranteeing our freedom.



Thank you, Mr. Chairman.