KEITH ROWLEY, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, offered the sober reflection that the world is in peril, asking:  “Is this the legacy that we would leave for future generations?”  His country faces challenges and threats including the proliferation and use of illegal firearms — worsened largely due to the accelerated commercial availability coupled with illegal trafficking from countries of manufacture into the almost defenseless territories of the Caribbean.  In a population of 1.4 million people, he noted his country experienced over 600 murders last year, 90 per cent of which involved handguns and increasingly, assault weapons, with over 400 violent firearms-driven killings already this year.  His country will continue to work with regional and international partners, especially the United States, to urgently stem illegal firearms, most of which are produced in that country — acknowledging the support of the United States in “confronting this metastasizing scourge.”

Expressing deep concern over developments in fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country Haiti, he applauded the decision of Kenya to offer to help lead a multinational unit and the decision of Bahamas and Jamaica to contribute personnel.  He urged the international community to collaborate with Haiti towards a credible solution, stressing that the country, like any other, deserves peace, prosperity and progress — and requires the intervention of the United Nations now. Turning to the spillover of the conflict in Ukraine, he voiced disappointment that the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been terminated, noting with great anxiety that global food prices during the month of July rose for the first time in months.  This situation is of priority concern for CARICOM as food security remains a crucial issue for the region.

He affirmed that the persistent underdevelopment of Caribbean nations and so many others is directly attributed to the unpaid debt for centuries of enslavement and economic exploitation of African people by Europeans.  “The descendants of these people populate the Caribbean islands where they struggle manfully against the residual rigours of these historic crimes,” even as they face the constant threat of exclusion from the world’s mainstream financial systems, he stressed.  Calling for decisive action to ensure reparatory justice for the untold suffering of millions of people in the developing world, he would welcome Africa’s support in this quest for justice.  Turning to the existential threat of climate change, be emphasized that it does not recognize geographical boundaries.  “The people of small island developing States, those who bear the least culpability for the climate crisis are the ones who continue to be most disproportionately affected,” he affirmed.

Most disconcertingly, he noted with alarm the recent dire warning by scientists that without ambitious climate action, the planet will exceed the critical 1.5ºC threshold.  However, recent developments have shown that over ambitious net-zero targets ought not to be forced upon small island nations.  He urged developed countries to increase their support for the second replenishment of the Green Climate Fund; if these commitments were honoured in full, they would go a long way towards rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity.  He further noted that the global economic crisis has landed heavily on the developing world, with small island developing States facing the harshest impacts of the socioeconomic fallout.  He called on the international community to reach a transformative global blueprint that will drive the sustainable development ambitions towards long-term resilient prosperity.  Sounding a note of optimism, he cited the popular aphorism as inspiration”:  “Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”