ALVA ROMANUS BAPTISTE, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diaspora Affairs of Saint Lucia, recalling how over the decades, the representatives of small island developing States came to the United Nations to state the case for fairer treatment of their developmental needs, said:  “We are indeed different, indeed special and indeed unique in our sizes, our economies, our finances, our social circumstances, our vulnerabilities.”  The global financial system has amplified these inequities by the measurements and standards it has employed to assess development.  Due to such States’ persistent advocacy and their faith in multilateralism, the international community recently adopted the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda.  Also welcoming the recent adoption of the multidimensional vulnerability index, he said it took the international community 32 years to develop and adopt this vital and necessary tool.  “Let us not wait another 32 years to test and implement it,” he said.

Caribbean economies have been plagued by a number of interrelated factors, including persistent fiscal deficits and high debt, he pointed out, adding that these have been significantly exacerbated by external shocks, including frequent and major fluctuations in energy prices, financial crises, the COVID‑19 pandemic and the Russian Federation-Ukraine war, “not to mention the planet’s greatest existential threat, climate change”. Saint Lucia is “dismayed and disappointed” that the Loss and Damage Fund established at COP28 is yet to be operationalized, he said, urging those concerned to activate it so that small island developing States can receive timely support on the scale required. The world must recompense these States for the injustice of the climate crisis, he said adding that “those countries that propelled their economic development through the unholy and inhumane transatlantic slave trade and slavery of our African ancestors must pay reparations for this crime against humanity”.

Calling on the UN to consider the question of reparations for these crimes, he said:  “This is why, in part, our Caribbean civilization resents the current carnage in Gaza and the West Bank.”  Condemning terrorism in all its forms, he noted that humanitarianism has been lost in the carnage, and pointed to the 289 aid workers, including 207 UNRWA team members, and the more than 110 journalists who have been killed in Gaza. The unnecessary undermining of Palestinian Statehood is the root cause of the current conflict, he said, adding that while Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live side by side in peace, “peace for Israel must not come at the expense of the Palestinian people”.

The right to self-determination is a universal right, he said, adding that it is this same right which says that the Russian Federation must end its unwarranted war against Ukraine.  The same right determines that the heroic people of Cuba have a right to determine their own path to development, free of the illegal embargo imposed by the United States.  Similarly, he added, “the 23.5 million people of the Republic of China on Taiwan have the right to be a member of the UN” and the people of Venezuela must be allowed to conduct their internal affairs without sanctions imposed upon them by other States.  He also called for more resources to be provided for the Multinational Security Support Mission for Haiti as well as more humanitarian assistance in that country.