Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York. A gifted orator, her speeches are generally made more compelling by the warm lilt of her voice, but judging from her first words at the 79th session of the Assembly — “We need a reset” — the situation she was about to speak to was dire.
The Big Picture
The world, Mottley began, has been reeling from four years of “poly-crises”: the ongoing climate catastrophe and continuing ripple effects of the pandemic, further complicated by “multiple theatres of war and scenes of horror and famine […] instead of pursued development.” Added to her list of pressing issues were the rising cost of living, and “the second but silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance together with a growing incidence of death and disability from chronic non-communicable diseases”:
“We cannot afford the distraction of war,” Mottley cautioned. “If ever there was a time to pause […] it is now.” Her words packed even more of a punch considering that she addressed the Assembly immediately after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who quelled any hope of a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza:
Creating a New World Order
Mottley maintained that “collectively as an international community and individually,” it was the responsibility of world leaders to present people with opportunities and find solutions to the problems that negatively affect economic growth. Criticising neocolonial structures “that reflect the old world order” of racism, classism and misogyny, she also pleaded for an end to all forms of discrimination, and nurtured a vision of an “inclusive and responsive” international order.
Part of that new order, as she has said before in her speeches about the climate crisis, must be to give small island and middle income states “a seat at the table where we can be seen, heard, become active agents in our own cause and lead our own development paradigms”:
The year 2024, Mottley reminded the Assembly, is the final one in the UN’s International Decade for People of African Descent and while some progress has been made, the gains that were promised have “not yet been fully realised.” On behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), she called for an additional decade to be declared in order to “complete the unfinished work and address the matter of reparations for slavery and colonialism.”
Her suggestion was met with a round of applause. Barbados has been one of the Caribbean territories leading the charge on the issue of reparations, which she described as a complex but necessary conversation to have.
“Its resolution lies,” she stressed, “in a multi-generational approach […] that is grounded in development […] so that the notion of non-affordability becomes a non-issue.”
The Principle of ‘Ubuntu’
The other aspect of the reset, Mottley continued, must be rooted in institutional reform, starting within the United Nations Councils. The current configuration of permanent and non-permanent members, she said, “has no place in the 21st century.” Going a step further, she said that the mistrust of citizens in leaders, institutions, and processes which yield “much talk and little action” is real, especially when it comes to the global financial architecture:
Restricted access to capital; its disproportionately high cost barring us for doing that which we must; its inadequate scale and the overwhelming burden of debt often imposed on us by circumstances beyond our control are now combining to force governments in the world’s poorest countries [and] many vulnerable middle income countries to devote more resources to debt service than to health and education, and in some instances, even infrastructure.
The reset the world needs, according to Mottley, is one that “enforces our shared humanity.” Calling on the African principle of Ubuntu, she continued, “My well-being is tied to yours, and our collective well-being is connected to Mother Earth.”
Glimpses of Hope; Paths to Peace
This is not to say that there are not glimpses of hope, she assured the audience, but it was important to keep focused on the goal — reform, which Mottley maintained has as much to do with processes as it does with attitudes and behaviour. “We have a date with destiny,” she reminded the Assembly, “against 1.5 degrees.”
Mottley went on to talk about the third iteration of the Bridgetown Initiative, which strives to change the way development finance works, and touched on a key point — securing the global public commons “to be able to maintain our safety and stability as a global community.” The Small Island Developing States agenda, she ventured, is another example of “promises made but not kept.”
Above all else, Mottley concluded, “we need a global reset on peace.” In this vein, she cited several examples — Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, which she called the tip of the iceberg of violence and instability. “Unless we address the root causes of these wars one by one,” she said, “and the manners in which they are being sustained and financed, we will never know anything else. We need peace — and it cannot be too difficult to work for peace.”
Her words were met with another rousing round of applause as she went on to remind the Assembly that Barbados, like many other Caribbean nations, recognised and established diplomatic ties with the State of Palestine. Mottley condemned the actions of Hamas, as she did the use of disproportionate force by Israel, reiterating her stance of a two-state solution being the only answer.
A Regional Focus
Even the Caribbean, she advised, while not at war, has been seeing an unprecedented escalation in the presence of illegally obtained assault weapons — manufactured in the United States — which are wreaking havoc on legal systems and social stability:
The prime minister expressed her concern about the situation in Haiti, advocating for the “transformation of our sister nation,” by providing both its people and government with the full support of the international community in both the short and long term. She said a logical start to this process would be extending the mandate of the Multinational Security Support Mission, increasing the work of the UN in the country, and pledging funds to assist with the stabilisation and restoration of Haiti. She also acknowledged the willingness of Kenya in taking on a peace and security challenge that is well beyond its shores.
Keeping her focus on the Caribbean, Mottley added that the continued embargo on Cuba was “unconscionable.” The island’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, she said, flies in the face of the rest of the region’s experience of the country. Cuba has been a pillar of reliability for other Caribbean territories, particularly in the field of public health.
Mottley ended her speech by quoting a few lines from a Barbadian song: “A voice in my head keep talk to me/It tells me the road is long/It tells me we must be strong/Roll with pain and strife/Today is the start of the rest of your life.”
Her rousing address attracted widespread praise on social media platforms, from Barbadians, Caribbean citizens, and global netizens, with one X (Twitter) user saying:
Having said her piece clearly and strongly, it remains to be seen whether her UN colleagues will take heed.