Statement
Delivered by Belize on behalf of AOSIS
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States. We align ourselves with the statement delivered by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. AOSIS congratulates Ambassador Amrit Bahadur Rai of Nepal on assuming the chairmanship of the Second Committee for this 75th Session of the General Assembly. AOSIS would also like to congratulate Bureau members on their election to lead the Second Committee. We are grateful to Ambassador Cheikh Niang of Senegal and his Bureau for leading us so ably through the 74th session. Mr. Chair, at the close of our successful session last year we could not have fathomed that the world was on the verge of a crisis such as the one we are currently experiencing. Please therefore allow me first to commend you and the Bureau for your proactive approach in ensuring that the Second Committee is able to conduct its work in a scaled down but still very productive way, while ensuring the safety of delegates. In 2019 our mantra was the acceleration of the Decade of Action hoping finally to hasten the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Hopeful even while we observed a retreat towards multilateralism, and the retreat by some delegations from the development agenda and from climate change obligations in particular. But back in 2019 we did not waver from our task and we anticipated 2020 with sanguinity. Instead, this year 2020 has met us unprepared as a global community, particularly developing countries within that community. There are tangible warnings that the already insufficient implementation of SDGs has been setback substantially. We are poised instead to see record negative growth rates, millions more on the brink of poverty and a humanitarian crisis. Moreover, we are seeing a further retreat from the values that anchor us within the United Nations. The fact is Mr. Chair, the Covid-19 pandemic did not unravel the development gains of Small Island Developing States. It simply shined a light on the threadbare approach at development. Developing countries and countries in special situations in particular have long been forced to accept a situation where we are constantly battling periods of crises and borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. We are sold the notion that our ineptitude has been the cause of our delayed development, but even when we do reach development milestones, these cannot long be retained. For over thirty years, and well before the 2030 Agenda, SIDS have been demanding for concrete measures that support our particular needs. Instead we have been fed a lukewarm acknowledgement of our structural constraints and told that change cannot occur here or now. Mr. Chair, some SIDS are likely to observe a twenty percent decline in growth this year alone. That is three times more than the global contraction. It is no secret that our service industries have collapsed, and our borders largely remain shuttered. It is also no secret that the adverse impacts of climate change have accelerated, and we are now in the midst of a climate emergency. It is really no secret that the debt that SIDS accumulate year after year as a result of disasters caused by climate change is not attributable to us, as we are the smallest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. The structural nature of SIDS economies —a small and narrow economic base, high degree of openness and significant dependence on few large developed countries— make us extremely vulnerable to global economic shocks.’ SIDS are now contending with collapsed tourism revenues, falling remittances and high debt service costs. Our already limited national budgets have been reorganized to manage inadequate health systems, provide social safety nets for the record numbers of unemployed persons, and meet debt payments. Liquidity that is so desperately needed is only provided if you are a low-income economy or willing to forego future borrowing ability on the market. Loans otherwise allocated to development projects have been restructured to meet the immediate financing needs in SIDS. Moreover, tourism is not expected to rebound in any measurable way for years to come. So, unless and until SIDS are provided with the fiscal space they need to cope, then these economies will continue to face an economic onslaught. Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change continue - sea level rise is accelerating, and temperatures are warming. The demands for adaptation are increasing and increasingly unlikely to be met. And yet the finance available for adaptation is woefully deficient. This is against the backdrop of dwindling public sector sources of finance for development as a whole, which makes the public finance for climate, especially adaptation which SIDS rely on, even more precarious. Furthermore, SIDS cannot access even the climate finance that is available, at the speed and scale needed because of cumbersome processes and the fact that we have to compete with other better capacitated countries whose economies dwarf that of SIDS many times over. We continue our call for the delivery of the 100 billion dollars climate finance by 2020 (this year), which was committed to in 2019. Although we find ourselves in a scaled down and altered negotiation space in 2020, the work of UN committees is more vital than ever. The guidance we provide in our resolutions here in the Second committee will provide the context and direction needed for our development work to regain traction. SIDS would not advocate for a mere acknowledgement of the trials of 2020 without noting that our actions will ultimately guide the recovery we so desperately need. Moreover, we firmly reject the imposition of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries, as stated in the Agenda 2030. Such actions are inconsistent with the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and international law. We therefore call upon the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive economic measures. For context, SIDS will engage in the negotiations with three main objectives in mind. First, noting that the pandemic did not find us at the same starting point and countries in special situations, LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS require more targeted support. Second, science notes that this crisis is a foreshadowing of the climate crisis and our actions in this period will largely determine whether we even have a fighting chance in other periods of crisis. The climate emergency must be met head on, and countries will be called on to meet their obligations. Third, our development cannot occur without removing the barriers that hinder us. We will call for access to resources based on our vulnerabilities and a retooling of the development finance ecosystem. Mr. Chair, these are not new calls from AOSIS. They are simply more urgent ones. The Political Declaration of the Mid-term Review of the S.A.M.O.A Pathway concluded in 2019 expresses these calls in much the same way we did in 2014 when we committed to the development of SIDS through the achievement of the Pathway. Delayed action only serves to reinforce the SIDS challenges and indoctrinates servitude to an archaic system. AOSIS looks forward to engaging meaningfully in the 75th session. We also look forward to deliberations that result in meaningful and impactful solutions, even if limited in scope. Mr. Chair, please be assured of our continued support to you and to your Bureau. Thank you.
