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Small countries struggle to be heard at the UN
By EDITH M. LEDERER
9 hours ago
View photo
FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, file photo, Gambia's President Al
Hadji Yahya Jammeh addresses the 69th session of the United Nations General
Assembly at the United Nations headquarters. Gambia accused European
countries of "racist and inhuman behavior" for deliberately causing boats
carrying black African migrants to sink. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Honduras, terrorized by drug gangs, railed against
the world for ignoring the violence and lack of jobs that sends thousands
of young Central Americans fleeing north to the United States.
Nepal, a poor landlocked country, called for bridging the "digital divide"
along with a global code of conduct to regulate the flow of information.
These are just a few of the concerns of small countries whose voices and
pleas at the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting are almost
always drowned out by the agendas of the big powers. This year's top item
was the fight against Islamic extremist groups whose tentacles have spread
from the Mideast to Europe and Africa. Other hot topics were combating
Ebola and climate change.
While most of the 191 countries that spoke touched on these issues, the
concerns of smaller nations — some impacted by global warming, others by
refugees, many by persistent poverty — rarely made headlines, and were
often delivered in a near empty assembly hall.
At the conclusion of six long days of speechmaking Tuesday, General
Assembly President Sam Kutesa tried to change the focus from terrorism to
achieving U.N. goals to combat poverty by a 2015 deadline, and setting new
targets for 2030. He also raised the problem of high unemployment,
especially among the young, and its destabilizing effects.
By the time he had wrapped up the ministerial meeting, only a few dozen
diplomats were sitting in the newly renovated assembly chamber that seats
more than 1,800 people.
Here are a few of the speeches that went largely unnoticed in the wider
world:
— The president of the transitional government in Central African Republic
said the country hopes the new U.N. peacekeeping mission will help restore
security and promote development, and asked the U.N. Security Council to
re-examine the arms embargo on the conflict-torn country that was imposed
in December, for a year. Catherine Samba-Panza said the success of the U.N.
force will hinge on the involvement of the country's security and defense
forces at its side
— Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh spoke of the plight of Africans who seek
a better life and the impact of climate change on development. "While
Africa is not responsible for the pollution and the factors causing climate
change, it stands to suffer the most," he said. Jammeh raised what he
called "the very frequent and mysterious sinking, capsizing" of boats
carrying mainly black African migrants "looking for greener pastures in the
West only to end up in body bags on European shores." He accused unnamed
countries that preach good governance, the rule of law and respect for
human life to African leaders of staying quiet "about the very dangerous,
racist and inhuman behavior of deliberately causing boats carrying black
Africans to sink only to select a few lucky ones to be rescued and sent to
concentration camps, called Asylum Seekers Camps."
— Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez cited a drug war that his
country didn't start and a dearth of job opportunities for parents and
youth as factors driving Central American children and families to flee to
the U.S. He proposed creating "a multinational force" to fight drug
trafficking cartels. "Today, we talk about what is happening in other
regions to children, young people, families displaced by war, violence and
radical extremists," Hernandez said. "But little is said about the
situation of thousands of families in the northern triangle of Central
America."
— Kyrgyzstan Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev stressed that climate change
isn't affecting only island nations and coastal areas. "Rapidly melting
glaciers, rising temperature, land degradation, landslides, mudflows and
floods cause significant economic damage and serve as vivid reminders of
mountain ecosystem vulnerability," he said. "According to reliable
forecasts, in 2025, the ice cover in Kyrgyzstan would be reduced by a 40
percent average, with a one-third reduction of regional water availability."
— Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala urged the international community
to address the special needs of the world's poorest countries, and to
provide financial and other support to promote development. One way, he
said, is to support wider dissemination of information technologies. But he
stressed that modern technology "must not be used to interfere in other
countries' internal affairs" and urged agreement on global rules of conduct
to regulate the flow of information.
The United Nations, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary, also came
under criticism from many countries for failing to bring its key organs,
especially the powerful Security Council, into the 21st century.
"It remains thoroughly dominated by the few and has marginalized the
overwhelming majority," said Eritrea's Foreign Minister Osman Saleh. "Its
institutions and structures are an anachronism in the modern world."
____
Associated Press writers Alexandra Olson and Cara Anna contributed to this
report from the United Nations
Received on Wed Oct 01 2014 - 11:00:12 EDT