Antigua and Barbuda PM Addresses UN General Debate on Climate, Finance, and Global Justice

Antigua and Barbuda's Climate Crisis Reality

• 🇦🇬 As a small microstate, Antigua and Barbuda is on the front lines of the climate crisis, facing severe shocks and limited access to affordable financing.
• 💡 Despite economic growth, the global financial system and climate efforts have not adequately supported the necessary transformation, leaving the nation vulnerable to devastating hurricanes.

Rethinking Multilateralism and Global Finance

• 🌍 The world is at an inflection point, with a retreat from multilateralism, international law, and human rights, warning of a more divided future.
• ⚖️ Antigua and Barbuda calls for a recommitment to the UN Charter's principles, emphasizing that international cooperation is essential for universal peace, compassion, solidarity, and justice.
• 📈 The current inequitable international financial system forces vulnerable countries to borrow expensively for rebuilding after climate disasters, leading to increased debt and stalled resilience.

Ocean Stewardship and Legal Clarity

• 🌊 The ocean is vital for Antigua and Barbuda's food, jobs, and development, necessitating decisive action against illegal fishing, plastics, and pollution.
• 🤝 Small island states offer partnership and stewardship of their exclusive economic zones, urging support for global plastics and fossil fuel non-proliferation treaties, and expanded blue carbon finance.
• ⚖️ Antigua and Barbuda, along with Vanuatu, is seeking legal clarity from international courts on climate obligations, asserting the right of victim states to pursue legal remedies for climate harm if major emitters fail to cut emissions.

Addressing Historical Injustices and Global Conflicts

• ✊ Reparatory justice for the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism, and native genocide is sought, not as charity, but as principled restitution for wealth extracted and suffering endured.
• 🕊️ In the Middle East, Antigua and Barbuda insists on the release of Israeli hostages and condemns the forced removal of people in Gaza, supporting a two-state solution.
• 🇺🇦 The war in Ukraine must end in peace and justice, urging a return to diplomacy anchored in the UN Charter and refraining from actions that prolong conflict.

Urgent Needs for Haiti and Regional Stability

• 🇭🇹 Haiti requires sustained attention and a Haitian-led plan executed under a single Security Council mandate and financed through a transparent fund, with disbursements tied to tangible results.
• 🚢 Counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean Sea must be based on cooperation and law, with clear legal authority and rules of engagement that minimize risk to life and respect sovereignty.
• 🇨🇺 The US trade embargo against Cuba is described as a hoax, advocating for normalized relations to ensure regional stability.

Prioritizing Public Health and Sustainable Development

• 🧠 Mental health is a human right and a solvable challenge, with a call for increased government spending, community-based services, and parity in coverage.
• ❤️ Non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes account for 75% of deaths in the Caribbean, demanding urgent attention with the same urgency as infectious diseases.
• ⚖️ Antigua and Barbuda advocates for a new dispensation of rules over power, fairness over advantage, and people over profit, urging accountability to all nations and future generations.