STATEMENT BY
THE RT. HON. P.J. PATTERSON
PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA
TO THE
MILLENNIUM SUMMIT OF THE UNITED NATIONS
NEW YORK
SEPTEMBER 7, 2000
Your Excellencies,
• Co-Presidents of the Millennium Summit
• President Halonen and President Nujoma
• Colleague Heads of State and Government
• Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Distinguished Delegates
• Ladies and Gentlemen,
The closing decades of the 20th century have brought mankind to new
horizons, extending beyond the nation state to create a wider circle of human
identity and building a new sense of global consciousness.
In earlier times, philosophers, poets and other visionaries recognized the
existence of one human family.
It is a concept, which our people have grown increasingly to accept.
Photographs from space, showing a single Earth suspended in space,
have served dramatically to confirm the sense of one borderless world, giving a
powerful stimulus to the spread of this perception of human unity and global
oneness.
Acknowledgement of this reality must be the starting point of this
Assembly as we mark the beginning of a new Millennium.
Your Excellencies,
The establishment of the United Nations was one of the principal
achievements of the century and the Charter is unquestionably a landmark
document, giving a clear signal in the movement to a wider, global identity.
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During the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, several important
contributions were made to strengthen the capacity of the world community to
address the major global issues which confront us. Significant institutional
reforms were proposed to strengthen multilateral cooperation so that we could
conquer ills which have plagued us over many generations.
Discussions on reform were launched but enthusiasm was lacking and
inertia triumphed. Reform was subverted into a crusade for downsizing and
retrenchment.
And so we embark on the New Millennium with a glaring structural deficit:
the absence of an Organ, comparable in standing and authority, but more
representative in its composition, to address major global questions in the
1 economic domain, the social field and the environment of our planet.
This leaves a yawning gap in the institutions of global governance, that we
must quickly fill.
As we enter the New Millennium, universal global peace and security
remain under constant threat because of large-scale and persistent poverty;
increasing instability in the world economy; the looking global contest between
resources and consumption; the prospect of poor countries being obliged to pay
for the indulgence of the rich.
Poverty remains the single greatest challenge facing mankind.
We must seize this unique moment to forge global partnerships for
decisive action against poverty.
We live in a fool's paradise to think that the status quo can be indefinitely
maintained. The challenges, indeed, are multiplying.
The poor have neither the time nor the interest to discuss the theories of
economic globalisation. Even as they experience its harsh realities, the
globalized media, with a vastly extended reach, now enable the poor to see how
the rich actually live. They can observe that if the roads of the cities of the
industrialised world are not paved with gold, they are a gateway to much greater
opportunity than their present life offers.
The digital revolution is a demonstrable source of tremendous benefit to
mankind. Yet, information technology is demonstrably poised to become the new
barrier - a powerful force of exclusion in the New Millennium.
Let us exploit the digital revolution for human development, in the creation
of global knowledge-based economy. I call for effective and meaningful
collaboration among all stakeholders in the international community so that
information technology can impact positively on the lives of all our people.
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There must be no gender disparity in this new revolution. It must
embrace our children and youth; the disabled; our rural communities and ethnic
minorities. Community access is pivotal to the process of empowering the
marginalized and the eradication of poverty.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The challenge that faces this Millennium Assembly is the age old one that
has faced humanity at all turning points in history. Do we ignore the signals of
self-destruction, or do we heed them and change course?
Indisputably, we must respond to them with the spirit of global solidarity
that is essential to their fulfillment.
To do any less, is to fail in our duty to our own and future generations.
And there is no better, more practical, more effective way to start than to
endow the United Nations with the capacity and competence to bring that spirit of
global solidarity to the fulfillment of the long stated aims and objectives of the
Charter.
We must strengthen the United Nations by making it a truly democratic
instrument of human progress.
We must become good stewards for this and succeeding generations.
New York
September 5, 2000
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