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STATEMENT BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE PRIME
MINISTER TO THE MEETING WITH JAMAICAN
MEMBERS OF STAFF OF THE UNITED NATIONS,
WEDNESDAY, 1997 SEPTEMBER 24
FELLOW JAMAICANS
I welcome this opportunity to meet with you today, on
the occasion of my presence here to ad.dress the fiftysecond
session of the General Assembly. This year
marks a significant milestone as we commemorate the
thirty-fifth year of Jamaica's membership in the United
Nations. We first entered the Organization as a
fledgling and newly independent country, committed to
playing a role that would be beneficial both to the United
Nations as well as to our own country Jamaica.
Today, we are proud of how far we have come in meeting
that challenge. Jamaica, though a small developing
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country, has made its contribution in the activities of the
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United Nations as varied as human rights,
decolonization, economic cooperation and
indebtedness, and women's issues. We have served on
a number of bodies and our representatives have
rendered sterling service to the Organization. While
governments over the years have played their part in this
regard, we are most proud of the role you, as members
of this unique and universal civil service, have played in .
promoting a positive image of our country at the
international level. You have carried the banner of
Jamaica far and wide, and have done so with distinction.
Some of you have been here for almost as long as we
have been members of this Organization. Indeed, I have
been informed that six of you currently employed to the
Organization have been here for over 35 years. You
have served, and continue to do so in various capacities
and in all aspects of life of the United Nations. You
serve here at Headquarters, and in the field; at the UN
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itself as well as the various agencies, programmes, and
bodies of the UN system. Each of you, has in your own
way brought the Organization closer to the Jamaican
people, and at the same time, has made your colleagues
from other countries aware of Jamaica and what it has
to offer. We are particularly pleased to host the
International Seabed Authority and note the relationship
that many of your colleagues have developed with our
country and its people, over years of attending Law of
the Sea meetings in Jamaica. A number of UN agencies
also operate within our country, and we welcome the
mutually beneficial relationship which has resulted.
I am, however, aware that your efforts have not been
without sacrifices, personal as well as professional.
Those of you who have worked with missions in the field
are most acutely aware of the physical dangers of
service. This is not to belittle the challenges you all face
against the backdrop of unprecedented change and
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uncertainty which the Organization is currently
experiencing. The United Nations, like many other civil
service, is undergoing a process of reform with a view to
enhancing its delivery of service and to minimize waste
and unnecessary duplication. This is an inescapable
partner of progress.
We are sensitive to the concerns the reform process
engenders for tenure of employment, promotion,
training, advancement of women, security at the
workplace and a system of justice. Within the General
Assembly we will continue to work with other delegations
to address those issues of concern to you. We pledge
to continue to collaborate with you as you have done
with us on both the substantive and administrative areas
of our work.
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--· Finally, I would like to pay tribute to you for your
dedication hard work and sterling service over the years,
to the United Nations and to your country Jamaica.
(RHPM may also wish to speak about the national
situation.)
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