St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre has called on manufacturers, exporters, and importers of conventional weapons to live up to their commitments as he urged the international community to assist the Caribbean in fighting a surge in criminal activity and gun violence.
In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister Pierre told the international forum that while St. Lucia and the rest of the Caribbean are not manufacturers of conventional weapons, “our countries have been plagued by a proliferation of illegal small arms and light weapons, resulting in a surge in criminal activity and gun violence.”
He said St. Lucia has always been a strong advocate of international frameworks, such as the United Nations Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects (UN-POA) and the Arms Trade Treaty; which are two examples of multilateral instruments aimed at mobilizing international cooperation to curb the illicit trade in conventional arms and ammunition.
“St. Lucia calls on the major manufacturers, exporters and importers of conventional weapons in our hemisphere to live up to their commitments, under these instruments, to lend the necessary expertise and technical assistance and cooperate in good faith to stem the tide of unregulated conventional arms and ammunition,” Pierre said.
In his wide-ranging address, Pierre said the global community has reached a watershed moment in its history because, “we, the members of the United Nations have not adhered to the rules and principles of the organization that we created 76 years ago, as a multilateral answer to mankind’s propensity to use arms against his fellow man, instead of joining with him to turn them into tools for peace and development.
“We have arrived at this watershed moment, because, we have failed to adhere to the agreements we have negotiated multilaterally to solve the problems that have confronted us – problems invariably of our own making.
“We have come to this watershed moment because small developing countries continue to suffer from an inequitable world order, in which the rich and powerful do not right the wrongs they commit against the weak.”
Prime Minister Pierre said St. Lucia and the rest of the Caribbean, despite their small sizes, a deliberate desire to be a source of peace and friendship to all, despite their democratic traditions, and despite the earnest efforts to make the development of its people a primary objective, “we find ourselves in a world stacked against us and frustrating our development at every turn.”
He said in every decade since 1980, Caribbean countries, including St. Lucia, have faced the ill winds of a harsh and global environment, to which we are forced to change course without reward, and with little to show for our efforts.
CMC/
