Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has issued a challenge to world leaders to reset their efforts to save lives and the planet from the ravages of climate change and other ills that continue to threaten its existence.
During a wide-ranging address at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America, earlier today, Ms. Mottley insisted that the world had endured four years of polycrises and “as children of mother earth” continued to wrestle with the climate crises.
On that point, the Prime Minister reiterated that citizens continued to confront the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic; multiple theatres of war and “scenes of famine” flowing from that war; armed conflict instead of pursued development; rising cost of living; the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance; and the growing incidence of death and disability from chronic non-communicable diseases, among other ills.
“We cannot afford the distraction of war. If ever there was a time to pause and to reset, it is now! Collectively, as an international community and individually as leaders in each of our countries, we must now deliver new opportunities and solutions to these crises which dampen economic growth… restrict the ambitions of our people and numb our sense of the beauty and goodness that the world ought to be offering…
“The reset for which I am calling and indeed, that our citizens are demanding, must see an end to all forms of discrimination…., Ms. Mottley said.
The Prime Minister also touched on the need for reparations for slavery and colonialism, pointing out that “the Caribbean is resolute that this must happen, and its resolution lies in a multi-generational approach…grounded in development”.
She also flagged restricted access to capital for developmental projects, adding that the reset must also focus on a common agenda that reinforced the shared humanity that “binds us together”.
The Prime Minister said while there were some glimmers of hope, by way of agreements reached on major issues, she stressed that based on the “intervention of the Bridgetown Initiative and the Parish Pact for People and Planet, and the efforts of many across the board, we acknowledge that there is some hope, and it is evident in the beginnings of some of the reforms that we are seeing”.
She continued: “These are all important steps, but we cannot keep our eyes off the prize. Barbados’ call for a fundamental reset includes attitudes and behaviour as much as actions and reform….”
Ms. Mottley also spoke about the ongoing crisis in Haiti, an end to the US embargo against Cuba, the impact of Hurricane Beryl on Barbados’ fishing industry, among other topics.