Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs the Hon. EP E.P. Chet Greene has raised the country’s voice in the halls of the United Nations in defence of the principles of multilateralism and pledged his country’s firm and unwavering commitment to its goals.
Minister Greene was speaking at the time a High-Level Meeting in Defence of International Law on the final day of his engagements at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The meeting was convened by the Hague Group, which is a coalition of states committed to coordinated diplomatic and legal action to uphold international law. It has mainly concerned itself with defending the principles of the UN Charter, especially as the relate to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Minister Greene, during the meeting, spoke fervently about the importance of multilateralism as laid out by the UN charter in ensuring “sovereign equality, the peaceful settlement of disputes, international cooperation and the equalr rights of nations large and small.”
“…at a time when confidence in multilateral institutions is being tested our response must not be to walk away from multilateralism. It must be to repair it, strengthen it make it work better,” Minister Greene told the meeting.
He lamented that the institutions that were created to protect international rules and advance the principes of multilateralism are today being undermined, “making the question of implementation and accountability increasingly urgent.”
“We need stronger support for the institutions that interpret and uphold international, and we must their independence and decisions,” the Antigua and Barbuda Foreign Affairs Minister urged.
He said it was incumbent on these institutions to also be accountable if they expect to win and maintain the confidence of citizens.
Against this background, Minister Greene used the occasion to speak on Antigua and Barbuda’s hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November and the country’s nomination of Maria Fernada Espinosa as Secretary General of the United Nations.
“These are not separate initiatives. They reflect a common assertion, that the answer to the shortcomings of multilateralism is not to withdraw into insularity, but collaborate to shape a multilateralism that is more accountable, more representative, more effective and better able to deliver,” Minister Greene affirmed.
“For Antigua and Barbuda, there is simply too much at stake to accept a world where power alone determines outcomes,” he stated.
The significance of Minister Greene’s intervention was underscored at the close of the meeting. In a moving moment, the delegate from Palestine approached him on the meeting floor and embraced him warmly, in a clear gesture of appreciation.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Antigua and Barbuda
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: FM Greene Tells UN ‘Power Alone’ Must Not Determine Outcomes.