PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
OEA/Ser.G
CP/CSH/INF.219/10
26 March 2010
COMMITTEE ON HEMISPHERIC SECURITY
Verbatim
_________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY
AMBASSADOR IZBEN C. WILLIAMS
AT A MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON HEMISPHERIC SECURITY WHICH
CONSIDERED THE TOPIC: “SPECIAL SECURITY CONCERNS OF SMALL ISLAND STATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN”
Attention to the Security Challenges of Small Island States of the Caribbean assumed hemispheric
significance after hard fought advocacy by CARICOM States for its inclusion on the OAS agenda.
This regular meeting of the Committee on Hemispheric Security brings together presenters whose
contribution bespeak that vantage point from which Security has been promulgated by CARICOM,
over the past ten plus years.
With substantial support from our hemispheric partners, we have succeeded in advancing the concept
that, having regard to our vulnerabilities and many peculiar circumstances, the rubric of hemispheric
security concerns should be broadened to embody, what are essentially, the risks posed by chronic
threats and sudden disasters. As the Declaration of Bridgetown (2002) recognised, security threats,
concerns and other challenges in the hemispheric context are diverse in nature and multi-dimensional
in scope. The previous traditional concept and approach which spoke to the absence of armed
conflict, be it within or between states or safeguarding against the threat of international terrorism,
had to be - Quote: (Declaration on Security in the Americas) “expanded to encompass new and nontraditional threats which include political, economic, social, health and environmental aspects”.
It was to be understood also as having a human face. A modest elaboration on the elements
encompassed by that expanded view would be as follows:
1. Economic Security – simply, an assured basic income - usually from productive and
remunerative work, or in the last resort from some publicly financed safety net. (protection
from poverty & vulnerability to global economic change)
2. Ecologic Security - environmental protection and sustainability, mitigation of natural
disasters,
3. Food Security – assuring access to basic food (protection from hunger and famine, and from
vulnerability to extreme climate events and agricultural changes),
4. Personal Security: violence; vulnerability to conflicts, natural hazards, and “creeping”
disasters
5. Community and Political Security: including such considerations as violations to the
integrity of cultures; political repression; vulnerability to conflicts and warfare, social
justice, and the curtailment of drugs-and-arms trafficking,
6. Health Security: preventing injury and disease; vulnerability to disease and infection. This
idea not only conceptualizes health care as a fundamental right but counteracts the manifold
effects of health phenomena such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the destabilizing impact
of interpersonal and community violence. Health-Security & Development are inseparable
considerations. (CCHD).
I have elaborated on the elements of this security rubric which is alluded to in the Declaration of
Security in the Americas because I believe that such an elaboration should bring relevance and give
life to the concept of multi-dimensionality particularly as it has applicability to SSC of SSC.
These concerns of Caribbean SIDS are fundamentally Human Security concerns. Their unfettered
impacts on small island developing states can be decimating. Human Security essentially infers the
capacity to enjoy the fruits of Integral/Human Development in a safe environment.
For the
CARICOM States, Human Security, as a subset of the Hemispheric Security rubric, and the Human
Development as a societal imperative should always be two complimentary and mutually reinforcing
activities.
The CARICOM Missions within the OAS framework also took the issue of Security Concerns of
Small Island States of the Caribbean to the further stage of developing a Regional Security
Management Model to assist Small Island States in dealing with multidimensional and transnational
threats to their security in a coordinated and cooperative manner. This model, which further
reinforces the validity of the security-development paradigm, was adopted with The Declaration of
Kingstown on the Security of Small Island States, in 2003.
The selected presenters will portray here, aspects of these Special Security Concerns of Small Island
Developing States. These concerns have been addressed and agreed upon in many Declarations and
Resolutions emanating from Organs of OAS over the past decade. I refer here to …..…….
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The Bridgetown Declaration of 2002 (Multi-dimensional Approach to Hemispheric
Security),
The Declaration of Kingstown [St. Vincent and the Grenadines] January 2003. (High Level
Meeting on Special Security Concerns of SIDS)
The Declaration on Security in the Americas in Mexico City - October 2003
And to other General Assembly resolutions and mandates that have as their basis,
considerations of the foregoing declarations.
It is against this backdrop that the Committee on Hemispheric Security convenes this meeting here
today. I invite this gathering therefore to actively participate in this exchange so that by our
understanding of the issues we may better chart the way forward on this critical Multi-dimensional
Security aspect of our engagement within the Inter-American System..
Izben C. Williams
March 2010
CP24018T01