Jamaica calls for reform of multilateral system, stronger climate and security cooperation

UNITED NATIONS (CMC) – Jamaica has called for sweeping reforms of the international system, warning that the shortcomings of multilateralism cannot be addressed by abandoning it at a time when small states are confronting climate shocks, security threats and growing economic pressures. Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, addressing the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, said wars, geopolitical tensions, climate change and rapidly developing technologies were testing international cooperation at a time when it was most needed. Johnson Smith addressed the General Assembly on Saturday.

“For small states like ours, a rules-based international order is not an abstract diplomatic preference; it is fundamental to our sovereignty, our security and our development,” Johnson Smith said. “But neither can we safeguard multilateralism simply by defending it. The foreign minister said the system “must become more representative, more accountable, more efficient” and more responsive to the people it was established to serve.

She pointed to Jamaica’s role in efforts to reform the United Nations, including work on the UN80 Initiative’s review of mandate implementation. “Our objective is straightforward: a United Nations that spends less time sustaining process for its own sake, and more time fulfilling its purpose,” she said. She also reaffirmed Jamaica’s support for Guyanese diplomat Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett to become the next UN Secretary-General, saying small states had long demonstrated their ability to build consensus and resolve international challenges.

“We learn very early that influence does not depend only on size or power,” Johnson Smith said. “It can also come from credibility, dialogue, principle and the capacity to bring people together.” The minister devoted a significant part of her address to the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica on October 28 last year, saying damage and losses were estimated at 56.7 per cent of gross domestic product. “More than half the value of an entire year of national economic output damaged or lost through a single event.” Johnson Smith said the experience underscored what she described as a fundamental inequity confronting Small Island Developing States.

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