UN General Assembly
1998

It is indeed my privilege, on behalf of the Government and people of Saint Kitts and Nevis, to have this opportunity once again to address the General Assembly. I feel especially pleased to participate this year, which coincides with the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an instrument that has sought for the last 50 years to protect and advance the political, social and cultural human rights of peoples around the world. Throughout this half-century, the debate on human rights has focused critical attention on cultural, social and political rights. Regrettably, we have failed to develop an international agenda which includes economic rights as an integral part of fundamental human rights. Conceptually, political human rights, now a critical component of some foreign policy positions, have been fused imperceptibly with democracy, hence politics and human rights have become synonymous. I too am an advocate of human rights protection, and I believe strongly that if we insist on politics in human rights, the politics should be to enhance human dignity and the human