UN General Assembly
2022

All those factors place a stranglehold on our national development and that of other small island developing States. Just yesterday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a statement placing the Bahamas on its blacklist. That action is profoundly unfair. When we look at the countries that are flagged as high risk and blacklisted, several startling commonalities emerge. Why is it that European States that operate frameworks akin to those of blacklisted countries are not even eligible for inclusion on these lists? Why are all the countries targeted — all of them — small and vulnerable, and former colonies of European States?