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. We must reform it,” she added.

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.

“Think about that,” she said. “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. “We can do everything right … and yet, one hurricane can still erase decades of progress”.

She said Jamaica was determined not simply to recover, but to rebuild with greater resilience through the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority.

“Our resilience must not be measured by how much suffering we can withstand; it must be measured by how well we prepare, how quickly we recover, how intelligently we adapt — and whether we emerge stronger. We are not simply replacing what Melissa destroyed. We are building the Jamaica that must withstand the storms of tomorrow”.

The foreign minister called for climate finance to become more accessible, affordable and predictable and renewed Jamaica’s argument that per capita income alone should not determine a country’s eligibility for concessional financing.

“Income alone does not and cannot measure vulnerability,” she insisted. “We do not ask to be relieved of responsibility; we ask for an international system that gives responsible countries the space to succeed.”

Johnson Smith also warned against allowing artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to deepen inequalities between developed and developing countries.

“Indeed, they can be an equalising force for the world,” she said of digital technologies. “We must, therefore, not allow AI to deepen old inequalities and create an entirely new global divide.”

She said developing countries needed greater investment in infrastructure, skills and capacity, alongside governance frameworks protecting privacy, intellectual property and data integrity.

On regional security, Johnson Smith renewed Jamaica’s call for a coordinated international response to transnational criminal gangs.

She recalled Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ call at last year’s General Assembly for a “global war on gangs”, saying criminal networks, firearms and illicit financing routinely cross national borders.

“Criminal money crosses borders; criminal networks exploit technology and operate across borders. “Our response must, therefore, also cross borders,” she said.

Johnson Smith also called for stronger international cooperation in firearms tracing and interdiction, intelligence-sharing, financial investigations and law-enforcement capacity building.

She said Jamaica had made progress in reducing violent crime but acknowledged that more work remained.

“Our objective is not merely fewer crimes; it is a durable ecosystem of peace in which every Jamaican can feel safe, raise a family, do business and fulfil his or her potential and retire in paradise,” she said.

Turning to Haiti, Johnson Smith called for sustained international support for the Gang Suppression Force, the Haitian National Police and the country’s armed forces. She also urged the UN Security Council to renew the force’s mandate.

“We are at a crossroads; we can lose gains, or we can build on progress made,” she remarked. Continuing, she said, “The international community must send an unequivocal message: armed gangs cannot be allowed to determine Haiti’s future nor that of the region.”

Johnson Smith said improved security must create the conditions for humanitarian assistance, economic recovery, political stability and “credible elections, led and owned by the Haitian people.”

On Cuba, she said Jamaica continued to favour dialogue and constructive engagement and supported greater integration of the country into the international economic system.

“The suffering of the Cuban people is of deep concern,” Johnson Smith said, calling for policies that create pathways for progress rather than continuing isolation under the US embargo.

The minister also reaffirmed Jamaica’s support for reparatory justice, describing it as involving “truth, acknowledgement, justice, repair, compensation, development and reconciliation”.

She said Jamaica had supported a Ghana-led resolution earlier this year and had delivered a petition to Buckingham Palace raising questions concerning reparations.

Johnson Smith ended by returning to the need for UN reform, saying Jamaica supports revitalising the General Assembly, meaningful reform of the Security Council and greater accountability and efficiency throughout the UN system.

“Reform is not an act of disloyalty to this institution,” she said. “Reform is how we preserve it.”

She said multilateralism ultimately had to produce tangible results for ordinary people.

“For a small state like Jamaica, its value is felt when our people are safer; when opportunity is expanded; when vulnerability does not become a barrier to development; when countries that have acted responsibly are not penalised for shocks they did not create; and when the voice of a small nation carries the same dignity as that of a large one.”

“That is why Jamaica remains committed to this institution — not because it is perfect, but because we are grateful for what it has achieved and we believe in what it can become,” said Johnson Smith.