THE REGION, like the citizens currently taking to the streets in the
United States of America, is feeling a sense of frustration and
disappointment that its voice is not being heard.
Word of this from Prime Minister of Barbados and Chairman of CARICOM,
Mia Amor Mottley, as she addressed the first Extraordinary Meeting of
the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States yesterday
morning.
During a video conference, Prime Minister Mottley said: “Almost 30
years ago, we recognized that GDP per capita was a flawed measure and
we repeated it when we met in Nairobi in December. We, like others,
feel now that who are now reflecting their plight and their anger as
citizens who have not been seen and who have not been heard and who
are now taking to the streets in the United States of America; they
are reflecting their anger and disappointment as a result of the fact
of not being seen and not being heard.
“We small island states know the feeling only too well, for we feel
that we sound like a stuck record and we recognize that no system that
is ignored forever can flourish. And hence, we find sympathy for the
actions taken by those in the United States of America who are simply
asking, in the words of Peter Tosh, for justice.”
Prime Minister Mottley repeated calls for a revised Vulnerability
Index. “Even when our circumstances deteriorate like now, there is no
review or assessment mechanism that takes into account our inherent
vulnerabilities. And despite these acute vulnerabilities, the region
is being denied access to the support being given to those as
vulnerable, or even less so, because of an outdated and ill-suited
definition of vulnerability, namely historic GDP per capita. I have
already said that it is flawed largely because it is like taking my
blood pressure from two years ago and using it to determine my
vulnerability to a stroke this afternoon. It is totally futile.”
The Prime Minister said it is clear that additional criteria to
determine equitable access and fair allocation that truly measures the
vulnerability of the region in the middle of a pandemic and at the
start of a hurricane season is needed.
It is against this backdrop that she commended the work recently
carried out by the Caribbean Development Bank to develop indices to
assess the economic, social and environmental vulnerability of
borrowing member states.
“The Bank’s conclusion is that the multidimensional vulnerability
index reveals that although many of our countries under review are
classified as middle income, the economic security of these countries
is highly vulnerable due to small size; economic and social
structures; and openness to exogenous and natural disaster-related
shocks. This evidence-based framework will be an important tool to
assist us in determining development priorities and advocating access
to affordable financial resources to build our resilience,” the Prime
Minister said.