Rowley warns Government on UN Security Council conduct

For­mer Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has wel­comed Trinidad and To­ba­go's elec­tion to the Unit­ed Na­tions Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil but warned that the Gov­ern­ment's con­duct on the in­ter­na­tion­al stage will come un­der scruti­ny dur­ing its tenure.

In a so­cial me­dia post, Row­ley said he was proud that Trinidad and To­ba­go would once again rep­re­sent the na­tion and the Caribbean re­gion on the Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil, de­scrib­ing the achieve­ment as the re­sult of work ini­ti­at­ed and pre­pared by his ad­min­is­tra­tion.

"I am there­fore pleased that the work we ini­ti­at­ed and pre­pared has borne the ex­pect­ed fruit, and once again this lit­tle na­tion will as­sume its po­si­tion to rep­re­sent our na­tion and re­gion on the UN Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil for the next year," he wrote.

Row­ley thanked for­mer For­eign and CARI­COM Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne, his suc­ces­sor and the coun­try's diplo­mat­ic of­fi­cers at home and abroad for help­ing se­cure the seat.

While wel­com­ing the de­vel­op­ment, Row­ley ex­pressed con­cern about how Trinidad and To­ba­go would con­duct it­self at the fo­rum, ar­gu­ing that the coun­try's diplo­mat­ic lega­cy had re­cent­ly been un­der­mined.

He claimed the Gov­ern­ment had aban­doned cau­tion in its for­eign re­la­tions, dam­aged ties with neigh­bour­ing coun­tries and di­min­ished the coun­try's diplo­mat­ic stand­ing.

Row­ley al­so crit­i­cised what he de­scribed as sup­port for ac­tions that vi­o­lat­ed the Unit­ed Na­tions Char­ter and in­ter­na­tion­al law.

"I trust that there will be a re­set and re­think­ing by the Gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go so that when the in­evitable votes come to the Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil, we will not be found want­i­ng on is­sues such as op­po­si­tion to the geno­cide in Gaza and sup­port for the two-state so­lu­tion," he wrote.

The for­mer prime min­is­ter said Trinidad and To­ba­go would be ex­pect­ed to ad­vo­cate for re­spect for in­ter­na­tion­al law and the UN Char­ter, while tak­ing po­si­tions on is­sues in­clud­ing the hu­man­i­tar­i­an sit­u­a­tion in Cu­ba, the Rus­sia-Ukraine con­flict and ten­sions in­volv­ing Iran and the Gulf re­gion.

He ar­gued that the coun­try must up­hold prin­ci­ples of non-in­ter­fer­ence and op­pose ef­forts by pow­er­ful states to dom­i­nate small­er na­tions and re­gions.

Row­ley said cit­i­zens would be watch­ing close­ly as Trinidad and To­ba­go as­sumes its seat on the Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil.

"We, the cit­i­zens, will be watch­ing, since this mat­ter is not one for chest beat­ing and tak­ing cred­it, but the very soul of the na­tion is on tri­al, and we re­main ready and re­spon­si­ble for these isles," he wrote.