Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has stressed the urgency of addressing the effects of climate change on vulnerable countries, stating that it affects every aspect of a government’s operations.
The Prime Minister emphasised this point on Monday, April 22, during a courtesy call with President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), Judge Nancy Hernández López, and her fellow Judges, at Government Headquarters.
She told Judge López that hosting the 166th Regular Session, which is being hosted from Monday, April 22, until Friday, April 26, was “an important moment” for all small island developing states (SIDS).
Prime Minister Mottley stated:
“Barbados has taken a clear position that there can be no separation between people and planet… And having spent 30 years in public life, I can say without fear of contradiction that there is virtually no aspect in government that is not impacted by the climate crisis…This is fundamentally a crisis that affects every aspect of our lives.”
She also discussed Barbados’ groundwater scarcity and challenges with accessing concessionary rates and longer borrowing tenors from international financial institutions and multilateral development banks to help the country finance its adaptation measures.
Special mention was made about the difficulty being posed by increasing insurance premiums for SIDS to secure loans to rebuild after a natural disaster.
Judge López thanked the Prime Minister for her leadership on the climate crisis as she pointed to the challenge with insufficient budgets to deal with the Court’s responsibilities.
In this regard, the IACtHR President urged Ms. Mottley, and by extension, the Caribbean, to lend their support to the Court’s efforts at securing adequate climate financing for SIDS during the Organization of American States’ public hearing sessions on July 6.
Attorney General Dale Marshall; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds; Vice President of the Inter American Court of Human Rights, Judge Rodrigo Mudrovitsch; Judge Verónica Gómez; Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor; Judge Ricardo. C. Pérez Manrique, and other government officials also attended the courtesy call which took place on Monday, April 22.
SOURCE: Barbados Government Information Service (GIS).
