| Date | 17 September 2007 |
|---|---|
| Started | 10:00 |
| Ended | 12:40 |
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Tribute to the memory of His Excellency Sir John Compton, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
The President
Before proceeding to the items on our agenda, it is my sad duty to pay tribute to the memory of the late Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, His Excellency Sir John Compton, who passed away on Friday, 7 September 2007.
On behalf of the General Assembly, I request the representative of Saint Lucia to convey our condolences to the Government and the people of Saint Lucia and to the bereaved family of His Excellency Sir John Compton.
May I now invite representatives to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of His Excellency Sir John Compton.
The President
I now call on the representative of the Philippines, who will speak on behalf of the Asian States.
Mr. Davide (Philippines)
We mourn today the loss of a great leader in John George Melvin Compton, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, which has left a pall not only over the Government of Saint Lucia but also over the people to whom he has dedicated his life-long work and service.
Governing Saint Lucia for more than a quarter of a century, Sir John Compton's political life was an epitome of dedication, commitment and loyalty to his country and people, of patience and persistence over tribulation and of triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds and challenges. His policies and vision led Saint Lucia into a new age of development. Resisting colonialism, denouncing social stratification, fighting for the interests of the working class and developing a strong market economy are the hallmarks of Sir John's leadership.
His larger-than-life presence was felt not only within Saint Lucia but beyond its shores as well. He was one of the driving forces of Caribbean integration and initiated the Eastern Caribbean Common Market, the forerunner to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Truly, he has left on imprint on more than the sands of Saint Lucia, one which cannot be washed away by the tides.
But as we mourn Sir John's passing, we also pay tribute to the Government and people of Saint Lucia for steadfastly and resolutely holding on to the gains and legacy of Sir John's leadership. On behalf of the Asian Group, I express my sincerest condolences to the Government and people of Saint Lucia and wish them solace in their sorrow and hope in Sir John's new life in the beyond. Truly he has achieved immortality.
The President
I call now on the representative of Montenegro, who will speak on behalf of the Eastern European States.
Mr. Kaludjerovi (Montenegro)
On behalf of the Eastern European Group, I have the sad duty to pay tribute to the memory of an exceptional person who passed away on 7 September 2007 -- Sir John Compton, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia.
Sir John, a distinguished leader of Saint Lucia for more than forty years, cleverly and prudently changed the political, economic and social milieu of his country in a number of ways. Sir John was dedicated to the advancement of the standard of life of his compatriots and was a man of great energy for and devotion to his own country. He fought to achieve independence for his country and succeeded in 1979, after which St. Lucia became the member of the United Nations.
But Sir John, being the founding father of his nation, was also a man ready to fully accept the rules of democracy. He left his Premier's post after losing elections, and afterwards returned to the premiership several times. His last term began at the age of 80, in 2006, when he won the elections and became Prime Minister for the fifth time.
He was a vocal advocate of Caribbean unity. His role in the creation of the regional common market, which is now the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States was of the utmost importance. Sir John also greatly helped in the establishment of the Caribbean Development Bank, the West Indies Associated States Council of Ministers and the Eastern Caribbean Common Market. All this makes us know and honour him for his commitment to multilateralism, and in particular to regional cooperation and integration.
Sir John Compton will be remembered for his wisdom and dedicated service to his country and the Caribbean region and as one of the most notable leaders of the contemporary world. His death has profoundly distressed us all, and on behalf of the Eastern European Group, I would like to express our sorrow to the Government and the people of Saint Lucia and to his family, friends and colleagues.
The President
I call next on the representative of Paraguay, who will speak on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States.
Mr. Loizaga (Paraguay)
It is an honour to address the General Assembly on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean Group as we pay a posthumous tribute to The Honourable John Compton, who was Prime Minister of Saint Lucia for several terms.
Sir John Compton, whose career took him beyond the borders of Saint Lucia, began his public life in 1953, joining the Labour Party upon returning to the country after having studied economics at the prestigious London School of Economics. His talent and his adherence to his ideals in support of those most in need enabled him to become a very important political figure not only in Saint Lucia, but also throughout the Caribbean region.
Sir John Compton, who was Saint Lucia's first Prime Minister after it had gained its independence in 1979, will rightly be remembered for his role as father of the nation and for his efforts in leading his country towards modernity through the adoption and implementation of economic and social reforms.
Sir John Compton was an outstanding political figure in the Caribbean and will also be recognized for having been a leader and promoter of the regional integration process leading to the establishment of the Caribbean Community and its institutions. His death is a loss not only for Saint Lucia and the Caribbean as a whole, but for all of us who constitute that regional group.
The Group of Latin American and Caribbean States joins in the expressions of condolence to the people and the Government of this fraternal Caribbean country.
The President
I now call on the representative of Switzerland, who will speak on behalf of the Group of Western European and other States.
Mr. Baum (Switzerland)
I have the honour and the sad duty to address the General Assembly today on behalf of the Group of Western European and other States to pay tribute to the late Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, His Excellency Sir John Compton, who died on 7 September.
Saint Lucia mourns the passing not only of its Prime Minister, but of its founding father. Sir John Compton studied law in the United Kingdom, became an attorney and soon launched a political career leading him to a position of the highest responsibility. He led his country five times -- first beginning in 1964, under British administration, and then starting in 1979 as Prime Minister of an independent State. Saint Lucia owes its existence and its development to him. Over more than five decades, he contributed to the development of his country's infrastructure, propelling it into modernity. Throughout his life, he was an ardent advocate of Caribbean regional integration.
Permit me, on behalf of the Group of Western European and other States, to express my sincere condolences to the authorities and the people of Saint Lucia. At this difficult time for them, our thoughts are particularly with the family and loved ones of the late Prime Minister.
The President
I now call on the representative of the United States of America, as host country.
Mr. Wallace (United States)
On behalf of the United States, I would like to express our deepest condolences on the death of Saint Lucia's Prime Minister, Sir John Compton.
Sir John led his Caribbean island nation into independence in the 1970s. Both in and out of public office, he contributed greatly to the development of his country and of the Caribbean region. The nickname bestowed on him by his fellow Saint Lucians, "Daddy Compton", demonstrates his popularity and the affection with which he is regarded.
We honour the passing of Sir John and offer our condolences to his family and his countrymen.
The President
I now call on the representative of Saint Lucia.
Ms. Joseph (Saint Lucia)
--> -->
| <type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'> | Python 2.6.6: /usr/bin/python Thu May 23 03:46:00 2013 |
A problem occurred in a Python script. Here is the sequence of function calls leading up to the error, in the order they occurred.
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in |
| 194 if __name__ == "__main__": |
| 195 pathpart = os.getenv("PATH_INFO") |
| 196 maintrunk(pathpart) |
| 197 |
| 198 |
| maintrunk = <function maintrunk>, pathpart = '/generalassembly_61/meeting_109' |
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in maintrunk(pathpart='/generalassembly_61/meeting_109') |
| 131 elif pagefunc == "gameeting": |
| 132 LogIncomingDB(hmap["docid"], hmap["gadice"] or "0", referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| 133 WriteHTML(hmap["htmlfile"], hmap["pdfinfo"], hmap["gadice"], hmap["highlightdoclink"]) |
| 134 elif pagefunc == "agendanumexpanded": |
| 135 LogIncomingDB(pagefunc, hmap["agendanum"], referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| global WriteHTML = <function WriteHTML>, hmap = {'docid': 'A-61-PV.109', 'gadice': '', 'gameeting': 109, 'gasession': 61, 'highlightdoclink': None, 'htmlfile': '/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-61-PV.109.html', 'pagefunc': 'gameeting', 'pdfinfo': <pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>} |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteHTML(fhtml='/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-61-PV.109.html', pdfinfo=<pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>, gadice='', highlightth=None) |
| 322 if dclass == "spoken": |
| 323 if not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice: |
| 324 WriteSpoken(gid, dtextmu, councilpresidentnation) |
| 325 elif dclass == "subheading": |
| 326 if agendagidcurrent and (not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice): |
| global WriteSpoken = <function WriteSpoken>, gid = u'pg003-bk04', dtextmu = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Ms. Jose... of leaders of our country and of our region.</p>', councilpresidentnation = None |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteSpoken(gid=u'pg003-bk04', dtext=u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Ms. Jose... of leaders of our country and of our region.</p>', councilpresidentnation=None) |
| 69 print '</cite>' |
| 70 |
| 71 print dtext[mspek.end(0):] |
| 72 |
| 73 print '</div>' |
| dtext = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Ms. Jose... of leaders of our country and of our region.</p>', mspek = <_sre.SRE_Match object>, mspek.end = <built-in method end of _sre.SRE_Match object> |
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args =
('ascii', u'\n\t<p id="pg003-bk04-pa01">I wish to express to y... of leaders of our country and of our region.</p>', 973, 975, 'ordinal not in range(128)')
encoding =
'ascii'
end =
975
message =
''
object =
u'\n\t<p id="pg003-bk04-pa01">I wish to express to y... of leaders of our country and of our region.</p>'
reason =
'ordinal not in range(128)'
start =
973