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Speaking before the 2026 UN General Assembly on September 26, Belizean Prime Minister John Briceño delivered an optimistic yet realistic update on his nation’s progress toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, pointing to tangible improvements in poverty reduction, employment, and fiscal stability that have lifted quality of life for ordinary Belizeans.

In his address, Briceño outlined key economic and social indicators that mark significant forward momentum for the small Central American nation. Multidimensional poverty has fallen to 19.1%, while unemployment sits at just 1.9%, and public debt has been trimmed to 66.6% of gross domestic product. Notably, Briceño emphasized that this marks the first time in a generation that Belize’s public debt is on a clearly sustainable trajectory.

Rejecting the idea that these metrics are merely abstract statistics, Briceño connected the progress to tangible change in Belizean households. “These figures are not abstractions. They are Belizeans at work, families with greater purchasing power, and a government with room to invest in the future,” he told the assembly. Closing his update on current gains with the Spanish phrase “Vamos bien” — “We are doing well” — Briceño acknowledged that the country still has a long path ahead to reach its full development potential.

To guide the next stage of national growth, Briceño pointed to Plan Belize 2.0, the government’s updated national development framework. The strategy centers on five core priorities: generating sustained new employment opportunities, cutting economic vulnerability for low-income households, reducing national reliance on costly imported energy, protecting Belize’s unique natural ecosystems, and equipping local workers with the skills needed to compete in a rapidly evolving global economy.

Complementing this domestic strategy, Briceño spotlighted a new landmark bilateral partnership with the United States: the Belize Compact. This grant-based collaboration is designed to advance two critical priorities for Belize: strengthening the country’s energy security by expanding access to affordable, reliable power, and investing in workforce development to prepare young Belizeans for the jobs of the future.

Despite the positive momentum, Briceño did not shy away from outlining growing threats that could derail Belize’s development progress, most notably escalating climate change impacts. The country, which is regularly hit by Atlantic hurricanes, has seen storms grow more intense in recent years, while shifting weather patterns have made proactive disaster planning far more complex. Adding to these emerging challenges is an unprecedented, widespread influx of sargassum seaweed along Belize’s coastlines — a problem that currently has no simple, established solution.

Briceño stressed that effectively managing these evolving climate threats requires more than just national action. While Belize is committed to investing in innovation, strengthening institutional capacity, and developing well-funded national strategies, Briceño made clear that even the strongest domestic efforts will not be enough without coordinated, collective action from the international community to address shared climate risks.

In a sharply worded address to the 2026 United Nations General Assembly, Belizean Prime Minister John Briceño has sounded a urgent alarm over the risk that centuries-old systemic inequalities born of colonial exploitation could be embedded into the foundational architecture of the world’s next-generation technology economy. Against a backdrop of growing global debate over reparations for the harms of slavery and colonial rule, Briceño framed his intervention as a critical call to reorient global development away from repeating the injustices of the past.

Briceño emphasized that the global movement demanding reparatory justice has shifted from the margins of international dialogue to the center of global policy discourse, noting that the UN General Assembly’s formal recognition of chattel slavery as humanity’s gravest crime marks only an initial step toward meeting the moral and practical obligations created by centuries of exploitation. “This recognition is only the beginning of an obligation, and the obligation is that we must not build the next chapter of development on the foundation of the last,” he told assembled world leaders.

The prime minister laid out a clear-eyed assessment of post-independence economic realities, arguing that formal political independence for former colonies did little to dismantle the exploitative economic systems imposed by colonial powers. He traced the massive accumulated wealth of the industrial era directly to the forced labor of enslaved people and extracted resources from colonized nations, pointing out that almost all of the economic gains from that exploitation never reached the communities that created them. “When independence came, the flags changed. The structures did not. The terms of trade did not change. The cost of capital did not change. Who sits at the table when the rules are written did not change,” Briceño said, adding that deep systemic imbalances were merely passed down to newly independent nations rather than being resolved.

Today, he warned, that same pattern of structural injustice risks repeating itself as the world undergoes a rapid technology-driven transformation. Global technological innovation is advancing far faster than the multilateral governance frameworks designed to regulate it, leaving the door open for historical inequalities to be codified into emerging systems. “Because the question before us is not whether any new inequalities may arise. It is whether the old ones will be written into the code, into who owns the data, who sets the standards, who captures the value, and who, once more, is left to carry the cost,” Briceño explained.

Despite the significant risk of repeating historical harms, Briceño stressed that a more equitable and just global system remains achievable, but only if global leaders make intentional, deliberate choices to center equity. “We do not have to accept that outcome. A development framework is a choice. It can be designed to serve the common good and measured against what our people actually need: dignity, opportunity, and a fair share in what they help to create. Or it can be left to reproduce what came before and call it progress. We have the knowledge to choose the first path. What is needed now is the will,” he said.

Beyond technology and reparations, Briceño used his address to push for urgent reform to how the international financial system assesses and supports small developing nations on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Speaking from his own experience leading Belize, a small Central American nation extremely vulnerable to climate disasters, he argued that current metrics used to determine access to concessional finance fail to capture the unique structural risks these nations face. “Belize does not seek special treatment; we seek accurate treatment. Income per capita does not reveal how much of an economy sits in a hurricane’s path, what it costs to serve dispersed communities, or how quickly a climate shock can reverse fiscal gains,” he said. Briceño called for the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index to be integrated across all international financial institutions, using it to shape eligibility for low-interest financing, debt sustainability assessments, and global capital allocation decisions.

In a formal announcement made on September 26, 2026, Belizean Prime Minister John Briceño officially threw his country’s support behind Carolyn Rodriguez-Birkett of Guyana to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, framing the Caribbean diplomat’s candidacy as a milestone for the entire Caribbean region.\n\nThis year marks the selection of the 10th Secretary-General in the United Nations’ 81-year history, and Briceño emphasized that Belize stands firmly in support of Rodriguez-Birkett, whom he described as a distinguished leader with deep roots in the Caribbean. Beyond the symbolic weight of placing a Caribbean woman at the head of the world’s foremost multilateral institution, Briceño argued that Rodriguez-Birkett’s professional track record makes her the ideal candidate for the role.\n\nAddressing the core challenges that the next Secretary-General will face, Briceño stressed that small and vulnerable developing states must be elevated from the margins of global decision-making to the center of the United Nations’ core agenda. He noted that the incoming Secretary-General will inherit a multilateral system grappling with internal strains and a global community that is growing increasingly impatient for tangible progress on pressing global issues. For small island states and vulnerable economies like Belize and Guyana, decisions made at the United Nations directly impact national survival, making it critical that their perspectives are centered rather than sidelined. Briceño added that the United Nations must evolve to become more agile, inclusive, and effective in delivering outcomes that benefit all member states.\n\nBriceño also pushed back against common narratives that equate institutional reform purely with cutting budgets and streamlining operations. He warned that a smaller United Nations bureaucracy does not inherently equate to a better, more effective institution. Peace and security, he argued, cannot be treated as an afterthought in budget-cutting exercises. Furthermore, the United Nations cannot separate its work on human rights from its development agenda, nor can it achieve sustained development without a foundation of peace and security. Any meaningful reform of the institution must uphold all three interconnected pillars of the UN Charter – peace and security, development, and human rights – as a single, indivisible commitment to the global community.

In his September 2026 address to the United Nations General Assembly, Belizean Prime Minister John Briceño laid out clear, uncompromising positions on a series of pressing global and regional crises, calling for collective international action to address long-standing injustices and emerging conflicts.

Briceño began by focusing on regional instability in the Caribbean, starting with the ongoing crisis in Haiti. He emphasized that Haiti’s instability is a shared concern for all Caribbean nations, noting that while upcoming December elections offer a glimmer of hope, a sharp rise in gang violence threatens to derail the democratic process. Echoing the position of the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group, Briceño called for the immediate full deployment of an international gang suppression force to create the secure political environment required for a Haitian-led, Haitian-owned transitional government to succeed. “Haiti’s crisis is our crisis. Haiti is the Caribbean,” Briceño stated, affirming Belize’s unwavering solidarity with the Haitian people and alignment with CARICOM’s demands.

Turning to Cuba, Briceño reiterated Belize’s long-standing condemnation of the United States’ decades-long economic embargo against the island nation. He explained that the blockade, exacerbated by strict fuel restrictions, has inflicted severe, unnecessary damage on Cuba’s economy, calling the ongoing policy unjustified and inhumane. Briceño renewed Belize’s call for the full lifting of the embargo, as well as the removal of Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

On the conflict in Palestine, Briceño spoke with unfiltered clarity, condemning Israel’s military actions in Gaza and calling for an immediate end to what he labeled as genocide and apartheid. He argued that the international community has failed for decades to secure Palestinian self-determination, calling out the global body for allowing what he described as a settler colonial project to continue unchallenged. “It is an affront to this assembly and to humanity to be forced to listen to a man justify apartheid and genocide when he is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Briceño said. “The genocide must end. The apartheid must stop. End the occupation and decolonize Palestine.”

Briceño also addressed the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, framing the conflict as a critical test of the existing international order. He stressed that any violation of a UN member state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity threatens the foundation of global peace, noting that if borders can be redrawn through force, every border across the globe becomes unstable. “Our actions must extend to every conflict and to every person displaced, destitute, or in despair,” he added.

Closing his address, Briceño turned to the question of Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN system, reaffirming Belize’s decades-long diplomatic relationship with the island. He highlighted that 23 million Taiwanese people are currently denied representation and a voice in the UN General Assembly, a situation Briceño called a global security concern. Briceño emphasized that Taiwan has been a reliable development partner to Belize for more than 30 years, contributing directly to progress in climate resilience, agricultural technical capacity, and public infrastructure development. Beyond Belize’s bilateral partnership, Briceño noted that Taiwan occupies a central role in global tech supply chains, producing the world’s most advanced semiconductors and leading innovation in artificial intelligence, with the island standing ready to share its technological expertise with the entire international community. For these reasons, Briceño once again called for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the United Nations system.