Fiji

I bring warm greetings to all from the Government and people of Fiji. May I take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Al-Nasser on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session and pay tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss. This year, it was my honour to open new missions in Indonesia and South Africa. The Fiji High Commission in Pretoria is our first diplomatic mission on the continent of Africa, and we see it as a gateway to that great continent. Our new embassy in Jakarta is intended to strengthen our warm, fraternal relations with Indonesia. In the same spirit, I journey next week to Brazil to open Fiji’s first embassy on the South American continent. In May this year Fiji had the privilege of being admitted to membership of the Non-Aligned Movement. We have pledged to play our full part in the Movement’s activities, particularly in the area of South-South cooperation and sustainable development. These positive developments complement the Fijian Government’s Look North Policy and our intention to expand relations with non-traditional partners. We believe that such an expansion of outlook is essential to our national development and our full exercise of Fiji’s global rights and responsibilities. Here at the United Nations, we are active members of the Asia- Pacific Group and, along with our fellow Pacific small island developing States, we greatly appreciate the support given to us by members of that regional group. Fiji’s guiding document, the People’s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress, has given our nation the task of enhancing Fiji’s international relations, both bilaterally and multilaterally. In pursuit of this task, since the beginning of last year Fiji has formalized diplomatic relations with 37 countries, bringing to a total of 114 the number of countries with which Fiji has formal diplomatic relations. Fiji is firmly on the 11-51197 2 path of formalizing our diplomatic relations with all States Members of the United Nations. Fiji remains steadfastly committed to the work of the United Nations in safeguarding world peace, including all international counter-terrorism efforts. In 2006, Fiji voted in favour of the preparation of a robust arms trade treaty (resolution 61/89), and we commend all those who have shown commitment to preparing that treaty for signature in 2012. Fiji’s commitment to the Charter of the United Nations remains steadfast. Our tradition of service in the Blue Helmets of United Nations peacekeeping began in 1978 in Lebanon with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, in which the Fijian battalion served for 24 years. In 1982 when the multinational force and observers were deployed as peacekeepers in Sinai, a Fijian battalion was among them and has remained there to this day. In Iraq, the guard unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has been manned by Fijians since 2004. With the planned withdrawal of the United States forces from Iraq this year, the United Nations has seen fit to increase the size of its UNAMI guard unit and, after due process, Fiji was selected to provide the extra personnel. We thank the United Nations for the confidence it has shown in our servicemen and servicewomen. In addition, Fijian servicemen and servicewomen are currently stationed in peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, Abyei, Darfur, Liberia and Timor-Leste. I pause here to profess my country’s recognition and respect for the selfless service given by United Nations peacekeepers in the troubled regions of our world, and to pay tribute to those of them who made the ultimate sacrifice. Fiji is currently the Chair of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), whose membership includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front of New Caledonia. This year, the MSG was pleased to admit Indonesia and Timor-Leste to observer status. Fiji wishes to commend the work of our brother MSG missions at the United Nations in bringing Melanesian concerns to the attention of the United Nations Special Political and Decolonization Committee. Through its membership of the Decolonization Committee, Fiji will continue to call for the Committee to conduct effective monitoring and assessment of the progress of New Caledonia’s Nouméa Accord. In this regard, we would welcome the establishment of arrangements for closer cooperation and information-sharing between the United Nations Secretariat and the MSG secretariat. We also express our gratitude to the Government of France for its cooperation and assistance to this end. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) continue to inspire our economic development efforts. In Fiji, we have concentrated our focus on national infrastructure development under our road map for democracy and sustainable socio-economic development. Under the road map, priority has been given to rural electrification expansion, access to clean water and to national road development. This focus is with a view to creating the bedrock required for sustainable economic growth. Since the reform of Fiji’s laws to bring them into line with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, further progress has been achieved. We are experiencing increased participation by women in local decision-making bodies, thereby empowering rural women, increasing the enrolment of women and girls in tertiary education, gender mainstreaming within the Government system and increasing the provision of welfare assistance to the marginalized, including single mothers. The Domestic Violence Decree, which came into effect last year, is now being effectively implemented by the law enforcement agencies in conjunction with civil society groups. Its regime of restraining orders is intended to deter perpetrators of family violence from inflicting further violence, while allowing families to remain together in peace. The Decree recognizes the difficulty experienced by women and children in gaining access to the justice system because of family, community, cultural and attitudinal barriers. In order to address the MDG HIV/AIDS target, the Fijian Government enacted a new law this year that, among other things, safeguards the privacy and rights of persons infected or affected by HIV. The HIV/AIDS Decree is based on the United Nations international guidelines on HIV/AIDS and on the Declaration of Commitment to a human rights-based approach to dealing with the epidemic. The Decree has been acknowledged as one of the most progressive HIV laws in the world. Fiji participated in and was represented by our Head of State, His Excellency Ratu 3 11-51197 Epeli Nailatikau, at the HIV/AIDS High-level Meeting that was held in this Hall in August. In addition to the HIV/AIDS Decree, Fiji this year passed the Mental Health Decree, based on World Health Organization guidelines on best practice for mental patients, and the Child Welfare Decree, which creates a system that requires the mandatory reporting of child abuse by doctors, police officers and lawyers to the Ministry of Social Welfare. Fiji is determined to provide to all Fijians enlightened and progressive laws on health care, access to health services and justice. A large percentage of Fiji’s population is at risk of contracting a non-communicable disease (NCDs), or lifestyle disease, including cardiovascular or cancerous diseases. We welcome the high-level commitment of the international community to address this crisis and the successful completion of the High-level Meeting on NCDs this week. The Fijian Government has taken key actions to address NCD issues, including being the first country to sign and ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It is also one of the first countries to pilot a salt-reduction programme. The economic reforms undertaken by the Fijian Government have produced positive mid-term results. Last month, we were heartened to learn that Fiji’s economic standing was assessed at a higher level by the credit-rating agency Standard and Poor’s. This improved rating is also attributable to the strong support of all development partners, including the private sector, which have worked closely with the Fijian Government. I wish to take this opportunity to thank them for their cooperation, assistance and collaboration. As a small island developing State (SIDS) vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, Fiji has a strong desire to see positive and concrete outcomes achieved at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Durban later this year. We hold firm to the hope of a successful outcome from the UNFCCC negotiations. However, the urgency of the situation for many small island and low-lying coastal States, and the real threat posed by sea-level rise, prompted the Pacific SIDS to draw the attention of the Security Council to the security implications of climate change. Fiji hopes that the presidential statement adopted by the Council in July (S/PRST/2011/15*) at the end of the open debate on the security implications of climate change will enable the Council to look further into the plight of those countries that are most at risk of losing their territory to climate change. As the first signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Fiji has kept its oceanic obligations at the core of its foreign policy. With the increasing interest in seabed mining, and in order to avoid a race to the bottom by countries wishing to exploit the untapped mineral resources on the ocean floor, it is imperative that the International Seabed Authority remain vigilant in safeguarding the environmental integrity of the world’s seabeds. Fiji has invested much time and many resources in the responsible consideration of seabed mining, and thus welcomes the Advisory Opinion of the Seabed Disputes Chamber on the responsibilities and obligations of States parties with regard to seabed mining. We also welcome the decision by the Council of the International Seabed Authority to approve the application by Tonga and Nauru for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in the mid-east Pacific Ocean. We see the Pacific small island developing States as legitimate participants in this oceanic resource. The Pacific Ocean is the mainstay of our country’s livelihood, our food security and our economy. Fiji views the blue economy as an essential element of the green economy. In this regard, we consider the 2012 Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be critical to protecting that economy. Since I last addressed the General Assembly (see A/65/PV.19), Fijians have benefited from the nation’s Strategic Framework for Change. The Framework set in place the road map that will take Fiji to the holding of national elections by September 2014. Under the provisions of the road map, from September next year until 2013 our nation must turn its attention to the development of a new constitution premised along the laudable principles set out in the People’s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. The road map clearly states that in the process the new Fijian constitution must do away with racial categorization and discrimination so that for the first time in Fiji’s history, Fijians will go to elections in 2014 on the basis of common and equal suffrage. That will be real progress. It will undo decades of undemocratic laws and policies inherited from our colonial past and entrenched in past Constitutions that have impeded our nation’s progress. 11-51197 4 This is a determined move to create a society based on substantive equality and justice and respect for the dignity of all Fijians. As we enter this formative two-year period in Fiji’s history, we recognize that inclusiveness will be an essential part of the process in the formulation of the new constitution. We also recognize our national responsibility at all times to ensure that the nation’s overall peace, well-being and sustainable economic development prevail over divisive factional interests. The Fijian nation will prevail, and we have every confidence that our beloved country has the homegrown ability to pull itself up by its own bootstraps. In this respect, I am happy to inform this gathering that electronic registration of voters for the national elections is scheduled to commence in January next year. We trust that our trading and development partners, friends old and new, will give us the understanding, the space and the assistance we need to ensure that true and sustainable democracy can take root in Fiji. In this regard, we have taken great heart from recent assurances of support from many of our bilateral and multilateral friends, not least of which is the United Nations. Once again, I offer my congratulations to the President on his election and my best wishes for a productive sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.