The people of Fiji
warmly congratulate Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann
on his election to the presidency of the General
Assembly at its sixty-third session. We also convey our
sincere gratitude to his predecessor, His Excellency
Mr. Srgjan Kerim. I am particularly happy also to
acknowledge the presence of the Prime Minister of the
Solomon Islands, Mr. Derrick Sikua, one of the Vice-
Presidents of the General Assembly and a member of
our region of the South Pacific.
This session of the General Assembly is
addressing several issues of critical global interest: the
global food crisis; climate change; peacekeeping; and
the law of the sea. All of those issues are of great and
direct importance to small island nations such as Fiji. I
will first briefly touch upon some of them.
The people of Fiji have been affected in a very
real, immediate, serious and tangible way by the
shocks transmitted to our small nation with the
dramatic escalation in global food prices, energy price
rises and the downturn in the global economy. In Fiji
we are using these adverse external developments as an
opportunity to revamp our long-neglected agricultural
sector. We have ample land resources, and we must put
them to better and more productive use.
The food crisis and the need for self-reliance
unfortunately run counter to the emergence of world
trading rules. The principle of free trade dictates an
open economy. Yet small developing economies like
ours in Fiji need to protect our agriculture to ensure
food security. We very much hope that international
trade negotiations and multilateral and bilateral trade
deals will enable us to protect agricultural development
in our small, vulnerable economies. Fiji will support all
concerted efforts, public and private, national and
multinational, regional and subregional, that are being
pursued to address the global food crisis.
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On the issue of climate change, Fiji looks to, and
is relying on, the leadership of the Assembly President.
This is a critical issue for the very small island and
atoll nations in the Pacific. While the rest of the world
continues endlessly to debate the implications of
climate change, in the very small islands and atolls in
the Pacific the problem is very much upon us. It is now
a present and very real danger. It poses a serious risk to
regional stability and security.
I appeal to the international community and its
system of institutions to enhance efforts to assist us to
address the threats of global climate change. We need
investments in adaptation measures. We need to move
from rhetoric to a more pragmatic and speedy
response. We call upon the agencies and our regional
partners to coordinate efforts to ensure that we in the
Pacific region have the capacity, both human and
institutional, to deal with this new threat, especially as
it is getting stronger. The observed and potential
impacts on our peoples and ecosystems due to climate
change are all too real and immediate. We count on the
President and the Secretary-General to exercise more
vigorous and active leadership on this issue of global
climate change.
I will now speak briefly on peacekeeping. I
convey our gratitude and appreciation to outgoing
Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guéhenno for his
dedicated leadership at the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). He was fair and
generous in implementing the reforms within DPKO
and in the development of a United Nations
peacekeeping doctrine that will guide future United
Nations peace operations and missions. We wish
Mr. Guéhenno well and assure his successor, Mr. Alain
Le Roy, of our full support and cooperation.
Fiji’s soldiers have a proud track record in United
Nations peacekeeping operations — a record of
professionalism, discipline, compassion and ability.
Fiji’s Military Forces have shown that their training
and ethics are an asset to peacekeeping operations. We
continue to work very hard to keep that exceptional
record intact. Yet despite that, the relationship between
Fiji and DPKO has been under strain. That is because
of Fiji’s military’s involvement in our Government
since December 2006. We are, however, encouraged by
the ongoing discussion between officials of our
Permanent Mission and the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations. It would be less than honest
of me if I did not observe that undue external influence
appears to have been brought to bear to exclude Fiji
from participation in new peacekeeping missions. I
express the hope that the opportunity will be extended
to us to participate in new peacekeeping missions.
Please allow me to now address this body on
Fiji’s current situation and on our efforts to take the
country forward. I should first like to look back, albeit
briefly. Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.
Our country then was seen as having great promise and
potential. Our people, with high hopes, placed their
faith on our country’s leaders to build a new nation that
would be peaceful, stable, culturally vibrant, tolerant
and prosperous. We felt then that by being part of the
international family of nations Fiji could demonstrate
by example the way the world should be.
For just over 15 years following independence,
we achieved some progress. However, following the
coups of 1987 and 2000, the rot set in. Since then,
Fiji’s overall political, economic and social situation
has continued to deteriorate. Our people’s dream of a
tolerant, united and prosperous nation was replaced by
a different reality — a reality characterized by political
instability, economic stagnation, increasing religious
and racial intolerance, ethno-nationalism and politics
based on ethno-nationalism, a rise in crime, violence
and corruption, increased poverty and the emigration
of many of our talented, skilled and experienced
citizens.
On 5 December 2006, a political transition took
place in Fiji following an intervention from the Fiji
Military Forces. Interim measures were put in place by
the President to ensure good governance, maintain law
and order and stabilize the economy. The President of
Fiji subsequently appointed an interim Government,
which I head. The legality of those actions has been
challenged and the matter is now before the courts of
Fiji.
To date, my Government, which remains in
effective control of governance in Fiji, has done
everything within its power to adhere to the current
Constitution. We recognize that that is the supreme law
of our nation. At the same time, we have also come to
recognize that the very foundation on which we have
sought to build our nation has been shaky and weak.
Therefore, our efforts must now focus on re-laying a
more solid foundation to return Fiji to sustainable
democratic governance. Our island nation must be
rebuilt on the solid rock-like foundations of equal
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rights, social justice, democracy and good governance.
We cannot and must not repeat the mistake of trying to
rebuild again on the proven proverbial foundation of
sand, which is washed away by the evils of self-
interest, incompetence, intolerance and greed.
In January of last year, the interim Government
embarked on a comprehensive examination of our
political, economic, social and governance problems.
We did that to identify what contributed to the abysmal
record of successive Governments since May 1987, and
also to find durable and just solutions. Early in that
undertaking, my Government decided to reach out to
the people of Fiji to ensure that they became better
aware of Fiji’s problems and that they all became part
of the solutions going forward. We did that while being
mindful of the larger issue of mandate that the events
of December 2006 raised. For my part, I took the view
that the interim Government must not pretend that it
had the capacity or the wisdom to solve our country’s
problems entirely on its own.
My country, Fiji, faces deep-rooted and very
fundamental problems that are both complex and
structural. My Government therefore recommended to
the President of Fiji that he set up a broadly
representative and independent consultative body to
reach out to the people of Fiji and to get them actively
involved in charting the way forward for Fiji. In late
2007, the President of Fiji established a 45-member
national council for building a better Fiji and officially
launched what is now known as the Peoples Charter
Initiative. The President invited the leaders of all major
political, social, community, business and religious
organizations in the country to join the national council
and to contribute to formulating a people’s charter for
change, peace and progress. Some, in particular those
organizations that remain vigorously opposed to the
interim Government, chose not to accept the invitation
of the President of Fiji. They wilfully persistently
rejected the call to engage in constructive dialogue and
to work towards a broad consensus on the way forward
for Fiji.
Last year, when I addressed the Assembly, I
briefly mentioned our preparations to launch the
Peoples Charter Initiative. I said then that through this
initiative the broad cross section of Fiji’s people would
be fully engaged and involved through consultation
and participation in developing a comprehensive action
agenda, and that that would be Fiji’s own way of
addressing its problems. Today, I am pleased to inform
the Assembly that very considerable progress has been
achieved on the Peoples Charter Initiative.
The overarching objective of the people’s charter
is to rebuild Fiji into a non-racial, culturally vibrant,
united, well-governed and truly democratic nation — a
nation that seeks progress and prosperity. The vision
for rebuilding Fiji that underpins that overarching
objective is guided by a number of key principles, such
as creating a just and fair society; achieving unity and
national identity; ensuring merit-based equality of
opportunity for all citizens; transparent and
accountable Government; uplifting the disadvantaged
in all communities; and mainstreaming our indigenous
people, the i-Taukei, in a modern and progressive Fiji.
We embarked upon the very bold programme of
drafting a people’s charter advisedly and for some very
compelling reasons. We can ill afford to carry on with
business as usual and in ways that continue to fragment
and divide our nation. In that context, the process of
drafting the people’s charter has been a unique and
unprecedented one — a nation-wide participatory and
consultative process of a scale and type never before
attempted in Fiji. The whole process is one of
empowerment the likes of which the people of Fiji
have never experienced before. Too often in national
governance — and this applies to so-called
democracies — it is the professional politicians who do
the thinking for the people. While the cries and voices
of the people are often heard, however, they are just as
easily ignored by the elected representatives and so-
called leaders.
From the outset, after being appointed as head of
the interim Government, I have felt that it was my duty
to go to the people of Fiji in the most basic and
democratic sense, that is, to consult, to actively involve
our people, and to put real people’s democracy to
work, house to house, in each settlement and village
and in towns and cities right across the country.
Through the People’s Charter Initiative, that is what we
have been doing.
There are some, both in Fiji and outside, who are
cynical in that regard. I am able to understand that, and
not only because such a process has never ever been
tried before. It is indeed a most challenging and
difficult process to undertake. Even though the
people’s charter process has been undertaken by the
national council at arm’s length from the interim
Government, there are those who oppose it simply
27 08-52265
because it is an initiative of the interim Government.
What they recognize, but choose not to admit, is that
the people’s charter process is a real threat to their
positions of vested power and privilege.
When I addressed the Assembly last year, I
pleaded for the support of the international community
to help us in the wake of all the political and economic
turbulence that Fiji has experienced since 1987. I
pleaded for support to develop a political and
governance framework that is truly democratic,
accountable, inclusive, equitable and non-racial, and
which will seek to unify Fiji’s diverse communities as
a nation. I also sought constructive dialogue and
engagement with the international community and with
all our bilateral and multilateral development partners.
I urged the international community to support us in
addressing Fiji’s fundamental problems.
I am asking the international community today
not to focus only on the removal of a Government.
That has already been done exhaustively. We have been
subjected to harsh international measures, which we
accepted. We have endured those through the suffering
of our people. The coups of 1987 and 2000 were
executed in the interests of a few and based on ethno-
nationalism, racism and greed. The events of
5 December 2006 were not for any such extremist
motivation.
In 2000, in quelling the civilian-led coup, as
Commander of the Fiji Military Forces, I played a
pivotal role in the handing of political power to a
civilian Government. Through the People’s Charter
Initiative, I am seeking to empower the people of Fiji
at large and to find just and sustainable solutions to our
deep-rooted and persistent problems. I wish to assure
the international community that I am personally
deeply committed to breaking the cycle of coups.
Equally important, I am committed to breaking the
cycle of bad and unjust governance that Fiji has
suffered since May 1987.
To remove the coup culture and to commit to
democratic and just governance and the rule of law, it
is imperative that policies that promote racial
supremacy and that further the interests of self-seeking
political, religious and traditional elites are removed
once and for all. In good faith, I anticipated that the
international community would rally behind and extend
support for such goals to help move Fiji forward.
Regrettably, so far that has not happened.
To the contrary, since December 2006 punitive
measures have continued to be taken against Fiji.
Travel sanctions continue, which are being imposed in
particular by Australia, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom and the United States of America. Those are
applied to interim Government ministers, senior civil
servants, military personnel and statutory board
appointees. Those sanctions have had significant
adverse effects on our economy, as well as on the
functioning of our key State institutions, on which we
rely to promote good governance and accountability.
Pressure has been exerted on regional and multilateral
agencies not to extend to Fiji much-needed financial,
development and technical assistance.
As a result, we have not been able to make as
much progress as we should have. We cannot travel
and engage in discussions at important regional and
international meetings abroad. That is despite the fact
that Fiji has made every effort to engage in dialogue
with our bilateral partners and the international
community in a constructive and transparent manner.
We have openly embraced and allowed various
missions sent by regional and international bodies such
as the Pacific Islands Forum, the European Union, the
United Nations and the Commonwealth secretariat. We
extended to all of them our fullest support and
cooperation in terms of engagement, in arranging
appointments and in making available to them
whatever information they needed. That demonstrates
that we are keen to engage constructively in dialogue
with whoever is interested in helping move our country
forward. Following the recent Pacific Islands Forum
meeting in Niue, I wrote last week to the Forum Chair
and indicated that the interim Fiji Government is
prepared to re-engage with the Forum Joint Working
Group and that we are prepared to welcome a visit,
before December 2008, by the Forum’s Ministerial
Contact Group.
We are not able to schedule an election to return
Fiji to parliamentary democracy in the early part of
2009, as earlier anticipated. We realize that that has
caused concern to some of our own people in Fiji, to
countries of the region and to some of our development
partners. The stance taken by the international
community with regard to the delay in convening the
election, however, has given much ammunition to our
opponents within Fiji. They have used it to vilify us
despite the progress that we are making towards just
and sustainable solutions to our fundamental problems.
08-52265 28
I have already explained to Fiji’s people the need to
delay the election. I wish to inform our regional
partners and the international community represented
here today that the interim Government cannot convene
an election by March 2009. That is due to work still in
progress to agree on a democratic electoral system that
is acceptable to the people of Fiji and that all political
stakeholders can agree to through political dialogue.
We believe that the general election must be held
as soon as possible. That will be done only after we
have achieved broad consensus in Fiji on a non-racial
and truly democratic electoral system, and agreed on a
constitutional and legal way to introduce the changes.
It is necessary to change our current electoral system
because it is undemocratic and does not provide for
free and fair elections. It contravenes the principle of
equal suffrage as set out in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. To achieve that, the President of Fiji
has proposed that a political dialogue forum be
convened as a mechanism independent of the national
council. It is through that forum that we hope to reach
consensus and introduce the reforms through legal and
constitutional means. Again, I say with emphasis, the
timeframe to achieve all that is not dependent upon me
or the interim Government; it is the collective
responsibility of all stakeholders.
In May of this year, Fiji sought assistance from
the Commonwealth and the United Nations to
facilitate, as a priority and with urgency, the
President’s proposed political dialogue forum. We had
hoped that the forum, which would initially focus on
electoral reform, would have been convened by now.
Little progress has been made, and we are concerned
about the delay. I would like to take this opportunity to
reiterate our request to the United Nations and the
Commonwealth to help us urgently in that regard.
After taking into account the feedback from our
nation-wide consultations, the draft peoples charter
will be amended as necessary and appropriate before it
is finalized. It will then be adopted as a vision
statement that identifies our core problems and the
solutions recommended through the nation-wide
consultation process. It is incumbent upon me and my
Government to build consensus on the peoples charter
as the common principles on which we should rebuild
our nation. The peoples charter will present a
considered way forward for Fiji. We are not obliged to
abandon the enormous and important work being
achieved through an extensive participatory and
consultative process just because some people remain
opposed and have decided not to participate. My
Government’s task now is to persuade those opponents
to come aboard, to join and to contribute. We hope to
and must achieve consensus.
At this particular juncture in the history of our
nation, leadership is more about how we can seize the
present historic opportunity to manage the transition
from the interim Government to a truly democratic
Government and nation consisting of various ethnic
communities but which is one nation with its people in
unity in the true spirit in which the United Nations was
established.
In conclusion, I reaffirm Fiji’s commitment to the
United Nations and to the various United Nations
conventions on human rights, the rule of law and
democratic governance. We do not seek any special
exemptions from our obligations under those
conventions. All we seek from the United Nations is its
understanding of our particular circumstances and the
complex situation of Fiji. We invite the Organization to
work with us to assist us to rebuild our country and
move it forward.