I take this opportunity warmly to
congratulate you. Sir, on your election to the presidency of the forty-seventh
session of the General Assembly. We know that we are in capable hand as we
face the important tasks ahead of us. I should also like to express my
appreciation to your predecessor. Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia,
for the distinguished manner in which he guided the General Assembly during
the last session.
It was one year ago that the General Assembly honoured the Republic of
the Marshall Islands by granting it membership in the United Nations. On this
anniversary, as we reflect on our times, we note that a central feature of the
international political landscape of the past several years has been the
emergence or the re-emergence of the nationalities.
It is our grave responsibility to serve our nations during this
challenging period of transition and development. Throughout the world we are
seeing the advent of self-government by nations. The sovereignty and dignity
of indigenous peoples are coming to be recognized as the basis for effective
government. In the Marshall Islands, as in other developing countries
throughout the world, we have set high aspirations for our nation and we seek
expanded opportunities for our people. Our children will no longer be denied
achievement of their potential because of the time and place into which they
were born. They will be the hope and the pride of our nation, and our future.
We are grateful to the United Nations for its steadfast commitment to
fostering the self-government and self-determination of peoples. For many
peoples, it has been a long time coming.
Like so many countries, large and small, the Marshall Islands was for
four and a half decades relegated to one camp of the great cold-war struggle.
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the residents of Bikini
and Enewetak Atolls in the Northern Marshall Islands were relocated from their
ancestral homes so that the United States Government could conduct an
extensive and widely publicized programme of testing atomic and nuclear
weapons. Even though the testing programme was discontinued in the late
1950s, our Government and people are still coming to terms with its effects on
our health and way of life. We have many good reasons to applaud the end of
the cold war.
The breakdown of the two contending camps has left a world in which we
can no longer conveniently apply the simple classification of nations into the
Eastern bloc or the Western block. It is a time fraught with uncertainty and
risk, but it is also a time for rethinking our concepts of government and its
relation to individual citizens. And with this rethinking we must see that
greater responsibilities are opened to mankind.
We are finding that the expediencies that once worked in the cold war
centres of power are too broad, too large in scale, too impersonal, for the
smaller nations. Development is now taking place on a more human scale. The
growth of nations is providing the context for human ingenuity to assert
itself with fewer restraints. The progress of the past decade has resulted in
a greater portion of mankind than ever before living in situations of
political and economic freedom. Increasingly, the human spirit has been able
to soar unfettered by restraints and regulations imposed by authorities too
distant from individuals' circumstances.
In a setting of liberty, the individual is empowered to advance to the
extent of his ability. For many years teachers in the Marshall Islands have
sought to implement the wise insight of Marcus Aurelius:
"Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish
and you have fed him for ever."
Some of our teachers have even convinced themselves that this is Marshallese
folk wisdom! But at least they recognize that the most effective help is
self-help.
The exchange of ideas and the reduction of trade barriers have served to
draw mankind together. People throughout the world are now cooperating in the
developmental process. In no nation do people live in the isolation that our
ancestors did only a century ago and that some people endured until the end
of the cold war. But, in the face of modernization, the people and places of
the world have retained their particular attributes, and these are now giving
force and cohesion to their national characters.
The past year has seen the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. At this
historic gathering the nations of the world agreed to pursue their
developmental goals in a manner that will sustain the ecological diversity of
our planet. We in the Marshall Islands, living on low-lying coral atolls and
islands, have been following with great interest the scientific debate over
global warming. The same careful approach that we have applied to evaluating
the impact of nuclear testing in our islands is also being applied to the
possible dangers of a rise in sea level. In this regard, I am pleased to
reiterate the call that President Amata Kabua of the Marshall Islands made at
the Rio Summit for the United Nations to convene a follow-up Earth Summit in
1995, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.
If global warming endangers certain regions and certain modes of life, we
have to confirm the risks and inform our citizens about them. An environment
at risk will be a significant constraint for the developing nations in the
late twentieth century. Nevertheless, our concern for environmental quality
need not put a halt to the developmental process. Instead, it will be part of
the overall situation to which individuals will respond with creativity and
productivity.
With the assistance of the United Nations, the people of our countries
will continue to benefit from the international structure of trade, cultural
exchanges, environmental studies and the resolution of disputes.
The heart of the United Nations consists of the many Member
nation-States. The rich mix of nationalities is certainly complicating the
map of the world. Our challenge is to find collective benefit in this
diversity.
As a primary obligation, of course, we must meet basic human needs that
are beyond local capabilities: collectively, we can help feed the starving
refugees of Somalia; we can commit our manpower and financial resources to
help bring peace to the Middle East and in the Balkan States; we can provide
emergency assistance to the victims of natural disasters; we can continue to
work towards the eradication of the great plagues. In these situations, where
the human need is greatest, the United Nations is admirably serving its
purposes. In addition, the techniques and processes made available by the
agencies of the United Nations have helped provide our citizens with security
and basic public services.
On the other hand, the preservation of cultural diversity, and probably
the preservation of environmental diversity, will require the direct
commitment of nations and individuals. In an era of national consciousness,
most matters of public policy, even those with international consequences, are
going to be worked out at the national level - and frequently locally and
individually.
Let us celebrate the diverse nationalities, and do everything in our
power to nurture our peoples and enable them to lead lives that are full and
contented and peaceful.