Maldives

Allow me first of all to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly. His election to that high office demonstrates not only the support that Uruguay enjoys in the international arena, but also the confidence and trust that the members of the Assembly have in his ability to guide the work of this session to a successful conclusion. Allow me also to record my delegation’s profound gratitude and appreciation to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, for the exemplary manner in which he steered the work of the General Assembly throughout the past year. I would also like to take this opportunity, on behalf of my delegation, to express our sincere thanks and admiration to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, for his untiring work and dedication in promoting the cause of this Organization. The Secretary- General deserves every assistance and cooperation from all the States Members of the Organization in his endeavours to fulfil the enormous responsibilities that we have placed upon his shoulders in achieving the goals of the United Nations in a world full of political unrest, ethnic conflicts and natural disasters. From the forest fires in South-East Asia, Europe and North America to the horrendous floods and droughts in Asia, Africa and the Americas, we have been witnessing a drastic increase in the number of natural disasters occurring in various regions of the world with immense loss to human life and property. The excessive effects of the environmental phenomena known as El Niño and La Niña are sweeping across four continents with deadly consequences. Record-breaking temperatures around the globe have spared no country. My country also experienced record high temperatures early this year, bleaching and killing coral reefs and causing enormous 6 imbalance in the ever so fragile ecosystem that surrounds our tiny islands. The Maldives may be situated outside the cyclone belt; we may have no rivers to flood, volcanoes to erupt or large forests to burn. But my country is as vulnerable to natural disasters as any other. Indeed, for the past decade we have lived with the fear of being slowly engulfed by the rising waters of the mighty Indian Ocean that surrounds us. Our fears have become more alarming since we have seen the death and destruction caused by the tsunami in Papua New Guinea and the devastating floods in Bangladesh. We have been forced to wonder what would happen if such a disaster struck our tiny, low-lying country. When my President addressed this Assembly on the impending dangers of global warming and sea level rise over a decade ago, the extent of the threat posed by climate change was not yet widely known or accepted. Today we note that the realities of global warming are being acknowledged by scientists and politicians all over the world. However, mere acknowledgement of the danger is not enough. As we have stated repeatedly over the years, if we are to arrest and reverse this lurking threat, we need the unwavering commitment and cooperation of the entire international community. It is important that we fully and urgently implement the commitments that we ourselves have undertaken at various international conferences. In this regard, I urge the international community, and especially the industrialized countries, to honour their commitments without any further delay. My delegation believes that full and unconditional implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States is essential for the continued development of those countries. My country, for its part, has done and will continue to do everything that is required of it to contribute to this goal, and we hope that the other Members of this Organization will fulfil their commitments. Although we were happy with some of the agreements reached at the Kyoto Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change last year, I regret to say that we were not fully satisfied with the achievements there. We accepted the Kyoto Protocol because we felt that it contained some important elements that deserved recognition and implementation, and because it is the best negotiated agreement available at present. In order to demonstrate our firm commitment to the climate change negotiations, we went one step further and signed the Kyoto Protocol as the first signatory State. We call upon all States to become parties to the Protocol and implement the targets specified in it. In our small island States, the environment and the economy are intertwined very closely. Tourism and fishing are the two dominant economic sectors in the Maldives, and in a number of other small island States as well. For the Maldives, the tourism sector has been the main source of foreign exchange earnings and has accounted for more than 40 per cent of gross domestic product. Effects of global warming such as sea level rise, beach erosion, coral bleaching, increasing stress on coastal ecosystems, salinization of freshwater aquifers and damage to infrastructure from tropical storms are, however, threatening to jeopardize the viability and the long-term sustainability of our tourist industry. Given the limited availability of resources, many small island developing States, including the Maldives, are not in a position to carry the burden of the high cost of environmental protection on their own. Therefore, we are fully convinced that without adequate, new and additional financial resources, transfer of environmentally sound technology on concessional and preferential terms, and provision for human resources development, even the mere survival of our countries will be impossible. The vulnerability to external factors of the economies of small island developing States, especially the least developed countries among them, is a well- known fact. Globalization, coupled with the ecological fragility of small island developing States, has marginalized those countries from the present multilateral trading system. Exports from least developed countries have grown far more slowly than world trade over the past two decades, resulting in a continued decline in their share of world trade. Market access for least developed countries is becoming narrower. Poverty still remains a stumbling-block in their quest for achieving sustainable social and economic development. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to call upon the major players in the world economy and upon our development partners to pay special attention to assisting small island States and other least developed countries in their efforts to become integrated into the world economy. When gross domestic product is used as an indicator to determine the developmental status of a country, the small island developing States may appear to be more prosperous than they really are. We believe that the criteria now used by the Committee for Development Policy in identifying least developed countries do not take 7 into consideration the special circumstances of the small island developing States and their vulnerability. The Committee has already recommended the graduation of four small island developing States from the list of least developed countries. The Maldives is, unfortunately, one of them. The irony of this is that the economies of these countries are heavily dependent on one or two industries, which may be extremely vulnerable to global economic and environmental changes and other external factors. Moreover, while the Committee itself has identified the obstacles to integration into the global economy and has called for continued official development assistance for least developed countries for at least another 10 years, some of the countries most in need of such assistance have been earmarked for graduation by the year 2000. My delegation feels that it would be grossly unfair to graduate countries from least developed country status unless they are able to sustain the momentum of growth that they have been able to achieve. Furthermore, the criteria which were adopted in 1991 need to be reviewed in the context of the increased pace of globalization during the 1990s. Until such time as a vulnerability index is developed, it would be very imprudent to graduate any small island States. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a major milestone in the promotion and protection of human rights, providing an essential basis for democracy, freedom and justice. Human rights apply without regard to race, gender, creed, age, colour or economic status. But everywhere we look — north, south, east or west — the reality often falls short of the ideal. Therefore, we must redouble our efforts to promote and protect human rights the world over. The Maldives remains firmly committed to the cause of promotion and protection of human rights. I am happy to report that this year a new Constitution has come into force in the Maldives, providing stronger safeguards for civil liberties and the fundamental rights of the people, and strengthening the foundations and processes of our democracy. We have also been able to achieve remarkable progress in the realization of social, economic and cultural rights of the people through continued economic development and social progress. We believe that democracy, development and peace are essential for the realization of human rights. The question of reform of the Organization has been on the agenda of the General Assembly for quite some time. Although the process of reform has proved to be a difficult one, my delegation does not wish to see it prolonged, for we believe that its momentum cannot be maintained indefinitely. However, it is important that we remain focused on the central issue of making this Organization ready and capable of delivering the promise of peace, justice and prosperity for all human beings, irrespective of their colour, race, gender or belief, and the promise of providing the means to protect our environment and enjoy our fundamental freedoms. This means that reform should cover the United Nations system in its entirety. On the specific question of the reform of the Security Council, my delegation appreciates the efforts of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council. However, we remain concerned about the lack of progress in its proceedings, and are worried about the prevailing difficulties which are preventing an early agreement on this important issue. We remain convinced of the importance of the early and successful conclusion of the efforts to make the Security Council more responsive to and representative of the current world realities in order to make it more effective. The commitment of the Maldives to arms control, disarmament and international peace and security remains unwavering. We are parties to all major multilateral instruments relating to arms control and disarmament. Since its inception, we have been faithfully and regularly contributing to the international Register of Conventional Arms. We signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) last year and are presently going through the process of ratifying it. This morning we have signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. My delegation is happy to note the considerable progress the international community has made in the field of arms control and disarmament, and commends the bilateral initiatives that have been proved to be so successful. We believe that both bilateral and multilateral approaches must reinforce and complement each other if we are to successfully achieve complete disarmament. In my delegation’s view, the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones and zones of peace in various regions of the world is a positive step towards achieving nuclear disarmament. At this juncture, we particularly stress the importance of the establishment of the proposed 8 nuclear-weapon-free zone in South Asia, and take this opportunity to call upon all countries in South Asia to exercise maximum restraint and contribute to the realization of this noble objective. In our quest to make the world a safer place we must not think only of the big Powers and the big bangs. Security is indivisible, whether in terms of geography or range of threat. The continuing scourge of terrorism, which rears its ugly and murderous head all too frequently, is as much the bane of international security today as is the spread of nuclear and other dangerous weapons. That terrorist groups may gain access to such weapons is an alarming thought. For small States the threats posed by terrorists are allied with and magnified by the activities of drug-traffickers, money-launderers and other manifestations of organized crime. That is why we have acceded to many international conventions against terrorism and are actively considering acceding to the remaining conventions. I would also like to take this opportunity to repeat the appeal made by my President at the historic fiftieth anniversary commemorative session of this body for the signature and early ratification of the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries in order to expedite its entry in to force. My delegation believes that in the face of these threats it is in the interest of the international community to provide adequate safeguards for small States, which are in reality the front-line States against most of these evil deeds. We are happy to see the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Those who perpetrate war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity must not be allowed to cross a border to safety or anonymity. This is why an international court that can systematically prosecute major war criminals wherever they are has to be established. This need has become more urgent in this post- cold-war period, which is characterized by the proliferation of conflicts of unprecedented ferocity. The horrifying crimes against humanity committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and elsewhere cannot be allowed to recur at any time or at any place. The perpetrators of those crimes should be brought to justice. My delegation strongly believes that the ultimate legal guarantee of peace and justice in the world lies in the strength and resolve of the international community and not in the strength and resolve of a single country. In conclusion, I once again would like to stress the vulnerability of small island developing States. My delegation believes that urgent and immediate action is absolutely necessary to alleviate the difficulties faced by these countries due to environmental degradation. If the present-day predictions for climate change were to come true, the Maldives and many other small island countries would have to face the frightful reality of extinction. Time is running out. Let us do something immediately. Otherwise, we will be no more.