As we meet for the
sixty-second session of the General Assembly, we look
again to the United Nations as the global forum to
address the challenges which affect us all.
Climate change is serious and urgent, as many
have said in this Hall. We welcome that it has been the
theme of our general debate this year. The science is
clear. Climate change is real and will impact on all
parts of the world. To meet the global challenge of
climate change, there must be widespread and effective
international action. It will be important to get all
economies onto low carbon pathways over time.
Market mechanisms will have a significant role to play.
Individual countries will face different challenges.
Different national circumstances must be taken into
account.
The United Nations climate change conference in
Bali in December will be a fresh opportunity to
re-energize our efforts in addressing climate change.
New Zealand wants to see a Bali road map emerge in
December to set us on the course for an effective future
response. New Zealand welcomes the momentum that
is being generated by other high-level meetings in the
lead-up to Bali, including the recent Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Declaration.
Last week’s high-level event deserves special
mention. We congratulate the Secretary-General for his
efforts in cultivating the political goodwill that will be
vital if we are to reach agreement in Bali.
Taking action as an international community also
means taking action domestically. In recent weeks,
New Zealand has announced a number of domestic
measures to address climate change. An emissions
trading scheme will be established from 1 January
2008 and will form the cornerstone of our efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will, over time,
cover all sectors and all gases.
We have also identified a number of longer-term
domestic goals, which will move New Zealand down
the path to carbon neutrality. They will provide
benefits, including healthier homes, cleaner air and
improved public transport. While climate change is
certainly a challenge for us all, it is also an opportunity
to move towards a more sustainable world.
With regard to the Millennium Development
Goals, we recognize that having passed the halfway
point to 2015, the international community needs to
step up its efforts to achieve them. At the same time,
there is scope for the United Nations development
system to be strengthened. We welcome the newly
established initiatives in the Economic and Social
Council the Annual Ministerial Review and the
Development Cooperation Forum as practical ways
to share information about what is working and where
we can improve our efforts at country level.
New Zealand is also committed to improving
system-wide coherence at the United Nations in the
fields of development, humanitarian issues and the
environment. We attach particular importance to
working for a strengthened, coherent, gender
architecture and towards effective gender
mainstreaming across all United Nations entities.
New Zealand welcomes the completion of the
United Nations Pacific-based development agencies’
strategic framework for the Pacific. We are keen to
work closely with United Nations agencies in the
Pacific to achieve positive outcomes for our partners in
the areas of human rights, sexual and reproductive
heath, HIV/AIDS, child immunization and women’s
leadership.
A strong, prosperous and stable Pacific is a key
foreign policy priority for New Zealand. We place a
high priority on fostering solidarity and cooperation in
the Pacific to tackle the challenges the region faces in
democracy, security and economic development.
Around half of New Zealand’s development assistance
goes towards the Pacific.
New Zealand provides assistance in the region in
Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and
Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, with each situation
calling for a different response.
The Timorese people, their leaders and the
international community have all made a huge effort
over the past year to return Timor-Leste to a more
secure and stable path. New Zealand has participated in
those efforts through our contributions to the
International Security Forces and to the United Nations
Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT). Timor-
Leste will require a sustained commitment from
UNMIT.
The situation in Fiji continues to be of concern to
New Zealand. As a neighbour of Fiji with a long-
standing and very close relationship, New Zealand
worked hard to avert last December’s coup, including
by convening a meeting to mediate between the then
Prime Minister and the military commander. We very
much regret that this failed to dissuade the coup
makers from their illegal and unconstitutional path.
New Zealand strongly and actively supports the
steps that have been taken by the Pacific Islands Forum
to encourage an early return to constitutional
government in Fiji. We would welcome a firm
commitment from the interim administration to work
towards elections within the timeframe endorsed by the
Forum. Given that commitment, New Zealand would
begin to restore a more normal bilateral relationship
through which we could cooperate in addressing Fiji’s
undoubtedly complex problems.
I also want to take this opportunity to address one
issue in particular raised in the Solomon Islands
statement on Monday (see ). It was
suggested, inter alia, that the presence of the Regional
Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI),
was an “occupation”, and that RAMSI’s operation
transgressed Article 52 of the United Nations Charter.
New Zealand has always been committed to upholding
the purposes and principles of the Charter in every
respect. In our view, RAMSI is entirely consistent with
those purposes and principles. It is a specific example
of Chapter VIII of the Charter in operation. To suggest
it is contrary to the Charter is in our view wrong.
RAMSI was established in response to a formal request
from the Solomon Islands. Its presence in the Solomon
Islands is sanctioned by treaty and by the domestic law
of the Solomon Islands. That was recently reaffirmed
by the Solomon Islands Parliament. Moreover, RAMSI
stems from the endorsement by Pacific Islands Forum
Foreign Ministers of a programme of action under the
Forum Leaders’ Biketawa Declaration. That provides a
framework for regional responses in times of crisis or
when members request assistance exactly the
situation in this case.
Amid all these challenges, I would like to report
on activity being undertaken by Tokelau, the tiny
territory 500 kilometres north of Samoa that New
Zealand administers. The people of Tokelau, all 1,500
of them on three atolls, have decided that they wish to
undertake an act of self-determination to decide
whether they wish to change their present status. A
vote in February 2006 narrowly missed the threshold
set by Tokelau for a change of status. They will again
vote on that issue from 20 to 24 October.
As members of the Special Committee on
Decolonization know, New Zealand supports Tokelau’s
right to choose, but has stood back from any wish to
determine the direction of any change. That decision is
entirely for the people of Tokelau. New Zealand will
support their decision.
Advancement of the rule of law at the national
and international levels is essential for the realization
of sustained economic growth, development and
human rights. New Zealand encourages members to
provide their full support to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) by acceding to the Rome Statute of the
ICC. We also call on all United Nations Member
States, especially State parties to the Rome Stature, to
fully cooperate with the Court in carrying out its
current work. Universality and full support are crucial
if we are to end the impunity of the perpetrators of the
most serious crimes of international concern, such as
those carried out in Darfur, where International
Criminal Court arrest warrants are outstanding.
Efforts to protect and maintain the international
rule of law can only be effective when built on a
foundation of international peace and security.
Interfaith and intercultural dialogue can help to
counter religious extremism by encouraging
understanding and respect among different faith
communities and cultures.
In May, New Zealand hosted two significant
gatherings aimed at advancing global response to
interfaith and intercultural issues in a practical way. We
regard the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations as
the key multilateral process among the growing
number of international and regional initiatives in this
area.
With respect to nuclear proliferation, New
Zealand welcomes the strong signals that have been
sent to North Korea and Iran by the Security Council.
On a different topic, New Zealand is convinced
that the humanitarian harm posed by cluster munitions
must be addressed urgently. We believe that negotiation
of a treaty to deal with the problems caused by cluster
mines is well overdue. We will host a meeting on this
initiative in February of next year.
We are pleased, too, to promote a new initiative
at the General Assembly this year calling for action to
lower the operational status of nuclear weapons.
Maintaining nuclear weapons at a high level of
readiness increases the likelihood of these weapons
being used, with catastrophic consequences.
The humanitarian disaster and conflict in Darfur
threaten security in the entire East African region. New
Zealand applauds the efforts by Members to establish
the new African Union-United Nations Hybrid
Operation in Darfur.
New Zealand is deeply concerned at the current
political, economic and humanitarian situation in
Zimbabwe. We welcome the efforts being made to find
acceptable solutions to the problems Zimbabwe faces.
We sincerely hope that these efforts continue and that
solutions can be found that will benefit all
Zimbabweans and will enable free and fair elections to
be held.
New Zealand remains profoundly concerned at
the situation in Myanmar. Protestors have been killed,
shot at, beaten and arrested. This violent treatment is
reprehensible. Engaging in peaceful protests is a
fundamental human right. New Zealand, therefore,
joins others in calling for the immediate release of
those detained in recent weeks, along with the many
political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who
have been held without trial for much longer periods.
The Myanmar regime should be held responsible
for the personal safety and treatment of all the people it
has detained. We call on the authorities there to stop
the violence and to encourage a process of genuine
dialogue with pro-democracy leaders and ethnic
minorities.
New Zealand fully supports United Nations
efforts to resolve the immediate and longer term
situation in Myanmar. We welcomed the visit to
Myanmar of Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari. We fully
support continued discussion of the situation of
Myanmar in the Security Council with a view to
considering what further steps might be taken by the
international community.
Turning now to human rights, New Zealand will
stand for election to the Human Rights Council for
2009 to 2012. We want to do our part to help this
fledging United Nations organization achieve its full
potential as the pre-eminent global human rights body.
A human rights issue of particular importance to
New Zealand is the death penalty. Adoption of a
resolution on a global moratorium on this inhumane
form of punishment would represent a historic step
towards global efforts to abolish the death penalty.
In closing, New Zealand has been a committed
and active participant in the United Nations since its
formation. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called
on Member States to deliver to the best of our abilities
at the United Nations, recognizing the need for faster,
more effective action, as well as for a more results-
driven Organization that strives to have the highest
standards of transparency and professional ethics. New
Zealand whole-heartedly agrees.
We look forward to working closely with the
Secretary-General, with you, Mr. President and with
other Member States in all of our efforts to build a
stronger United Nations for a better world.