Today has a very special
meaning for us: twenty-nine years ago, under the
blessings of this body, Tuvalu was granted its
independence. I am honoured, therefore, to speak on
behalf of the people and Government of Tuvalu and to
convey to this session of the United Nations General
Assembly our warmest greetings.
At the outset, Tuvalu wishes to associate itself
with previous speakers in congratulating Mr. Kerim in
his election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-second session. We also wish to take this
opportunity to welcome and congratulate the Secretary-
General, Ban Ki-moon, on his appointment as head of
the United Nations.
As we celebrate our twenty-ninth anniversary of
independence, let me convey our most sincere thanks
and gratitude to the international community,
especially to our traditional development partners,
close friends and international and regional
organizations for their support and cooperation over
the past years. We are confident that such gestures of
understanding, friendship and cooperation will
continue in the years ahead. Our endeavours to achieve
excellence have been guided by the United Nations
principles of good governance, respect for the rule of
law and for human rights, democracy and self-
determination. Our future survival as a nation is
founded on these basic ideals of the United Nations.
Tuvalu welcomes the key priority issues of
climate change, financing for development, achieving
the Millennium Development Goals, countering
terrorism, and the United Nations reform agenda,
which the President has clearly identified and
highlighted in his opening address at the sixty-second
session. We would like, however, to focus on five main
issues: the United Nations reforms, the United Nations
presence in Pacific small island developing States, the
question of Taiwan’s membership in the United
Nations and its agencies, criteria for least developed
countries graduation, and responding to climate
change.
On the United Nations reforms, we acknowledge
with sincerity the tremendous efforts that the
Organization has made in fulfilling its purpose, based
on its noble pillars of development: peace and security
and human rights, as enshrined under its Charter.
Through such efforts, the United Nations has reached
out to many countries of the world in providing the
required services for those who need them most.
However, these efforts always encounter many
challenges that can be resolved only if the United
Nations membership and all its subsidiary bodies
commit to work together in harmony and with respect
for each other.
The need for the United Nations to ensure
efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in carrying
out its mandates and all its related programmes cannot
be overemphasized. In this connection, Tuvalu
welcomes and supports the ongoing work on United
Nations reform. In particular, Tuvalu supports the
Secretary-General’s report in response to the
recommendations of the High-level Panel on United
Nations System-wide Coherence and agrees that the
United Nations system must be more results-oriented,
efficient and accountable.
Tuvalu fully supports the ongoing reform work of
the United Nations that promotes country-driven
programmes. However, we are very disappointed with
the unjustifiably slow progress in establishing the
United Nations presence in the remaining Pacific small
island developing States that do not have United
Nations offices. As a full Member of the United
Nations, we feel that Tuvalu and other small island
developing States from the Pacific each deserve to
have a United Nations office established in-country,
which will be instrumental in the coordination and
implementation of United Nations projects and
programmes on the ground. Our isolation and
geographical fragmentation in itself is justification for
establishing a joint United Nations office in Tuvalu.
We appeal to the United Nations for the earliest
implementation of this long overdue commitment.
Tuvalu highly commends the momentum of the
work on the reform of the Security Council, especially
the excellent work done by 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. Tuvalu warmly welcomes the next step of
submitting the issue for further intergovernmental
negotiations as a way forward. Tuvalu further supports
the draft resolution tabled by India for the same
purpose in addressing this very important task.
However, we are very disturbed with the
continuance of finger-pointing and undiplomatic
language being directed at small island developing
States for their contributions to the Security Council
reform process. As a small peace-loving nation and a
full Member of the United Nations, Tuvalu has the
sovereign right to support any issue that will benefit
the achievement of the United Nations goals. We
strongly believe that open dialogue and working
together in mutual understanding under the framework
of the United Nations is the only way to reach our
shared destiny in diversity and to respect one another.
Tuvalu firmly believes that the paramount
mission of the United Nations must remain the
maintenance of peace and security while ensuring the
universal participation of all nations of the world, as
clearly articulated in the Preamble to the United
Nations Charter.
However, the United Nations cannot be said to be
universal nor can global peace and security be assured
until the issue of Taiwan’s membership and
participation in the United Nations is properly
resolved. It is disappointing to note that this body does
not even want to at least put Taiwan’s membership
application on its agenda for proper consideration.
Let me reaffirm Tuvalu’s strong support for
Taiwan’s membership application to the United
Nations. We feel that this issue is long overdue and
needs to be considered more seriously and purely on its
own merits.
Taiwan has shown international responsibility
and has helped many countries in the world
including my own country, Tuvalu with
development assistance. It is our strong opinion that
Taiwan is a country with a clearly defined territory and
an established democratic system of government and is
a responsible international player in world trade,
development and diplomatic relations. The rights and
self-determination of the Taiwanese people to join the
United Nations should be urgently addressed. Taiwan
has all of the capabilities needed to fulfil its
obligations as a peace-loving State and become a full
Member of the United Nations as required under the
Charter of the United Nations.
Despite all this, it is sad to note that the United
Nations has continued to turn a blind eye to the wishes
and needs of the people of Taiwan, who simply want to
be part of the international family and participate
actively in the attainment of the noble pillars of
development, security and human rights. More sadly,
the action taken by the Secretary-General of the United
Nations in not complying with the requirements of the
Charter of the United Nations and the rules of
procedure of the Security Council is disappointing.
Tuvalu further appeals for the proper and urgent
consideration of Taiwan’s membership application to
the United Nations.
The issue of graduating from the least developed
countries (LDC) category has caused great anxiety for
Tuvalu. As recognized in the Mauritius strategy for
small island developing States, it is most alarming that
all the potential candidates for graduation from the
LDC list are Pacific small island developing States,
despite our special disadvantages and environmental
vulnerabilities. We appeal to this Assembly, the
Economic and Social Council and our development
partners to carefully reconsider the criteria for LDC
graduation and their application, taking into account
the special disadvantages of small island developing
States.
The President’s leadership in choosing
“Responding to Climate Change” as the theme of this
session is highly commendable. Likewise, Tuvalu
applauds the leadership of the Secretary-General on
climate change. We are pleased that world leaders at
the High-level Event on Climate Change have agreed
on the urgency of addressing climate change in a
comprehensive way. We believe we are now ready to
make a historic agreement in Bali to start negotiations
on a new climate change agreement.
As the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Mr. Apisai
Ielemia, clearly stated in the June issue of the United
Nations Chronicle magazine, “If there is one issue that
strikes at the heart of my nation, Tuvalu, it is climate
change.” Climate change is undoubtedly an issue of
extreme importance to a small, atoll nation like Tuvalu.
The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change highlights the extreme vulnerability of
island countries like Tuvalu to the impacts of climate
change and the urgent necessity for global action to
address this vulnerability. In this context the coming
session of the Conference of the Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in
Bali will be very important.
In our view, the Conference in Bali should have
the following components: First, it should reconfirm
the important role of the Kyoto Protocol and encourage
parties to the Protocol to pledge new and substantial
emissions reductions and encourage others to become a
party to it.
Secondly, we should agree to amend the Kyoto
Protocol so that we open the door for newly
industrialized countries, countries with economies in
transition and any other interested countries, including
developing countries, to take on commitments to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Thirdly, we must commit to a new global
framework on adaptation to the impacts of climate
change. For highly vulnerable countries like Tuvalu
this is an essential step in the process.
Lastly, we must agree on a new negotiation
process under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change that will establish a
new legal agreement to allow developing countries to
make voluntary commitments to reduce their
emissions. Under this agreement we envisage that
developing countries will be able to make voluntary
commitments to reduce emissions from the energy,
transport and forestry sectors. These commitments
would be linked to appropriate incentive mechanisms.
In the context of reducing emissions from
deforestation we believe that any agreed measures
must bring about real reductions in global emissions.
Actions to reduce emissions from deforestation should
not undermine or devalue efforts to reduce emissions
from other sectors. Furthermore, these actions should
not infringe upon the rights of indigenous peoples and
local communities. The causes of deforestation are
complex, particularly as there are serious governance
issues to resolve. Let us make sure to get a durable
solution to this issue that will achieve a lasting climate
change outcome.
There are a number of elements that we think are
essential in a new global framework on adaptation. We
elaborated some of these during the High-Level Event
on Climate Change. Let me highlight two: First, we
must establish a whole new source of funding for
adaptation and a new approach on how adaptation
funding is managed. A potential new source of funding
for adaptation could come from a tax levied on
international aviation and maritime transport.
Secondly, we must establish a global insurance facility
to help assist vulnerable countries recover from the
impacts of climate change.
We must seize the opportunity at Bali. We must
set ourselves a short timeframe to create a new legally
binding agreement on climate change. This should not
undermine the Kyoto Protocol but should build on its
strengths. Those countries that have turned their backs
on the Kyoto Protocol must now take part in the global
effort and commit to reducing their emissions within a
tight timeframe. Once this is done, then we will see the
rest of the world move forward, for it is crucial that all
countries must make an effort to reduce their
emissions. We must not waste the opportunity at Bali.
In conclusion, my Government encourages all
countries to support the reform agenda for the United
Nations including the serious consideration of self-
determination and the universal participation of all
nations. We strongly encourage all Governments to use
the next climate change Conference of the Parties in
Bali to be a starting point for new negotiations on
climate change. The future of Tuvalu and lives of many
others like us is at stake.