Mr. President, I am
privileged to stand before you today in the place of my
Prime Minister, Mr. Manasseh Sogavare, to renew the
firm commitment of the Government and the people of
Solomon Islands to the principles, ideals and values
that gather us together here annually for their
re-examination and reaffirmation. The privilege of
membership in the United Nations allows my country
to sit amongst Member States and stand up for, as well
as against, decisions on issues that either unite or
divide us. Belonging to this Organization for almost
half the time it has existed is a proud feat for a country
that is barely 30 years old. The experience of nearly
three decades of sovereign statehood has taught
Solomon Islands many lessons that we can share with
the rest of the world. In particular, we are well placed
to highlight the fragility of our independence as a
nation of peoples whose survival is both threatened and
guaranteed by our interdependence with the
international community as represented in this
Assembly.
Mr. President, representing my Prime Minister
and addressing this Assembly on behalf of more than
the half a million people of Solomon Islands, I wish to
begin by congratulating you on your recent election as
President of the General Assembly at our sixty-second
session. Both you and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
have been selected by fate to pledge your devotion to
duty in a cause challenged by humanity’s survival. We
trust you to do what is right to attain the best for the
rest of us. Your distinguished predecessors have paved
pathways for the progress of this Organization along
many routes which you must now travel to fulfil our
Charter’s promises to us and those whom we are
fortunate to represent.
Much has happened in Solomon Islands since my
Prime Minister’s address to this Assembly in
September last year. Turning firstly to cataclysmic
events, just six months ago, a series of earthquakes and
tsunamis terrorized, devastated and swallowed up some
of our islands, their inhabitants, homes, gardens,
animals and worldly possessions. From that
catastrophe alone, we suffered the loss of more than 50
lives and injury to countless more, the total destruction
of over 3,240 homes and severe damage to another
3,000 homes. The damage bill is estimated to exceed
$100 million. Thanks to the instantly televised news
coverage of the devastation, the entire world was
shown graphic evidence of the sinking of some of our
islands, the elevation of submerged reefs 3 metres
above sea level and the submersion of many coastal
lands.
Not visible at the time were the immediate and
future effects of nature’s structural adjustments on the
daily livelihoods of Solomon Islanders. Traditional
fishing grounds have shifted. Agricultural activities
have had to be relocated. The debris is slowly being
cleared. The water supply is being restored. Roads,
wharves and bridges are being rebuilt and hospitals,
clinics, schools and houses are being repaired or
reconstructed. Entire villages will need to be relocated
and rebuilt. Life can no longer be the same for the vast
majority of our people in rural areas, who depend on
fishing and subsistence agriculture for their daily
survival. Any slight tremor or vibration causes them to
flee to higher ground in panic. The emotional and
psychological effects of nature’s non-negotiable terrors
are what our people have to struggle with for the rest
of their lives.
My snapshot of the April earthquakes and
tsunamis and of their aftermath would not be complete
if I did not acknowledge and place on record the
eternal gratitude of Solomon Islands to all those
Governments, international organizations and peoples
who offered sympathy, prayers and a helping hand
through the humanitarian relief that was dispatched to
our affected areas. Without the assistance and
involvement of all those who volunteered their time
and resources and the generosity of those who donated
emergency relief funds, supplies and provisions, my
Government would not have progressed to the
rehabilitation phase of the disaster recovery
programme as fast as we have. It is at this time of
suffering and need that we appreciate the true value of
human compassion and sacrifice.
With the increasing incidence of disasters all over
the world, we must bolster the resources of the United
Nations humanitarian relief programme and its
capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to such
crises to alleviate human suffering. As much as we
appreciate the quantum of funds pledged by
sympathetic individuals, institutions and nation-States,
we are left to wonder whether the filtering of donor
financial assistance through national charitable
organizations is calculated to whittle down its value
through the consumption of largesse in its delivery and
administration. Respecting the generosity and altruism
of those who give and the desperation of those who
need requires that we enshrine the principles of
efficiency and effectiveness to guide humanitarian
relief efforts across international borders. Human
charity and human suffering are done a disservice
when disasters create “feeding frenzies” for
non-governmental charitable organizations. The recent
experience of Solomon Islands mirrors what many
other nations have undergone and underlines the need
for concerted international action to regulate the
collection and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Dealing with the effects of environmental
catastrophes rather than their causes takes us only half
as far as we ought to go. The proceedings of last
week’s High-level Event on Climate Change have
emboldened small island developing States to rally
together to demand the intensification of international
efforts to curb global environmental recklessness.
It appears that the fragility of States such as
Solomon Islands has less to do with the quality of our
governance machinery and more to do with our
ecological vulnerability. My Government wonders:
what is so virtuous about foreign aid when billions of
dollars can be spent on improving the governance
structures of an economy that derives its export income
from the destruction of tropical forests, when just a
fraction of that expense is all that is needed to preserve
our forests and finance our annual national budgets?
Solomon Islands believes that the protection of our
global environment is a matter of international
responsibility and that it can be capably addressed
through the enunciation of principles that dictate
reciprocal undertakings aimed at the continued
granting and receipt of foreign aid.
I now turn to the ongoing disputes concerning the
future occupation of Solomon Islands by the
Australian-led visiting contingent. My Government has
initiated a parliamentary review of the legislative basis
for the continued presence of the occupying police,
military and civilian personnel from our neighbouring
countries. Credit must, however, be given to the
visiting forces deployed in 2003 to restore law and
order in Solomon Islands following many years of
ethnic rivalry and violence. The policing of the crisis
for four years has contained it on the surface, without
addressing the underlying socio-cultural roots of
dissension. My Government is determined to delve
deeper into the historical causes of the friction between
our peoples and to do what is necessary to resolve the
disputes that prevent their reconciliation.
The Commission of Inquiry into the April 2006
Civil Unrest in Honiara capital of Solomon
Islands whose establishment was announced by the
Prime Minister during his most recent address to the
Assembly (see A/61/PV.17), finally became functional
this year after the failure of externally orchestrated
manoeuvres to derail it. The Commission of Inquiry’s
interim reports have exposed major flaws in our
national security operations. My Government
appreciates the support of and the financial assistance
pledged by Papua New Guinea in staffing the
Commission of Inquiry. The Commission’s final report
and recommendations should be available in the next
few months.
Our people’s gratitude to Australia and New
Zealand for financing the deployment of their nationals
to police our crisis with the help of a small contingent
of personnel from neighbouring Pacific island nations
is often expressed and is genuine. However, as our
fellow Pacific island States can readily appreciate, our
sovereign right to determine the terms under which the
Government of Solomon Islands will permit our
continued occupation by the visiting contingent cannot
be undermined by any Member of the United Nations.
The long neglect of our internal problem by the
United Nations, followed by the hasty conclusion of
the regionally based multilateral agreement, which led
to the dispatch of the initial visiting contingent of
Australian, New Zealand and other Pacific island
forces, have caused the ongoing controversies
concerning their continued existence and eventual
return to the Organization’s doorstep. Viewed from the
perspective of Chapter VIII of the Charter, the nature
of the arrangements and activities embraced by the
2003 agreement, as well as their practical application
and operation since that time, appear to transgress
Article 52 of the Charter as a result of apparent
inconsistencies with Articles 1 and 2.
However disguised and rationalized, intervention
and occupation allow assisting nations to spend and
earn substantial revenue for their supporting businesses
and industries. My Government is too nationalistic to
become captive to the fortunes that justify our
perpetual retention under a state of siege. My Prime
Minister and my fellow ministers and parliamentarians
remain unmoved by Australian resistance to our
attempts to reclaim our sovereignty and independence.
In keeping with our obligations under Article 54,
we shall keep the Security Council fully informed of
the activities undertaken under the 2003 agreement and
shall seek its assistance in reducing the financial
burdens that Australia and New Zealand needlessly
bear under the current arrangements.
As members of the Assembly know only too well,
those who pay the piper call the tune. Our experience
with the Australian-designed cooperative intervention
package demonstrates the need for greater United
Nations involvement in the leadership of future
regional peacekeeping operations.
The impetus for Australia’s involvement in our
internal unrest was a dramatic change of focus and
heart concerning the protection of its strategic interests
in the Pacific region. The threat of terrorist penetration
through porous frontiers is sufficient cause for
international anxiety, insecurity and sometimes
paranoia. Despite global condemnation of terrorism,
the struggle for consensus on an acceptable definition
of terrorism retards the progress of multilateral
initiatives in the formulation of a comprehensive anti-
terrorism convention.
Illustrative of the potential for overreaction to
terrorism is the indignity that I, as Foreign Minister of
Solomon Islands, had to suffer when my multiple-entry
visa to Australia was suddenly cancelled last year. The
written explanation for that decision identified me as a
risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian
community under Section 116 (1) (e) of its Migration
Act. One would have to admit that that is an incredible
justification for excluding democratically elected
leaders of neighbouring countries not known for
breeding terrorists. Just over a century ago, many of
our ancestors were kidnapped and forcibly taken to
work as labourers in a country that is now quick to
regard their descendants as terrorists. Defining
terrorism has proved to be more difficult than
deploring it.
Moving from the preoccupations of the past year
to our perennial protestations, Solomon Islands is
compelled by principle, rather than pragmatism, to
ventilate again our people’s concerns arising from the
non-representation of the Government and people of
Taiwan in this Assembly. Our recent attempts to
channel Taiwan’s application for admission through the
established gateways was resisted without any
regard for the legitimate quest of 23 million Taiwanese
people for self-determination by fellow Member
States committed to upholding a peremptory rule of
international law also enshrined in Article 1 of the
Charter of the United Nations. Organized international
hypocrisy is the only basis for explaining the indignity
that the Taiwanese people must suffer at the hands of a
powerful constellation of States interested only in the
protection of trade and investment and not any
humanitarian concerns.
China’s assertion of sovereignty over Taiwan
must be the pretence that it invariably is, since most of
its major trading partners have also forged and
maintain bilateral relations with Taiwan, which are
ultimately predicated on politico-juridical autonomy.
Solomon Islanders have a native empathy for all people
who are struggling to reclaim what is rightfully due to
them under international law. Our support for their
struggle stems from our convictions about what is right
and just. Our sovereign conscience is not a tradable
commodity. Our rejection of regular approaches for the
reconsideration of our existing allegiances to Taiwan is
premised on our preference, ideally, to recognize both
China and Taiwan on a realistic rather than an
imaginary politico-juridical footing.
This Assembly is the forum in which mutual
respect and goodwill prevail and enable us to implore
China, as one of the oldest civilizations of our world,
to pledge its non-resort to force in settling the disputed
question of its sovereignty over Taiwan.
As one of Taiwan’s long-standing diplomatic
allies, and undeterred by the result recently engineered
by international political pragmatism, Solomon Islands
cannot shirk its Charter obligations under Article 35,
paragraph 1, to bring to the attention of this Assembly
the situation currently prevailing between Taiwan and
China. The situation is clearly of a nature requiring
investigation by the Security Council, pursuant to
Article 34, on the basis that it “might lead to
international friction or give rise to a dispute”. The
Security Council is obliged to investigate the situation
in order to determine whether the continuance thereof
is likely to endanger the maintenance of international
peace and security.
Having now brought the situation to the attention
of this Assembly, Solomon Islands expects that we will
follow the stipulations of Article 11, paragraph 2, in
discussing any questions relating to the maintenance of
international peace and security and making the
necessary recommendations or taking the requisite
action that this Assembly is empowered to make and
take under the applicable provisions of the Charter. A
full, frank and fair discussion of the situation is the
least the Assembly can undertake to affirm our faithful
obedience to our Charter’s creed and satisfy ourselves
as to the existence of grounds for our further proactive
involvement.
Led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, my
Government belongs to a constituency of States for
whom the United Nations represents the promise of
hope for civilizations condemned by circumstance to
eternal misery. The effective representation of our
hope, voice and vision in this Organization can be
achieved only by the reform of its governance
structures to reflect the changing configurations of
geopolitical power and influence. Solomon Islands
therefore supports the proposal for the enlargement of
the Security Council. We also believe that India and
Japan must be allocated permanent seats on the
Council.
The attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals will remain elusive for many nations unless
innovative strategies for debt conversion and
cancellation are devised and adopted to fast-track the
poor's exit from poverty. We look forward to exploring
that prospect at the forthcoming meeting on financing
for development in Doha.
Solomon Islands has reason to register its
disappointment with the Division for Ocean Affairs and
the Law of the Sea for its tardy action in releasing
funds that are payable to us from the Trust Fund for
Special Aspects of the Implementation of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to defray
the costs and expenses of establishing our sovereign
claims to continental shelf areas registrable under
article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea. We are concerned that any further
delay in accessing those funds might affect our
registration entitlements due to non-compliance with
time restrictions.
Time deprives me of the opportunity to chronicle
many more grievances that we needlessly experience in
securing the benefits accorded us by virtue of our
membership in this Organization. The appointment of
the Deputy Resident Representative of the United
Nations Development Programme, stationed in the
Solomon Islands, is a welcome sign of the United
Nations interest in my country’s problems and permits
us to interact more closely with the Organization in
prioritizing the remedial action we need to undertake
for the betterment of the lives of our population. With a
visible presence in our midst and on our shores, the
United Nations will no longer be remote from the
consciousness of the people it exists to serve.
Before I conclude, allow me to take this
opportunity to extend to Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon my Prime Minister’s invitation to visit our
shores during his tenure in office. We sincerely hope
His Excellency will honour the Government and people
of Solomon Islands by becoming the first Secretary-
General to venture to my country.