Fiji

Fiji mourns the recent losses and world-changing tragedies which the United States of America has endured. We remember the many lives lost in that adversity, and we express the hope that peace and goodwill may prevail. Now is the time to make haste to galvanize collaborative efforts by developed and developing nations in the global fight against terrorism. We congratulate His Excellency Mr. Han Seung- soo and the Government of the Republic of Korea on Ambassador Han’s assumption of the presidency of the 25 General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session. We pledge complete support during his term of office, fully aware that the qualities that have marked his eminent and distinguished career promise a resounding conclusion to the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly despite its difficult start. Fitting tribute is also due to his predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri of Finland. His leadership over the previous year successfully concluded a truly hectic and full schedule of business, including some difficult issues and special sessions during the period of the fifty-fifth session. He leaves an indelible mark in the annals of the United Nations. My Government congratulates His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan on his appointment as Secretary- General for a second term; this signifies the trust and confidence that the United Nations places in him. He has aptly been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shares with the United Nations. Fiji welcomes the road map he has outlined for the Organization, which, under his creative and competent leadership, will deliver the reforms needed to launch the Organization into the twenty-first century. In the wake of the political crisis that triggered instability in Fiji in 2000, my Government set itself two immediate tasks: to restore constitutional democracy and to stabilize our fragile economy. Those goals are being achieved. Moreover, my Government is continuing to pursue strong economic performance through increased investment and development. I am honoured to inform the Assembly that, only 18 months after its political crisis, Fiji successfully concluded the general elections and formed a multiparty Government in September 2001. My Government is confident that, with the support of the United Nations and the international community, Fiji’s forward-looking policies will steer it ahead on a path of democratic rule and sustainable economic development. Fiji acknowledges the support rendered to us by the United Nations and by Member States in the deployment of the United Nations electoral observation team during our elections. The team discharged its duties professionally and impartially. We are confident that it will provide the Assembly with a positive appraisal of the conduct of the elections as free and fair — conduct to which we have been well accustomed throughout our electoral history. I should like to convey my Government’s deep gratitude to those Member States that supported Fiji and to those that sponsored resolution 55/280, which enabled the participation of the United Nations observer team. Our leaders are committed, under the Millennium Declaration of 2000, to the principles of human dignity, equality and equity, especially with respect to those who are most vulnerable, in particular the children, who are our future. It is a timely and constructive commitment that creates the necessary global framework for addressing the plight of the poor and the vulnerable in the face of the accelerating impact of globalization and trade liberalization. Poverty is at the root of many problems. As the most powerful destabilizing force, it threatens democracy and good governance. It is thus our most insidious enemy. Successive Human Development Reports amply document abysmal accounts of poverty and poverty indicators. A total of 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day, more than a billion people in developing countries lack access to safe water, and more than 2.4 billion people lack adequate sanitation. We are talking not millions, but billions. Poverty reduction is therefore our greatest challenge today. The Millennium Declaration set a target to halve global extreme poverty by 2015. This goal must be the cornerstone of all development efforts. It demands an ongoing commitment and effective measures on the part of the international community. In this connection, my Government has created a new Ministry for Poverty Alleviation, which is a key policy factor in our triennial Strategic Development Plan. We recognize that economic, social and political stability are inextricably tied to reducing the gap between rich and poor. That equation must also recognize the unique vulnerabilities that beset the fragile economies of developing countries such as Fiji. Complementary legislation is also being developed in the Social Justice Bill to translate into policy the constitutional provision for social equity. Primarily, the Bill will regulate affirmative action policies for disadvantaged groups in the areas and in the manner prescribed in the Fiji Constitution. This is a critical step in Fiji’s efforts towards national unity and nation-building and its efforts to address issues of social, ethnic and economic development and harmony. 26 Today, in our journey in this world, we are meeting with unprecedented challenges and uncertainties, ranging from widespread global conflict to escalating terrorist activities and economic marginalization. The Assembly and the United Nations system must devise appropriate, creative responses to these difficult questions, in ways that are compatible with the goals of world peace and security, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter. Current organizational reform plans present constructive and necessary platforms for meeting these specific challenges. An amicable agreement on the expansion of the permanent or non-permanent membership of the Security Council could well present us with new and fresh avenues for solutions. My delegation reiterates our full support for an expansion of both membership categories of the Security Council. We congratulate the Security Council on the support that its landmark resolution 1325 (2000) received, a resolution whose implementation will allow for increased involvement on the part of women in the process of achieving peace and security. Fiji has excelled in its efforts to achieve the peacekeeping goals of the United Nations Charter. We remain fully committed to this goal and to the Brahimi recommendations for reform. Our military is serving in various United Nations missions, including in Lebanon, East Timor and Kuwait. Our police officers are serving in Bosnia and Kosovo. It is gratifying to see positive conclusions to several peacekeeping mandates and their impending withdrawal or downsizing. We would caution, however, against any exit without strategy, in order to give credence to the huge investment of goodwill and resources by the United Nations and the international community, and to avoid a situation of double jeopardy for the people trapped in armed conflict. In this regard, we support new measures to strengthen the protective regime of the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. Its scope needs to include United Nations and humanitarian personnel on the ground, who need real protection and security while working to ensure the safety of, and caring for, civilians. Fiji has consistently advocated decolonization and self-determination since joining the United Nations. We note the delay in the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Fiji supports the ongoing work of the Committee of 24 and recognizes the political and diplomatic constraints involved. Early on in this Second Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories, mostly small island Territories in the Caribbean and Pacific regions, need our focused attention, so that their legitimate aspirations for self- determination can be recognized. The Declaration of Commitment on the HIV/AIDS pandemic demands that we exercise greater vigilance and focus sincerely on safeguarding our development gains and on our future goals. We in the Pacific are seeking to maintain our low infection rate trend, as we stand to lose the most if we fail to abide by that Declaration. Only collaboration and solidarity at the international, regional and national levels can save humanity from this invasive scourge. Despite the recent political disturbances in Fiji, respect for the rule of law and for international human rights standards has been maintained. The continued existence and independence of the Fiji Human Rights Commission is testimony to our commitment to human rights. Fiji, along with several of its Pacific Island neighbours, is for the first time facing the dilemmas posed by refugees and asylum seekers. International human trafficking has brought them to our shores, despite the vast distances between our lands. International refugees are the direct result of violations and breaches of human rights. As a State party to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and to its Protocol, Fiji pleads with Member States to respect the rights of refugees and to support the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. At the very least, Member States are obligated to protect the rights of their citizens in their own homeland. Fiji co-sponsored the resolution on Korean peace, security and reunification during the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly. We are elated to see peace and reunification initiatives in the Korean peninsula. Likewise, the small island developing States are seeking continually to enhance our international participation. Strengthening future relations between the United Nations and the Pacific Islands Forum is a mutually beneficial avenue. This will allow for our effective participation in the United Nations system. It 27 also affords the United Nations with a unique and authentic Pacific perspective and voice. Cooperation between the Pacific Islands Forum and the United Nations is a welcome addition to this session’s agenda and promises greater returns, with the support of Member States. Our Pacific Islands Forum leaders will meet in Fiji in 2002. It is therefore opportune to renew our invitation to Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, to visit the Pacific Islands Forum region. Recent political events in the Pacific and the successful domestic, regional and international initiatives to address these concerns can only be positively reinforced by such a high-level, goodwill visit by the Secretary-General, to take place early, rather than later, in his second term of office. Our global development agenda demands of the United Nations an increased facilitating role in the coordination of economic, financial, trade and social issues. At the International Conference on Financing for Development in March 2002, stakeholders will deliberate on enhancing coherence and coordination between development and social objectives. Fiji hopes that the Conference will inspire the international community and financial institutions, including the Bretton Woods institutions, to support and devise new standards and indicators, such as the vulnerability index, to effectively address poverty and other disparities. Growing imbalances and marginalization in the world economy are a threat to humanity, in particular to Fiji and other small island developing States (SIDS). Sustainable development depends on a given level of resources to propel our fragile economies forward. Moreover, these resources are needed to sustain long- term, sound, economic and environmentally friendly development. The critical role of the international community is to assist us in nation-building and efficient resource utilization so that we can fulfil our social obligations. Fiji has long expounded to the international community how vulnerable and heavily dependent our economies are on the vagaries and whims of the global economy. Our small size, extremely remote distance from the international markets and increasing susceptibility to natural disasters do not lend themselves well to economies of scale of production, to building export-based trade or to gaining competitive access to foreign markets for our products. Clearly, our ability to benefit fully from globalization is doomed from the start, further aggravating the divide between the rich and poor. It is my Government’s aspiration that the scope of equitable and tangible benefits from globalization and trade liberalization is still to be fully realized if we are to meaningfully tackle global and human poverty. As a member of the World Trade Organization, Fiji is concerned at the fast erosion of trade preferences in the world trade in agricultural products, sugar being a mainstay of our economy. Increasingly, we fear that small island States like my own, which depend predominantly on agricultural export commodities, will be seriously affected without adequate market safeguards. We are forced to question the efficacy of a multilateral trade framework as a fair mechanism in promoting the interests of SIDS like Fiji. In this context, we welcome the current work on financing for development and preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Targeted assistance and official development assistance programmes to enable us to fully implement and strengthen investment and productivity must necessarily complement our efforts through regional or multilateral trading agreements. We are optimistic that next year’s high-level conferences will flag our concerns in line with the Barbados Programme of Action and the development goals that are set out in the Millennium Declaration.