Vanuatu is very pleased
that we are meeting under your presidency, Sir, and, on
behalf of my Government and of the Pacific Islands
Forum, I extend my warm congratulations to you, and
we wish to assure you of our full confidence and
cooperation.
I should also like to take a moment to pay tribute
to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali
Abdussalam Treki, for his exceptional service and
leadership during the sixty-fourth session of the
General Assembly and for the considerable and
important achievements of that session.
15 10-55128
In the same spirit, I take this opportunity also to
commend the Secretary-General for his vision,
leadership and tireless efforts in working towards
achievements in the common interest of all humanity.
Many innocent lives continue to be wasted, with
good people killed or wounded and multitudes
displaced by heinous acts designed to undermine and
destabilize the collective efforts of the international
community to achieve peace and security for our
societies. These many unprecedented events continue
to test the very foundation of our Organization.
As we prepare to enter the second decade of this
twenty-first century, it is vital now more than ever that
our membership affirms its confidence and faith in the
purposes and principles of the United Nations. It is
important that we continue to assert our support for
fundamental human rights and the peaceful coexistence
of our nations. The range and urgency of the challenges
that now confront the international community in our
globalized and interdependent world demand, at the
very least, our steadfast support for and commitment to
peace and security for our communities and peoples,
and for future generations.
If we are to effectively guarantee human rights
and achieve peace and security and social and
economic justice for all, we need to be united in this
endeavour, and our cooperation and multilateral joint
efforts need to be durable and effective. My
Government and people of Vanuatu are steadfast in our
belief that the United Nations remains uniquely suited
to the pursuit and coordination of global initiatives to
attain these objectives.
Vanuatu hosted the forty-first annual Pacific
Islands Forum in our capital, Port Vila, last month. As
current Chair, I wish to inform the Assembly that the
Pacific Islands leaders again noted that transnational
crime remains a threat to national and regional
stability, in particular the proliferation of small arms
and light weapons and illicit drugs. Consequently, the
Pacific Islands Forum has strengthened cooperation in
counter-terrorism measures and emphasized national
efforts and regional cooperation in combating
transnational organized crime and in strengthening
border control capacities. The Pacific Islands Forum
remains committed to collective arrangements and
mechanisms to assist regional Governments recovering
from national conflicts and crises. The value of those
efforts is evident in the positive results of the Regional
Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, created
under the Biketawa Declaration with the assistance of
contributing member States, which would not have
been successful without the strong leadership and
commitment of the Solomon Islands Government.
While many of our member countries have not
ratified the United Nations Convention against
Corruption (UNCAC), Forum leaders recognize the
important role that the Convention offers in providing
an internationally agreed framework for effective anti-
corruption activities around the world. I am pleased to
say that our regional organizations are working with
the various United Nations agencies to advance work
to promote the Convention.
While known as a region characterized by
oceanic isolation, smallness and general vulnerability,
the Pacific region is one of only a few in the world to
have experienced nuclear weapons testing. Therefore,
advancing the cause of nuclear non-proliferation and
the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty — also
known as the Treaty of Rarotonga — remains critical
and relevant to our signatory member States. The South
Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty reflects our region’s
deep commitment not only to international peace and
security but also to collective international action to
ensure peace and security. In endorsing the successful
outcome of the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review
Conference, Forum leaders also welcomed the
announcement by the United States of America of its
intention to ratify all protocols of the Treaty of
Rarotonga.
Notwithstanding their size, national obligations
and circumstances, our respective Forum members
value and are proud of their contributions to United
Nations peacekeeping efforts. My own country is proud
to contribute to United Nations peacekeeping missions
in East Timor, Haiti, the Sudan, Bosnia, the Peace
Monitoring Group and the Bougainville Transition
Team in Bougainville, and to the Regional Assistance
Mission to the Solomon Islands.
Terrorism is an offence to humanity and contrary
to the core values of the United Nations. We must be
resolute in our national and collective efforts to combat
terrorism in all its forms. For my own country, I
reaffirm our strong support for the relevant Security
Council resolutions against terrorism. Those
resolutions provide a clear signal of our determination
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to suppress terrorist activities, including training,
international movement and financing.
All of us present here today have described the
various stages of our progress to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For our
island countries, our increasing vulnerability to threats
and challenges, underscored by the impacts of the
global economic, financial, fuel and food crises, is
exacerbated by the current and impending impacts of
climate change, as well as our inherent limited capacity
to respond. This is not to say, however, that we have
not made progress in achieving any of those goals.
With respect to Goal 2, the primary education systems
of the Pacific region are characterized by high
enrolment, with six of our countries currently
displaying net enrolment ratios of over 90 per cent.
Most, if not all, of our Pacific island countries are
expected to meet the goal of gender equality in
education by 2015. We have been able to achieve those
goals because we have localized the global indicators
by adjusting them to suit our local circumstances and
priorities.
While we remain concerned about the pace of our
progress towards the Millennium Development Goals,
we are committed to accelerating progress towards
achieving them by 2015. The Port Vila Declaration on
Accelerating Progress on the Achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals, which was adopted by
Pacific Forum leaders at their meeting in Vanuatu last
month, recognizes that the MDGs are extremely
important, as is also the incremental path towards
achieving those Goals — a path that should recognize
and accommodate the special circumstances and
challenges we face in the Pacific. The Port Vila
Declaration also highlights the importance of
mainstreaming the programme of support for the
sustainable development of small island developing
States — which is captured in the Barbados
Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development
of Small Island Developing States and the Mauritius
Strategy for the Further Implementation of the
Barbados Programme of Action — as an accelerator for
achieving the MDGs in the Pacific and addressing the
specific vulnerabilities that we face. To ensure the
success of the Port Vila Declaration, we call for the
support, collaborative action and commitment of the
international community and our development partners —
particularly an improved understanding of and ability
to address our vulnerabilities and for improved
coordination of efforts towards achieving the MDGs.
Advancing the Pacific islands’ work with respect
to the Millennium Development Goals is closely and
inextricably linked to the Mauritius Strategy. The
development and endorsement of the Pacific Plan by
the Forum leaders in 2005 underscored the critical
need for creating stronger and deeper linkages between
our countries and for identifying sectors where the
region could gain the most by sharing resources in the
area of governance and by aligning policies. While we
believe that we have made some excellent progress in
effectively implementing the Mauritius Strategy at the
national and regional levels, we also acknowledge our
shortcomings, some of which are beyond our control.
The growing vulnerabilities of our Pacific island
countries are exacerbated by the impacts of the global
economic crisis, climate change and natural disasters,
and those factors affect our abilities to respond.
Climate change remains the greatest threat to the
livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of
the Pacific. Continuing and concerted efforts by Forum
members are being made at the national, regional and
international levels to address the impacts of climate
change on Pacific communities and peoples. The
degree of urgency for real commitments to emissions
reduction must be commensurate with the science and
with the associated impacts of climate change on the
most vulnerable communities. This issue must not be
viewed with an eye to short-term impacts on traditional
industrial growth or political tenure, but rather with a
longer-term consideration of the sustainability of
economies, societies and peoples the world over. A
meaningful, legally binding agreement on emissions
reduction must be reached urgently and without delay.
Recognizing the importance of effective coordination
and implementation of climate change adaptation and
mitigation efforts at all levels — and particularly at the
national level — Forum leaders have endorsed a set of
principles that will guide Forum island countries and
development partners in this regard, bearing in mind
existing and ongoing efforts in the region. Those
principles are consistent with the Cairns Compact and
the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate
Change, and they reflect recognition by Forum leaders
of the important role that regional and international
arrangements play in supporting national adaptation
and mitigation through the enhancement of capacity
and access to resources.
17 10-55128
I am also pleased to say that, ahead of the Cancún
climate change meetings this November and December,
the Government of Kiribati will be hosting the Tarawa
Climate Change Conference in November. We
anticipate bringing together representatives of
countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change,
as well as representatives of major economies.
Allow me at this juncture to make a few remarks
pertinent to Vanuatu’s position on a number of issues.
We are meeting here at this Assembly session to once
again renew our commitment to the United Nations and
to the principles enshrined in its Charter. However, the
need to reform the United Nations to ensure that it
effectively responds to the needs of its Members
remains imperative.
In that regard, I wish to commend the Secretary-
General for advancing the work on the reform of the
Security Council. We note the work done by the Chair
of the intergovernmental negotiations on the question
of equitable representation and increase in the
membership of the Security Council and other matters
related to the Council. So we join all like-minded
States in encouraging the United Nations to pursue
equitable reforms in its institutions in order to
minimize the democratic deficit in the multilateral
arena.
My Government also joins all other heads of
Governments that are Members of the United Nations
family in congratulating the Secretary-General on
bringing to a reality the efforts over four years to
create the office of UN Women, a new entity formally
established by the General Assembly within the United
Nations created in July of this year. That decision gives
more prominence to women and their place in our
society.
Vanuatu celebrated 30 years of political freedom
last July. This year marks the end of the Second
International Decade of Decolonization. My
Government wishes to question the progress on some
important processes of self-determination. It is
disturbing to think that we may legitimize practices
that contravene the very principles on which this
Organization has been founded. Are we to assume that
decolonization issues may be ignored in the years to
come so as not to unsettle the status quo?
Issues relating to decolonization and severe
human rights violations must be effectively and
impartially addressed. We call upon the United Nations
to strengthen its efforts in working towards full
decolonization of Territories that are still under the
control of administrating Powers. Where there are
serious reports of human rights violations, there must
be a stronger United Nations role in investigating all
allegations of human atrocity. We are reminded that the
noble task of our multilateral Organization is to
reaffirm our commitment to and respect for
fundamental human rights and the dignity of the human
person.
We are encouraged to see emerging nations, such
as Kosovo, rising from the turmoil of restraint to take
up their position in the midst of the independent
nations of the world. It is in the spirit of democratic
freedom that justice must prevail for those peoples
whose right to political freedom continues to be
suppressed by colonial and illegitimate administrating
Powers. That includes for those countries whose
political freedom to claim their rights to territorial
sovereignty under the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea and those whose political freedom
to rightfully claim an extended continental shelf under
the Convention are suppressed by colonial
administrative rule.
As we applaud calls for a peaceful resolution of
the conflict between Israel and Palestine, my country
also calls for the lifting of the embargo on Cuba, which
will enable the good people of Cuba to improve their
lives.
My country, together with other least developed
countries in the Pacific, has consistently argued in this
forum that the mechanisms and criteria for assessing
graduation eligibility must not be isolated from the
permanent and inherent vulnerabilities of our countries.
It is unrealistic for United Nations agencies to look at
the progress and make projections without taking into
consideration the issues of permanent vulnerabilities
and capacity to sustain growth in our countries.
Indicators for most Millennium Development Goals
clearly demonstrate little progress in human
development. Climate change, volcanic eruptions and
other disasters will continue to be significant factors
inhibiting human development in our islands. Such
factors are critical, and we therefore reiterate our
position that they must be carefully weighed in the
vulnerability graduation criteria.
In the case of our very close neighbour, Fiji, my
Government believes that all players are interested in
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seeing positive political progress there, which must
continue to genuinely engage the good people of Fiji.
We have learned that multilateralism offers some
constructive innovations in diplomatic practice, but it
may also complicate conflict resolution by increasing
tension between actors.
Finally, in the spirit of reconciliation through the
Pacific way, I call upon all international and regional
diplomatic actors to assist in ways that will not
polarize the region. Instead, our diplomatic approaches
should help to give genuine dialogue and engagement a
more credible opportunity. There should be genuine
and renewed commitment to fostering relations in the
Pacific region, commitment that promotes greater
freedom, regional cooperation, friendship and
integration, as envisaged in the Pacific Plan document.
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to express
my gratitude to all our development partners for the
support that they are providing in building our
economies. I believe more can be done to assist the
Pacific island countries in addressing the growing
challenges confronting the region.