Nauru

I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the President of the Assembly on his assumption of the presidency of this body at its sixty-fifth session. Also, allow me to commend his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, for his capable leadership during the sixty-fourth session. This week is vitally important for my island nation of Nauru and for small island developing States generally. This week we will complete the high-level reviews of the Millennium Development Goals and the Mauritius Strategy, two programmes that are central to the sustainable development prospects of my country. We gather here on this occasion to reaffirm the central role of the United Nations in global governance. However, the centrality of the United Nations system must derive from its ability to help bring about positive outcomes for all of its membership. In that regard, the United Nations report card is mixed. While this body and others have brought attention to the unique and particular vulnerabilities of small island developing States, they have not always succeeded in delivering concrete benefits. There is a proliferation of global action plans but a paucity of action. For this reason, Nauru has relied more on its domestic institutions and bilateral partners than on multilateral governance solutions. Nauru turned a corner in 2005 when it adopted its National Sustainable Development Strategy, commonly known to us as our NSDS. Under that plan we have made significant progress across most sectors. Our financial system is now more transparent and Government more accountable. Most importantly, we have restored some measures of security for our citizens: expanded public health programmes, new and refurbished schools, updated curriculum and more teachers. Power is more reliable and its usage more efficient. Regular air and maritime travel has been restored, and we have seen major improvements in our communications system. Most of the gains in the past five years have been the result of our own efforts, largely supported by bilateral development partners targeting our national plans. However, our journey is far from over. Our NSDS lays out a clear path forward to aid independence based on our national circumstances and capacity. Its medium- and long-term milestones are fully consistent with, and complementary to, the Millennium Development Goals and Mauritius Strategy programmes. It is my hope that the United Nations can play a more significant role in this next phase of our development. Five years after our initial request, I am pleased that the United Nations has opened its joint presence office in Nauru. It is my hope that that will enable United Nations agencies to be more familiar with, and responsive to, our unique development challenges. The future of all my people depends on an effective United Nations system, but none more so than the future of our youth. Not long ago, my country 10-54965 34 suffered a devastating economic crisis. It was followed by the explosion in global fuel and food prices and then by the global economic downturn, which many of us are still grappling with today. Those crises were exacerbated by virtue of Nauru being a small and isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. As a country, we will overcome. However, some impacts will be felt longer than others. Perhaps the cruellest legacy of our economic crisis is the impact it had on the youth who grew up during that trying time. Advantages that my generation took for granted — a good education, basic health care and abundant job opportunities — were simply not available for many of our youth during a critical period in their lives. In the absence of such advantages, substance abuse, illiteracy, delinquency and lifestyle- related illnesses became commonplace. As we progress as a nation, we must ensure that we do not leave one segment of our community behind. Our collective future will not be secure unless we invest in the community and business leaders of tomorrow. It is for this reason that Nauru appreciates the importance of the International Year of Youth, which commenced in August 2010. This United Nations tradition began 25 years ago when this body recognized the profoundly important role that youth should have in shaping a new international economic order based on equity and justice. My Government has made investing in our youth a top priority. Nauru is on track to reach our Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. We have been successful despite the significant shortage of quality Nauruan teachers. Of equal importance to the development of our primary and secondary education systems is the need to develop technical and vocational training, recognizing and certifying skills and job-oriented training. Only by continued investment in human resource development will the next generation of Nauruans be prepared for the challenges of the twenty-first century. Our health sector, too, has made gains in curative services and preventative health programmes. However, around 75 per cent of people in the Pacific suffer from non-communicable diseases. That is not sustainable. Investments in public health must be accompanied by investments in improving food security. It will be difficult to change that alarming statistic for the better unless my people have a reliable supply of affordable and nutritious food. Health education must also receive more emphasis in our educational programmes. Education and public health are obviously two areas that are fundamental for the well-being of our youth, but alone they are not enough. Our youth must also be given the opportunity to use their skills in productive ways, lest those skills wither on the vine. For that we need a growing economy, and for a growing economy we must look to our development partners and multilateral institutions for assistance. Aid should be deployed so as to build a foundation for sustainable development in all economic sectors, including basic infrastructure, in which to date there has been less progress than in health and education. The re-establishment of banking and financial services continues to elude us despite all our urgent efforts to obtain assistance. Nation-building and youth development must run parallel to each other if either is to succeed. Investments in basic infrastructure will enable us to expand our economic base, increase exports and also reduce the costs of imports. The United Nations system must also be enhanced in order to avoid the mistakes of the past. That is why we are joining others in calling for the creation of a formal small island developing States (SIDS) category within the United Nations system. The international community has consistently recognized the unique vulnerabilities of the small island developing States, yet that recognition has not been translated into effective action. The preparatory work for the five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States found that the vulnerabilities of SIDS remain and that progress towards sustainable development is far below expectations. It is clear that business as usual is not working and that a new approach is long overdue. The creation of a new SIDS category would make the United Nations more responsive to the particular needs of small islands. This new category should be accompanied by structural support mechanisms in the areas of development assistance, financial support and trade. Only by dealing with the vulnerabilities of SIDS can there be any realistic prospect of SIDS attaining sustainable economic growth. 35 10-54965 The most important test of our commitment to our youth is the state of the world that we leave to them. We have long been aware of the environmental crises currently facing our oceans and our climate, but we have done precious little to address them. Without immediate and aggressive international action on both fronts, we will bequeath to our children a world that is far poorer than the one we ourselves inhabited. Nauru takes these threats very seriously, which is why my country, along with other island countries in the Pacific, recently strengthened the Nauru Agreement. That multilateral agreement on oceans governance is a major step in strengthening an effective regime for managing and protecting regional tuna stocks. The preservation of that resource is essential to our region’s food security and to our economic development. Regrettably, the sustainability of the tuna stocks and other marine resources that we rely on is threatened by actions beyond our control. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and overfishing by large fishing nations is rife in the Pacific, and we lack sufficient resources to respond to that criminal activity. One of the pillars of our economic future is literally being stolen from our children. With regard to climate change, my island and many others like it face an existential threat far beyond our capacity to adapt. Rising sea levels and extreme weather may one day render my home uninhabitable. But an island can die long before it has disappeared beneath the sea. All that is required is to deprive its youth of hope. What incentive will they have to invest in their home if it will not be there for when they are older? We have an opportunity to change course later this year at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Cancún. We must act as if our children’s future depended on the decisions we make. Climate change is a global issue and demands the full participation of all. We therefore call on the immediate inclusion of Taiwan in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. We must also recognize that climate change poses many threats — security threats — that are not addressed under the UNFCCC process. That is why the Pacific small island developing States introduced in the General Assembly a resolution on climate change and its possible security implications (resolution 63/281). The Security Council, as the primary body of the United Nations entrusted with preserving international peace and security, must also play its role. Lastly, we must ensure that the views and perspectives of all nations and peoples are incorporated into the decision-making of the United Nations system and its specialized agencies. In that context, Nauru strongly supports Taiwan’s campaign for meaningful participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization. I would like to conclude by thanking our development partners for their long-standing commitment to Nauru, particularly our major partners — Australia, Taiwan, the Russia Federation, New Zealand, the European Union and Japan — as well as our many other active partners, including Cuba, Italy, India, the Republic of Korea and Israel. We further recognize the international and regional organizations that have continued to stand by our side during a difficult period in our history, and I look forward to our continuing cooperation. I would also like to commend the United Nations for beginning a difficult process of reflection and reform so as to be able to more effectively respond to the global challenges we all face. Nauru looks forward to participating in this important discussion so that the United Nations can continue to play a central role in global governance. May God bless the Republic of Nauru and may God bless the United Nations.