On behalf of
President Jurelang Zedkaia, I bring warm greetings
from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the
General Assembly. The Marshall Islands also welcomes
South Sudan as the newest Member of the
Organization.
The Marshall Islands congratulates the Secretary-
General for making nuclear disarmament and nuclear
safety a top priority at the United Nations during his
second term. Fifty-seven years ago, at the dawn of the
Cold War, the United Nations held the Marshallese
people in trust. Marshallese leaders petitioned the
United Nations to put a halt to the testing of nuclear
weapons. The United Nations responded with
Trusteeship Council resolutions 1082 (XIV), adopted
in 1954, and 1493 (XVII), adopted in 1956. Acting
with assurances of our protection, the United Nations
and its administering authority, the United States,
detonated 67 large-scale nuclear explosions in the
Marshall Islands. For decades, Marshallese leaders
have returned to the United Nations to speak of the
continuing impacts — cancer, fear and continued exile
from our homeland — and of a science where
goalposts are always moving.
Three weeks ago, the leaders of the Pacific
Islands Forum, in their communiqué, not only
recognized the special responsibility of the United
States of America but also agreed to support the
Marshall Islands at the United Nations, including in
addressing the issue of the Secretary-General’s report.
The United Nations has a clear responsibility to
acknowledge and address the consequences of nuclear
testing undertaken under its watch — and a special
responsibility has already been acknowledged by the
parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons.
Last year, the General Assembly requested the
Secretary-General to report on the effects of atomic
radiation in the Marshall Islands. Such a report would
represent the potential for the Marshall Islands, the
United States and the United Nations to take a very
positive step forward towards understanding our past,
bringing closure to this sad chapter in our history and
beginning to understand how the international
community can assist us in addressing future
remediation challenges. The involvement of the United
Nations is key.
Sadly, I am concerned that the Secretary-General
has thus far neglected this critical opportunity. The
United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of
Atomic Radiation, which was invited to contribute to
the Secretary-General’s efforts to assemble a report,
has termed the General Assembly’s deliberate mandate
to be “not appropriate” and “an apparent error” in need
of formal correction (A/66/46, para. 13).
That is not only insensitive but it reveals that
perhaps the United Nations itself has yet to come to
terms with, or even to merely acknowledge, its
decisions on nuclear safety taken 60 years ago. That
negative approach could preclude efforts to bring to the
attention of this body important scientific work that has
been done in assessing the consequences of the nuclear
testing in the Marshall Islands.
It is our hope that United Nations will have the
courage and will to rise above the past and make a
difference, rather than allow itself to remain controlled
by history, and make excuses. As I said earlier, for
decades, Marshallese leaders have returned to the
United Nations to repeatedly speak of the legacy of the
nuclear testing in our country. It is my hope that one
day a new generation of Marshallese leaders will come
to this forum not to speak of this sad legacy, but rather
to proclaim that the work is done and that all is well.
The impacts of nuclear testing are not the only
historical legacy from international actors in the
Marshall Islands. Unexploded ordnance from the
Second World War and oil leakage are persistent issues
for our outer island communities. They pose threats to
our human security, public health and environmental
safety. We welcome the attention of Pacific Island
Forum leaders, and we join the call for assistance from
international bodies and development partners.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is not just a
small island State; we are a large ocean nation.
11-51398 14
Together, the oceanscape of the Pacific islands is an
area that covers 10 per cent of the world’s surface and
is four times the size of Europe. The way we manage
our maritime space is therefore a central pillar in our
basic development aspirations, and has significant
implications for the health of global oceans.
International commitments to ensure sustainable
fisheries and to visibly advance our development
aspirations can no longer be paid mere lip service and
then later be ignored by our partners in regional
processes, including the Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries Commission. The Marshall Islands presently
only sees a penny of benefit for every dollar of the
market value of our Pacific tuna. The conservation
measures by the parties to the Nauru Agreement,
including the Vessel Day Scheme and high seas
closures, must be implemented by our partners, not
only to reduce pressure on overfished stocks but also to
ensure our rightful place as a full economic actor.
Twenty years ago, global leaders meeting at Rio
de Janeiro set forward a high international benchmark
for sustainable development, crafting a range of
strategies and commitments. Next year, the critical
United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development must not only focus on moving towards a
global green economy but must also pay specific
attention to a global “blue economy” — one that
ensures specific, measurable and time-bound targets
for guaranteeing the sustainability of the global oceans
and their fish stocks, particularly in regions dotted by
small island States like my own. Greater commitment
is needed to utilize targeted global high seas closures,
thereby ensuring sustainable fisheries, as we are
already doing in the Pacific. The hour is past for vague
rhetoric. Leaders must respond with action rather than
continued neglect for the world’s oceans.
The Marshall Islands warmly welcomed the visit
this month by the Secretary-General to the Pacific
region. The Secretary-General was able to see for
himself the vulnerability and existential threat facing
low-lying island States. He has now rightfully
challenged world leaders to respond. What were once
theoretical and distant risks are now on the verge of
becoming our reality.
International climate negotiations are at serious
risk of entering a phase of political stalemate.
Negotiators have spent more than two decades in
complicated processes that have delivered very little in
terms of practical action to mitigate the climate change
problem. Often blocked by only a handful of countries,
the international community is still unable to commit
to emissions cuts and targets sufficient to ensure the
survival of the Marshall Islands and other low-lying
nations.
The Marshall Islands can wait no longer. We are
now choosing creative paths to drive urgency into our
broken negotiations and to pursue practical initiatives
to address the threats and risks. First, the Marshall
Islands joined with the Government of Mexico in
urging the United Nations in its coming Climate
Change Conference to consider the use of voting as a
means of last resort. Secondly, in July, we joined with
our Pacific small island developing States colleagues to
push for the Security Council to recognize that climate
change now poses an incontrovertible threat to
international peace and security.
We reiterate our call for the Secretary-General to
report on those threats. Petty arguments about forums
and mandates cannot be allowed to prevail at the risk
of our statehood. All organs of the United Nations must
now be proactively engaged. We do not need
sympathy; we need solutions and political innovation.
Thirdly, the Marshall Islands is carefully studying
options for clarifying the relevant international
obligations related to climate change and how it affects
our statehood. Working with our close neighbour, the
Republic of Palau, we are committed to pursuing
requests for legal advisory opinions from international
tribunals in order to recognize the international legal
principles that address questions of our survival and
security in the context of climate risks. We have also
agreed to work with Palau and other vulnerable and
low-lying countries to formulate and advance our own
legally binding climate agreement. We, the most
vulnerable, must act when others lack the political will
to do so.
As a significant global economic leader, Taiwan
can make substantial contributions to the international
community. The Republic of the Marshall Islands
welcomes increased dialogue on key cross-Strait
issues. That progress deserves recognition by the
international community. Given that the primary
purpose of the United Nations is to maintain
international peace, the world cannot afford to
overlook Taiwan’s strong efforts in promoting peace
15 11-51398
and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, including with
regard to climate change.
The 2009 invitation by the World Health
Organization for Taiwan to participate as an observer
has not only benefited global medical progress,
including on non-communicable diseases, but also
serves as an effective model for its wider participation
in other key organizations. We urge the United Nations
and its Member States to consider that model and
develop effective means for Taiwan’s participation in
specialized agencies, including the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the
International Civil Aviation Organization.
The Security Council must transform itself into
an effective and contemporary body. The Security
Council should be restructured to accommodate those
nations whose size, leadership and responsibility, in
particular the Group of Four — Japan, Germany, India
and Brazil — warrants a permanent presence in the
Council. Further efforts should be made to ensure that
Africa and small nations, including island States, have
improved access and an amplified voice.
The General Assembly witnessed a historic
moment last week, in which, for the first time, the
general debate was initiated by a woman, namely,
President Rousseff of Brazil. The Marshall Islands
welcomes the Secretary-General’s renewed priority on
addressing gender, including a strengthened
UN-Women institution, particularly in the Pacific.
The message for nuclear weapons, global security
and climate change is the same: international law is not
an empty promise.