Sixty-three years
after its formation, the United Nations remains the
world’s central international body. Only here do all
countries come together to devise solutions and to
forge collective action on global challenges. And these
are particularly challenging times. As the Secretary-
General and many others have noted, we are facing a
global financial crisis, a global energy crisis and a
global food crisis. More than ever before, we are an
interconnected and interdependent world community.
The Charter goals of peace and prosperity require the
full support of all United Nations Members. New
Zealand was a founding member in 1945, and our
commitment to this body is as strong now as it was
then.
At such a difficult time in the world we need
leadership, courage and a recommitment of our
resources to tackle the issues before us. When the food
crisis was first in the headlines, the Secretary-
General’s High-Level Task Force provided a
mechanism for us all to respond. Having contributed
nearly $NZ 10 million to date, New Zealand is among
those assisting with urgent food security needs and
medium-term policy responses. A successful
conclusion of the Doha Development Round would
alleviate much of the pressure on the demand-supply
imbalance.
On the development theme of this sixty-third
session, New Zealand fully associates with the
Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Global Call to
Action Campaign. Support is urgently needed to
revitalize collective efforts, including developing and
strengthening partnerships between traditional and new
donors, the private sector and civil society, and through
South-South cooperation. We are set to play our part.
New Zealand is significantly stepping up official
development assistance (ODA) from 0.27 per cent of
gross national income in 2007 to 0.35 per cent by
2010-2011. That 62 per cent increase will take New
Zealand aid to over $NZ 600 million.
We are acutely aware that the Pacific is the
second region after sub-Saharan Africa that is least
likely to meet the MDG targets. We are therefore
looking to direct our increased ODA there, through a
Pacific strategy, which focuses poverty reduction
efforts around four key pillars: strengthening
governance, achieving broader-based growth and
sustainable livelihoods, improving health and
education, and reducing vulnerabilities, including to
climate change.
In these challenging times, we look to the United
Nations to deliver effectively for development, for
peace and security and on human rights. Our
Organization must continue to evolve along with the
changing demands on it. Momentum needs to be
maintained in the modernization of the United Nations.
We share the Secretary-General’s vision for that and
support his proposals to fix the human resources
management system, which he has characterized as
dysfunctional.
I would now like to turn to the challenges of
peace and security around the world, from which our
own region is not immune. At the Pacific Islands
Forum held in Niue last month, New Zealand and other
members of the Pacific Forum community expressed
profound disappointment at Fiji’s lack of progress
towards restoring democratic government. The Forum
communiqué urged the interim regime in Fiji to fulfil
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its promise to hold elections in accordance with Fiji’s
existing constitution by March next year. Leaders also
acknowledged that there were long-term issues to be
resolved in Fiji and supported a Commonwealth-led
independent and inclusive political dialogue process to
address them. That will not only create a more
conducive environment for elections, but also enable a
newly elected Government to engage with key
stakeholders to promote national reconciliation. New
Zealand urges all United Nations Members to support
the steps taken by the Pacific Islands Forum to
encourage Fiji to return to democratic and
constitutional government as soon as possible.
Mr. Nsengimana (Rwanda), Vice-President, took
the Chair.
Our region is also home to Timor-Leste, a partner
and friend of New Zealand. We are pleased to see
encouraging progress since last year’s elections,
especially the building of institutions and improving
governance. That was achieved despite assassination
attempts on Timor-Leste’s leadership. The United
Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT)
and the International Stabilization Force continue to
play a valuable role in helping to maintain security.
New Zealand strongly supports the UNMIT mandate
and its extension beyond February 2009. Planning for
security in the longer term, to ensure appropriately
sized and resourced institutions with clearly delineated
roles and responsibilities, is also a key issue, and we
stand ready to help.
Also within our region, the political, economic
and human rights situation in Myanmar remains
troubling. We urge the Myanmar authorities to achieve
national reconciliation through open and constructive
dialogue and to respect universal human rights in the
country, consistent with international obligations. We
support the efforts of the United Nations to sustain a
dialogue with the Myanmar Government in order to
build foundations for the future.
On the African continent, the humanitarian
disaster caused by the conflict in Darfur is
unacceptable. The targeting of civilians by State and
non-State parties, is a flagrant breach of international
human rights law. The widespread absence of justice
and accountability for such human rights violations and
the impunity that this promotes represent major
obstacles to improving the human rights situation in
Darfur.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the recent
announcement of a power-sharing agreement offers
hope that the long period of violent repression and
human rights abuses by the previous Government can
be brought to a close. The international community
will be watching closely to see that all parties fulfil the
commitments that they have made to bring about
peace, respect for political freedom and human rights
and a Government which reflects the will of the
people.
Let me turn now to the Middle East. New
Zealand continues to be strongly supportive of all
attempts to find a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict. We share the international community’s vision
for a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian
State, existing side by side in peace and security with
the State of Israel.
In Afghanistan, despite political progress, the
overall situation is fragile. The international
community needs to devote more resources to ending
the conflict and to assisting the people of Afghanistan
in their efforts to stabilize and rebuild their country.
New Zealand has expressed a strong commitment to
restoring peace and security in Afghanistan with our
assistance, both military and developmental, totalling
more than 160 million New Zealand dollars to date.
Closer to home, New Zealand welcomes the
recent improvement in cross-Strait relations. Cross-
Strait stability is vital to the security of the greater
Asia-Pacific region. We encourage China and Taiwan
to maintain the dialogue which has been established.
New Zealand remains a strong supporter of
efforts to protect and maintain the international rule of
law. To that end, one of the most significant advances
in recent times has been the establishment of the
International Criminal Court (ICC). When the ICC was
first established, it was widely considered to herald the
beginning of a new era in international criminal justice.
The Court has now reached a crucial stage in its
development, and it has become clear that the
establishment of a global justice system brings with it
many challenges. It is of the utmost importance that
States rise to those challenges. To fail to do so would
be a betrayal of the victims of egregious crimes. New
Zealand urges States to make every effort to ensure the
independence and success of the Court. The Court
needs our full support and cooperation to ensure that
individuals responsible for the most serious violations
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of international law are brought to justice without
delay.
In this sixtieth anniversary year of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, we acknowledge the
many international human rights conventions that have
arisen out of that unique statement of overriding
principles. New Zealand played an active part in the
design of the new Human Rights Council, and we are
seeking election to the Council next year, so as to be
more closely involved in its work.
The newest member of the family of human
rights treaties is the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, which New Zealand ratified
this month. We look forward to the first conference of
States parties, and to the opportunity the Convention
offers to make a real improvement in the lives and
human rights of disabled people everywhere.
Finally, let me reiterate the importance that New
Zealand attaches to the concept of the responsibility to
protect. The United Nations, through the Security
Council, should be prepared to protect people against
ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes and crimes
against humanity when national authorities fail to do
so. There is a clear need to enhance early warning
systems to enable the Council to act in a timely
manner. We look forward to the report of the Secretary-
General on the responsibility to protect, and we stand
ready to help to take that important initiative forward.
As we look forward to the year ahead, New
Zealand pledges to work actively with others in our
collective stewardship of the United Nations. We shall
play our part in the continuing, patient process of
renewing our Organization and of making it more
resilient and responsive.