Palau

This year’s general debate began with a Declaration by world leaders that our collective response to all challenges must be guided by the rule of law (resolution 67/1). Palau is very proud to join in that Declaration, as our national story is inextricably linked with the international rule of law. Not long ago, Palau emerged as the last United Nations Trust Territory, granted independence after more than 100 years and four successive colonial administrations. Our unique road to freedom left us with a lasting legacy: a strong partnership with the United States of America and a constitution that guarantees the Palauan people the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through independence, we have preserved our heritage, our culture and our environment. That preservation was marked this year by UNESCO’s designation of the Rock Islands of Palau as 2012’s only natural and cultural world heritage site. And, just last year, the United Nations Development Programme ranked Palau forty-ninth in the world in its Human Development Index, a composite measure of life expectancy, health, educational attainment and living standards. We are very proud of that ranking for this small, new country. It is a tribute to Palau’s success. Having gained so much, Palau has worked to give back to the international community and to make the world a better place. Palau proudly deployed officers as peacekeepers in Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands, and continues to do so today in Darfur. Upon first taking its United Nations seat, Palau focused its energies on the odious practice of deep-sea bottom trawling. And though it has taken some time and considerable buy-in from others, the two consensus resolutions 61/105 and 66/68 show that we can help protect vulnerable deep-sea marine ecosystems and biodiversity on a global scale. In 2009, from this rostrum, Palau’s President, Johnson Toribiong, launched the first volley in an effort to save the world’s dwindling shark populations. He declared the world’s first shark sanctuary in his general debate address. The ocean’s vitality depends on healthy shark populations. So we are grateful that States and territories from across the globe have joined Palau in committing to nurture shark sanctuaries. Today, almost 2 million square miles of ocean — an area approximately nine times the size of Palau’s waters — are safe for sharks. Palau was also the first to sound the alarm on the security impacts of climate change. With our Pacific brothers and sisters, we moved early on to declare climate change a security issue that demands the special attention of every organ of the United Nations system. That was a new and different way of thinking about the problem. Some sceptically questioned whether Blue Helmets would be able to hold back the rising tides. But 18 months after we began, the Assembly adopted consensus resolution 63/281, inviting the relevant organs of the United Nations to intensify their efforts to consider and address climate change, including its possible security implications. That call was heeded by Germany, when it took up the issue last July as President of the Security Council. Thanks to Germany’s efforts, as well as those of others on the Council, we now have a historic presidential statement highlighting the potential risks of climate change to international peace and security. Germany’s statement and resolution 63/281 have not stemmed the rising tides, but they have helped to change the way we understand and discuss climate change. No longer can anyone question the impact of climate change on energy security, on food security, on water security or indeed on our territorial integrity. No longer can anyone deny that rising seas and oppressive droughts are displacing people across the globe. As the United States Permanent Representative said at last year’s Council meeting, to deny the security implications of climate change would be pathetic. The world has reached a crossroads on sustainable development. We have recently concluded discussions at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and will soon delineate new sustainable development goals, focusing again on small island developing States. For Palau, that crossroads is an opportunity to better integrate healthy oceans and fisheries into the regulatory development framework. Sustainable fisheries are Palau’s lifeblood. For Palau, it has always been, and continues to be, a blue economy or no economy. That is why we have limited purse seine fishing, agreed with our neighbours to close the doughnut holes between our jurisdictions, and implemented an innovative vessel day scheme strategy through the parties to the Nauru Agreement. That is also why we have conserved 58 per cent of our in-shore marine area through the Protected Areas Network, banned bottom trawling and declared the world’s first shark sanctuary. We were honoured this year that the Protected Areas Network Act and the Shark Haven Act received the 2012 Future Policy Award for outstanding maritime policy and for contributing most effectively to the sustainable management of the world’s oceans and coasts for the benefit of current and future generations. We thank the World Future Council, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Okeanos Foundation for the Sea and the Global Environmental Facility for conferring their generous recognition and support through that award. Palau champions three straightforward principles for global fisheries. First, global fisheries should be fair. If distant-water vessels want to come for fish that traverse Palau’s waters, they should respect our laws. They should fish within our limits and recognize our right to realize the benefits of our natural resources. Illegal fishing is tantamount to piracy; it robs us of our livelihoods and undermines our security. Secondly, global fisheries should be sustainable. We should use every means at our disposal to achieve stock levels that will ensure healthy fisheries for the long term. That includes closing fisheries when necessary. Thirdly, global fisheries should be accountable. Reports show that 87 per cent of global fish stocks are now fully exploited or overexploited. Those are the worst numbers on record. Regional fisheries management organizations, which stand in the shoes of the General Assembly, should do better and should be more transparent. We are encouraged that negotiations this year enabled the resolution on sustainable fisheries (resolution 66/88) to better reflect those three principles. Palau is pleased to report on the success of a number of key domestic initiatives, which we have previously raised in the general debate. Palau has taken innovative steps to reduce our emissions by solarizing our airport, our Government buildings and our highways. By 2020, we will generate 20 per cent of our energy from renewable sources. We have also created a successful green mortgage programme to assist the financing of greener homes. That programme, which began with a small amount of financing from Italy, was recently the subject of a workshop among 13 regional financing institutions, with plans for expansion throughout the Pacific. Palau is also working to connect itself to the world — literally. It is inconceivable to many of us here in New York, but Palau remains without broadband Internet. That means that no Palauan can watch the streaming video of this speech. The Broadband Commission of the International Telecommunication Union tells us that broadband access is a prerequisite to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and that a 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration increases a developing country’s gross national product by 1.4 per cent. We are sure that a 100 per cent increase would fundamentally improve Palauan health, business and civic engagement. We continue to seek partners that might help Palau to reach that goal. Last year Palau underwent its Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review. The most repeated recommendation by Human Rights Council members was that we should establish a national human rights institution. With the help of new partners, we are translating human rights conventions into Palauan, bringing the lessons of international human rights into Palauan schools, harmonizing our national legislation, regulations and practices with the international human rights instruments, and supporting human rights programmes and services in Palau through that formal institution. All those activities have been complemented by the outstanding work being done to remove explosive remnants of Second World War from Palau. As President Toribiong stated from this rostrum last year, many of those explosives are still live and are being discovered near our schools, roads and utilities. With the help of our partners, much of this unexploded ordnance is being destroyed. We hope that anyone interested in our efforts will attend our upcoming regional workshop in October to see first-hand the successful model of cooperation between Palau’s Government, non-governmental organizations, donors and the local community that is eradicating that scourge from our midst. We would like to express our gratitude for the strong support and friendship of our partners for helping to get those and other important projects off the ground. Palau thanks especially the United States, Japan, Australia and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Palau continues to believe that Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the United Nations system will help to further promote the system’s efficacy, goals and ideals, including those of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Palau very much appreciates the President’s choice of “Bringing about adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations by peaceful means” as the theme for this year’s general debate. It is as important as ever that we commit to upholding the peace and condemn violence wherever it occurs. To that end, Palau condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent attacks on the diplomatic premises in the Middle East. We agree with President Obama that such attacks are “an assault on the very ideals upon which the United Nations was founded” (A/67/PV.6, p. 11). We must be vigilant in protecting all diplomatic missions, wherever they may be. Closer to our shores in the Pacific, Palau is also hopeful that tensions in the East China Sea will dissipate, and that all of our neighbours can engage in a more peaceful dialogue. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned the world last week that we are wilfully blind when it comes to climate change. We are awash in reports telling us that the situation is dire. We have experienced more than 100 consecutive months of temperatures above global averages. Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since the year 2000. Arctic sea ice is at its lowest level in recorded history. Coral reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate. Now, buried in the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regarding the management of risk is advice to policymakers in small island States that, in certain cases, they may wish to consider relocating their populations. We assure the members of the Assembly that Palau has no intention of moving its people. Our islands are their home. They are the essence of Palau’s very being. I can state with every confidence that Palau will pursue every legitimate recourse available before we concede hope. The current situation at the UNFCCC is unacceptable. After more than 20 years of negotiations, we are running out of creative ways to say that countries are being destroyed. Sadly, it seems that the most vulnerable countries have become acceptable collateral damage. The world knows the causes of climate change. It is within our grasp to effect a solution. No army stands in our way. If something is not done soon, all the good, hard work to which Palau and the other island nations of the world have dedicated themselves will be for naught. In conclusion, we know that the times we live in are turbulent, but we must heed our leaders’ call to be guided by the Charter of the United Nations and the international rule of law. Palau will continue to do its part by being a moral voice for what is right, and hopefully, a model global citizen.