I should like to begin by
extending to His Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki
my delegation’s warmest congratulations on his
election to preside over the General Assembly at its
sixty-fourth session. I assure him of the full support
and cooperation of my delegation. I also take this
opportunity to express our most profound appreciation
to his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann, for the exemplary manner in
which he guided our work at the sixty-third session.
I should also like to record my delegation’s
heartfelt gratitude to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
for his inspiring leadership and dedication in
promoting the noble principles and ideals of this
Organization.
This is the first time the General Assembly has
been addressed by a democratically elected President
of the Maldives. I am extremely pleased to be here. I
have spent many of the past General Assembly sessions
locked in a hot, humid, damp cell with my hands
shackled and my feet bound, imprisoned for my
conviction that the 300,000 people of the Maldives
should be free from fear, free from want and free to
live their lives in liberty and in dignity.
I would like to thank the international community
for its invaluable support in securing our democratic
transition. Reformers in the Maldives and our friends
in the United Nations should feel justifiably proud that
our island home was able to mark last year’s first
International Day of Democracy in the best possible
way: by throwing off a 30-year-old autocracy and
securing a smooth, peaceful and democratic transfer of
power.
Just as the international community played a key
role in securing the Maldives’ democratic transition,
so, I hope, will it play a role in the even more difficult
task of making sure our democracy becomes a
permanent feature rather than a passing illusion. All of
us who care about the Maldives and believe in
democracy bear an enormous responsibility to ensure
that the beliefs we fought for are set in stone rather
than written in sand.
There are three areas in which the Maldives seeks
the help of the international community. The first is
continued collaboration in democracy-building. We
must work together to strengthen the various pillars of
a democratic society, namely protection of human
rights, good governance, independent oversight bodies,
a free press and civil society. The Maldives has made
enormous progress on all of those pillars, but much
remains to be done. My sense is that the necessary
foundations are now in place. The separation of powers
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has been established by constitutional reform. A range
of independent agencies and commissions have now
been set up. We have a thriving independent media.
Nevertheless, several crucial challenges still remain,
and we look forward to the support of the international
community as we move to meet these challenges. In
particular, I would like to stress the importance of
ensuring the equality of women and men, not just in
name, but in practice.
The second way in which the international
community can help consolidate democracy and the
rule of law in the Maldives is by promoting a
conducive economic environment. As a small, open
market economy that is heavily dependent on tourism
and fishery exports, the Maldives has suffered badly
from the current global recession. Moreover, since
assuming office, we have come to understand that, in
the run-up to last year’s election, the former regime
engaged in highly irresponsible economic policies in
the hope of buying their way to victory. Add to this
picture our continued efforts to recovery from the 2004
tsunami, our impending graduation from the least
developed country category and the high oil and food
prices of recent years, and the scale of the economic
challenge facing the new Government becomes very
apparent.
The new Government is determined to confront
this challenge with honesty and with vigour. In
consultation with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank, we have embarked on a
programme of major economic reform designed to
reduce the bloated public sector, privatize public
utilities and promote private enterprise and trade. Yet
the scale of the problems we face means we cannot
succeed on our own. We therefore look to our friends
in the international community to help us get back on
our feet. We are very grateful for the support extended
to us by the IMF and the Indian Government, to name
but two of our partners. However, more is needed if
democracy and human rights are to coexist with
economic stability and prosperity.
The third way in which the international
community can and must help the Maldives consolidate
democracy and establish a secure, prosperous and
equitable society is by taking urgent and effective
action to tackle climate change. The threats posed to
the Maldives from climate change are well known.
Every beach lost to rising seas, every house lost to
storm surges, every reef lost to increasingly warm
waters, every job lost as fish stocks dwindle and every
life lost to more frequent extreme weather events will
make it harder and harder to govern the country, until a
point is reached when we must consider abandoning
our homeland.
I therefore call on you, the leaders of the world,
to protect the future of frontline countries like the
Maldives by reaching an ambitious and effective
agreement at December’s United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference
in Copenhagen which seeks to limit average global
temperature increases to less than 1.5 centigrade
degrees above pre-industrial levels. To do otherwise
would be to sign a death warrant for the
300,000 Maldivians.
But the Maldives is determined to do what we
can to survive. We are going to be the first country to
go carbon neutral, in 10 years’ time. In order to do that,
we are determined to formulate a survival kit: a
carbon-neutral manual that would enable others to
replicate our actions, in order that all of us together
might just about save ourselves from climate
catastrophe.
As part of our efforts to achieve a unified voice, I
will be inviting some of the most vulnerable States
affected by climate change to the Maldives. We hope
that that November summit will reinforce our
determination to leave no stone unturned to ensure our
survival.
I should now like to touch on a number of other
important issues which are of enormous concern to us.
The Maldives abhors terrorism in all its forms and is
determined to stand shoulder to shoulder with all
countries in facing down this menace. Events over the
past year in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, our
neighbours and partners in South Asia, show us that
victory in this fight will not be easy to achieve. They
also show us that to effectively tackle terrorism we
must reaffirm and not dilute our commitments to
human rights, democracy, the rule of law and good
governance.
While we applaud recent efforts to reform and
revitalize the United Nations, we believe that such
reforms cannot be successful or complete without the
much-anticipated and much-needed reform of the
Security Council. We strongly believe that the third
round of intergovernmental negotiations on Security
Council reform must produce tangible results. I call
35 09-52425
upon the Assembly to complete this task during the
sixty-fourth session and come to agreement on
increases in both the permanent and non-permanent
membership of the Council. In terms of composition,
we believe that the geo-political realities of the
contemporary world must be duly reflected in the
membership of the Council. Therefore, we support the
inclusion of India and Japan as permanent members.
The new Government of Maldives is determined
to pursue friendly and mutually respectful relations
with every country represented in this Hall. However,
any friendship must include a willingness to be frank
with one another and to object to behaviour not
befitting a sovereign State.
We believe dialogue and constructive engagement
serve the cause of peace better than ostracism and
isolation. The new Government in Maldives will look
to renew relations with Israel and to use the
relationship to reiterate our support for an independent
and sovereign Palestinian homeland, in conformity
with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.
Maldives is seeking election to the Human Rights
Council during the current session of the General
Assembly because we firmly believe in the universality
of human rights and their critical importance to
achieving the noble goals of the United Nations
Charter.
Standing at this rostrum, I must admit how, as a
prisoner, I was inspired by the courage and vision of
Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. Today I would like to
echo the call of the Secretary-General for her
immediate and unconditional release along with all
other political prisoners. I also reiterate my strident
support for the work assigned to Mr. Ibrahim Gambari,
the United Nations Special Envoy to Burma, and say a
prayer for political prisoners everywhere.
In conclusion, I must say that the most critical
test so far of the resoluteness of the international
community to save itself will come during Mr. Treki’s
watch as President of this Assembly: the Copenhagen
meeting in December. We must prime ourselves to
succeed at that conference. Between now and then, we
must all use every opportunity, every debate, and every
encounter to achieve that goal. It is imperative that we
succeed. If we want to save the world, I suggest that
saving Maldives is a very good starting point.