Fiji, 1995

Allow me first of all to express

very warm greetings and congratulations to the President

from the Government and people of Fiji on his election to

preside over the General Assembly at this historic fiftieth

session. We are confident that with his vast experience

and demonstrated leadership, the General Assembly will

complete its deliberations at this important session

fruitfully. I would also like to express the compliments of

my delegation to His Excellency Foreign Minister Amara

Essy, whose presidency during the forty-ninth session

brought the work of the General Assembly to a successful

conclusion.

I wish to join other speakers in warmly welcoming

the Republic of Palau as the one hundred and eighty-fifth

Member of the United Nations.

On 13 October 1970, a quarter of a century ago, Fiji,

a newly independent State only three days old, was

admitted as this body’s one hundred twenty-sixth

member. Standing at this very rostrum, the Permanent

Representative Designate of Fiji to the United Nations,

Ambassador Semesa Sikivou, said,

“Although I represent a small country far away

in the Pacific, my Government and people warmly

cherish the principles and ideals which led to the

foundation of the United Nations and which have

made this great Assembly, in its 25 years of

existence, one of the main hopes for the future of

mankind. And we are fully resolved to play our part,

however humble, in helping to maintain and foster

the high purpose for which this Assembly was

established — the brotherhood of mankind.”

(Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-

fifth Session, Plenary Meetings, 1863rd meeting,

para. 111)

Today I wish to confirm that since that memorable

occasion, nothing has changed to diminish that resolve in

any way. It has never been shaken. The intervening years

have demonstrated that the high purpose to which

Ambassador Sikivou referred constitutes the very cement

that binds us together in the pursuit of a common global

destiny. The principles and ideals which inspired the

architects of the United Nations still endure as noble

goals that challenge us.

Today is a special day for Fiji because it marks the

twenty-fifth year of our nationhood. While anniversaries

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are appropriate moments for celebration, they are also a

fitting time for reflection, stocktaking and giving thanks. In

our particular case, Fiji owes a debt of gratitude to its

friends in the international community who reached out to

assist us over these years. Since that moment, over two

decades ago, when our frail canoe embarked on its long

voyage, with all its reefs and shoals, it has been comforting

to have so many friends ready to show us the beacons and

lighthouses, enabling us to choose a course that would

make our independence meaningful for ourselves. On behalf

of the Government and the people of Fiji, it is my solemn

duty today to say thank you to our friends. As the canoe

continues its journey, we are confident that we will be able

to continue counting on the guidance and help of our

friends. And this includes the United Nations — we highly

value our association with it and the assistance it provides.

Half a century ago, the United Nations was established

to end the scourge of war and build a better world for

succeeding generations. The cold war and its attendant

super-Power rivalry have ended. However, despite

decreases in inter-State conflicts, recent history indicates

that the much-promised peace dividend from the end of the

sterile confrontations that characterized much of the life of

the United Nations has not materialized. Conflicts within

States continue to tear at the fabric of established societies.

Can we truly say, looking around our world, that it is better

today than it was 50 years ago?

During the last year, in particular, there has been

much soul-searching about the role of the United Nations.

This has stemmed in part from a growing perception that in

the face of civil strife, the Blue Helmets have been

powerless to save lives and prevent conflict. I believe that

the seeming hesitancy of United Nations peace-keepers

reflects our inability as Member States of the Organization

to develop a clear and confident sense of the new role of

the United Nations in today’s changed global environment.

We all have a collective responsibility to ensure that

a more precise vision of the role of the modern United

Nations is created. With political will, we can do it. In this

process, I suggest that the moment is right for us to

rededicate ourselves to the Charter, for it is the principles

enshrined in it that represent our best opportunity for

finding a clear direction ahead as we approach the new

millennium. No less important is that we, as Member

States, should equip our Organization with the resources to

carry out its reinvigorated mandate.

The United Nations must further enlarge its

instruments of preventive diplomacy. The Secretary-

General’s Agenda for Peace has clearly made an

outstanding contribution to discussions in this area. Fiji

urges the Assembly to give earnest consideration to

implementing his recommendations on this issue. Fiji

considers that there is much merit to proposals that a

special department or unit be set up to deal with conflict

prevention and resolution. This unit could coordinate the

actions of a rapid-deployment force to be dispatched to

trouble spots when conflicts erupt. More importantly, it

would collate, analyse and interpret information and

intelligence and develop early detection capacities on

potential conflict situations. It would also work with

States in developing confidence-building measures

designed to minimize both intra- and inter-State conflicts.

The financial position of the United Nations

continues to be a matter of concern to Fiji. In this we are

not alone, I am sure. The sudden and huge increase in

expenditures for peace-keeping operations to a level more

than three times as high as that of expenditures for

development is becoming difficult to sustain and justify.

It has been our view for some time that the apparent

imbalance between resources committed to security issues

and those committed to development is not justified.

As regards peace-keeping, we all know that there are

large-scale arrears in contributions. We do not object to

peace-keeping operations. On the contrary, despite our

smallness and our relative lack of resources, we have

been a consistent and active contributor of troops to

various peace-keeping missions. Fiji has paid a heavy

human and financial price for contributing troops, but it

has done so gladly and willingly and will continue to do

so. Clearly, though, the United Nations has to rationalize

its peace-keeping expenditures and at the same time

reimburse fully and in timely fashion monies that it owes

to troop-contributing countries.

It is now becoming clear that a large number of

Member States, if not the majority, wish the United

Nations to devote more attention and resources to human

and social development. Ultimately, there can be no

sustainable peace without development. Enduring

solutions to social and economic problems represent the

basic infrastructure for long-term peace. The United

Nations cannot — indeed, must not — shrink from this

aspect of its mission.

A greater rationalization of agencies and

programmes within the United Nations and its agencies

must be tackled with urgency and vigour. Fiji supports

efforts to establish a high-level working group on United

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Nations reform, and we look forward to contributing to

efforts within the Organization aimed at revitalizing and

strengthening the United Nations system. Of critical

importance to this review process is the need for the United

Nations to redirect its focus away from activities of limited

value and relevance and to strengthen those which the

Member States identify as meaningful. This will require the

taking of some hard decisions which can no longer be

postponed.

The end of bipolarism and the increased membership

of the United Nations have created new challenges for the

Organization. One of these is the reform of the Security

Council. Fiji has followed with keen interest the

deliberations of the Open-ended Working Group on the

Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council. We believe that the

structures of the United Nations should reflect changes in

the global political landscape. They should reflect the

principles of geographical representation and equity

consistent with today’s global political and economic

realities. The arguments for an enlarged Security Council

reflecting these principles are compelling. Fiji also believes

that while questions as to the form of the Council are

important, equal attention to the substance of the Security

Council is crucial. In particular, we would urge that closer

attention be paid to the “veto” power in the light of the new

global realities to which I have referred.

Fiji would like to register its strong view that the

question of the protection and security of small States

remains a central concern of the United Nations. Last year,

we joined in sponsoring a resolution on this issue in the

Fourth Committee, for as long as drug traffickers,

international arms dealers, money launderers and

international white-collar criminals continue to ply their

trade, and as long as mercenaries and terrorists and other

adventurers exist, the protection and security of small States

will remain vulnerable to acts of aggression from without

as well as from within. Small States especially look to the

provisions of the Charter as regards respect for their

sovereignty and its preservation.

Earlier this year, Fiji joined other States Members of

the United Nations in agreeing to an unconditional and

indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation

of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The Review and Extension

Conference was difficult and involved a willingness to

compromise on the part of many parties. During the

Conference, Fiji stated that the future viability of the NPT

would depend on the conduct of States in relation to their

rights and obligations. Fiji went along with the decision to

extend the Treaty despite its imperfections because we

believed that it made an important contribution to global

peace and security.

We were therefore bitterly disappointed when France

announced its decision in June this year to resume nuclear

testing in the South Pacific. Coming in the wake of the

NPT Conference, the French decision displayed great

insensitivity. Fiji has long been a consistent opponent of

nuclear testing in all forms and in all environments. If

anything, we believe that rather than contribute to, they

detract from, national and indeed global security. As an

oceanic State heavily dependent on the sea for food and

survival, we maintain that nuclear testing in our region

has a more immediate impact. It threatens one of our

main sources of livelihood and our health, not only at the

present time, but for generations to come. The French

decision to resume nuclear testing at Mururoa has, as is

well known, met with worldwide condemnation. South

Pacific countries, as those most immediately affected,

have added their strong individual and collective voices

to the protests. In the light of the cessation of the cold

war, one might ask, What is the need for further testing

of nuclear weapons?

Fiji therefore urges France, even at this stage, after

it has already detonated two of its planned eight nuclear

devices, to reconsider its decision. It is not too late to turn

the clock back. In recent years, thanks to the moratorium

on testing put in place by President Mitterrand, France

has enjoyed cordial relations in the Pacific region, but all

that good will and the warmth of those relationships are

now being rapidly compromised by their recent decision.

At their meeting in Madang last month the leaders of the

Pacific Forum expressed their extreme outrage at the

resumption by the French of their nuclear testing in the

Pacific. They decided that, should France continue its

testing in the Pacific, the Forum would review the status

of France as a Forum dialogue partner. It is therefore

singularly disappointing that despite all these objections,

France went ahead and detonated a second nuclear device

at Fagataufa, on 2 October 1995. We regard this as a slap

in the face of the leaders of the Forum and a violent

crime against the people of the South Pacific.

As the Assembly is aware, the Forum has now duly

suspended France as a post-Forum dialogue partner. This

will remain so until France changes its decision on

nuclear testing in the Pacific. Fiji fully associates itself

with the Forum decision.

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Fiji would also like to express its deep regret at the

continued nuclear testing by the People’s Republic of

China. We see no justification for such tests. My

Government calls upon all States having similar intentions

to desist from taking any action that would threaten

negotiations at the current session of the Conference on

Disarmament taking place in Geneva. While present

indications are that negotiations to conclude a universal,

multilateral and effectively verifiable nuclear-test-ban treaty

are on track, we cannot yet assume that the time for

congratulations and back-patting has been reached. That

will only come with the final conclusion of a

comprehensive test-ban treaty (CTBT) which takes into

account the security of all States, including non-nuclear

States. Fiji continues to place high priority on completion

of the CTBT negotiations in 1996. We welcome President

Clinton’s commitment to a zero threshold test-ban treaty.

Fiji urges other nuclear-weapon States that have not yet

done so to give similar assurances. These States have a

special responsibility in ensuring that the CTBT

negotiations remain on track. We believe that a

comprehensive treaty covering all relevant concerns will

make a significant contribution to efforts towards nuclear

disarmament and the prevention of the proliferation of

nuclear weapons in all its aspects.

Within our own region, the South Pacific, we have a

number of conventions and treaties designed to keep the

region free from nuclear and other hazardous material.

These include the Convention for the Protection and

Development of the Natural Resources and Environment of

the South Pacific Region, of 1989, and its related

Protocols — the Noumea Convention, the Waigani

Convention — which was opened for signature only last

month and which aims to ban the importation into Forum

island countries of hazardous and radioactive wastes and to

control the transboundary movement and management of

hazardous wastes within the South Pacific region — and

the South Pacific nuclear-free-zone Treaty, the Treaty of

Rarotonga, of 1985, and its three Protocols.

With regard to the latter, we are pleased that two of

the five nuclear Powers — China and the Russian

Federation — have signed the relevant Protocols. But the

remaining three have not done so as yet. We therefore urge

the United States of America, France and the United

Kingdom to sign the Protocols as soon as possible as a

demonstration of their commitment to a comprehensive

nuclear test-ban treaty.

From a global perspective, it had been predicted that

the conclusion of the Uruguay Round would link economies

more strongly through increased flows of trade and

finance based on trade liberalization and a concomitant

strengthening of multilateral trading systems. While trade

liberalization caused by the Uruguay Round has had

positive effects on the trade and incomes of some

countries, the beneficial results of that process have been

far from uniform. Nor have they been universal. Most, if

not all, of the Pacific island countries are among those

that have been adversely affected by the changed global

trading regime, in part as a result of the removal of

certain preferential trade arrangements of which they

formed a part. Small island developing economies have

borne the brunt of these changes, which have forced

sometimes painful adjustments.

We would therefore urge our developed-country

partners to assist efforts we are making at the national

and regional levels to enhance our international economic

competitiveness and to expand our trading opportunities.

Last year, Fiji, along with other small island developing

countries, welcomed General Assembly resolution 49/100,

which recalled the special economic vulnerability of the

small island developing States. Fiji acknowledges the role

of the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) and the Department for Policy

Coordination and Sustainable Development of the

Secretariat in research and policy analysis in the

strengthening of the capacities of small island developing

States to capture a larger share of world trade. We

welcome the recent appointments of senior staff in both

those entities to provide greater focus on problems related

to small island developing States. However, Fiji believes

that more tangible and concrete evidence of specific

support measures to small island developing States must

be put in place without further delay. We would urgently

commend this as a matter to be studied in some detail by

the Commission on Sustainable Development at its high-

level segment to be convened next year.

Talk of peace and development enjoins all within

our global village, especially leaders, to recall and to

rededicate themselves to the commitments they agreed to

at the World Summit for Social Development held earlier

this year in Denmark. If we as leaders in Government

commit ourselves to creating an economic, political and

social environment that will enable people to achieve

social development, we will have gone a long way

towards creating an environment conducive to peace.

Fiji would therefore renew its plea to the developed

industrialized countries to enhance their assistance to

developing countries within the framework of the

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Copenhagen Declaration to bring about improved standards

of living in the third world. In the long term, more stable

and more affluent national societies comprising well-

nourished individuals will be less of a threat to global peace

and stability than States whose citizens languish in abject

poverty and the horrors of sectarian violence. At the same

time, we also recognize that since resources, particularly

development assistance, are getting harder to come by, it is

incumbent upon all of us to see that whatever resources are

made available are put to the best possible use.

Indeed, proper management of resources is

increasingly becoming one of the major preoccupations of

both the aid donors and the aid recipients in our region of

the South Pacific. The South Pacific Forum had “Managing

resources” as its theme in 1994. The Forum’s deliberations

this year, which took place only last month in Papua New

Guinea, centred on the theme of “Securing development

beyond 2000”. As in previous years, the Forum island

members again had very useful discussions with aid donors

in the region in their post-Forum dialogue. We are deeply

appreciative of the opportunity to sit down together with the

donors and discuss regional issues of mutual concern. The

donors included the United States, the United Kingdom,

France, Japan, Canada, the European Union, the People’s

Republic of China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea.

We believe that regional cooperation will play an

increasingly important role in the development of our

national economies. We therefore highly value our

increasing contacts with the countries members of the

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the

economies of South-East Asia generally. This includes

Taiwan, with which we enjoy very useful and close trade,

economic and technical cooperation, just as we do with the

People’s Republic of China, with which we have strong and

unequivocally clear official relations. We believe that

Taiwan, like the People’s Republic of China, has huge

potential to contribute in a practical way to the development

of our region and to the world generally. We therefore

welcome the spirit of dialogue and cooperation between

Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China and hope that

the international community at large will also be able to

benefit from such cooperation. Their increased participation

and cooperation in the activities of various international and

regional forums would certainly be welcome.

Fiji, as a member of the South Pacific Forum, is

pleased that the Republic of Korea has now joined the

Forum as a post-Forum dialogue partner. We are confident

that the Republic of Korea, a rapidly growing economic

Power, can play a very significant role in the development

of the South Pacific region. We welcome the

opportunities that lie ahead. Further, we hope that

initiatives for talks between the Republic of Korea and

the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will continue.

We hope that in due course there will be direct dialogue

between the two Koreas, leading to their reconciliation

and eventual reunification.

Last month, the Fourth World Conference on

Women, in which Fiji also participated, was held at

Beijing. We thank the Government and the people of

China for acting as host to the Conference. Our

delegation had high praise for the efficient organization of

the Conference. We welcome the very useful deliberations

that took place at Beijing. Fiji looks forward to early

implementation of the Platform of Action so that the ideas

contained in it may be translated into meaningful activity

for the betterment of women.

Preoccupation with economic progress should not be

at the expense of continued protection of the environment

and sustainable development. Indeed, good environmental

housekeeping will encourage economic growth rather than

hinder it.

While the United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro was seen

as a defining moment in the quest for sustainability and

environmental protection, Fiji regrets that a lack of

political commitment, coupled with donor fatigue, has

been responsible for the failure of most developed

countries to allocate adequate financial resources to

enable developing countries to tackle the plethora of

problems associated with environmental degradation.

If no increased official development assistance is

forthcoming and if the international target of 0.7 per cent

is not met, there will be serious reneging on commitments

made at Rio. Fiji is especially concerned as a small island

developing State that the more affluent industrialized

countries should recognize their responsibility towards the

international community and take urgent steps to assist

small island developing States in implementing the

Barbados Programme of Action. Specifically, the need is

for international cooperation, technology transfer and

financial resources.

There is also a critical need for access to markets,

acquisition of new technologies, investments and

institutional and human resource development by small

island developing States to enable them to respond more

effectively to the challenge of finding new paths to

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sustainable development. My Government would urge all

parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change to move speedily towards the conclusion

of an effective protocol that would ultimately bring about

improvements in the global climate system. For front-line

States such as Fiji, vulnerable as we are to rising sea levels,

hurricanes and other phenomena associated with a worst-

case scenario of climate change, politics has little to do

with the reality that our physical survival would be affected

if immediate action to remedy ailments in the world climate

system were not taken. In this context, Fiji welcomes the

commencement of negotiations on the Berlin mandate to

strengthen the Framework Convention on Climate Change,

which got under way in Geneva last August.

At the first Conference of the Parties to the

Convention, Fiji had expressed its regret that the outcome

of the Conference was minimal. Fiji continues to believe

that the protocol of the Alliance of Small Island States

should form the basis of any new instrument aimed at

strengthening the climate Convention. Further, at the

present time, no new commitments should attach to

developing countries, given that their overriding priority

will remain the combatting of poverty. Recognizing that the

present health of the world’s climate system is a result of

the detrimental patterns of production and consumption of

the industrialized countries, those countries should continue

to take the lead in reducing the emission of greenhouse

gases.

Fiji welcomes the successful completion of the United

Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly

Migratory Fish Stocks. The Agreement produced by the

Conference was the culmination of more than two years of

work by Member countries that participated in it. It will

form yet another important building block in the

progressive development of international law under the

auspices of the United Nations. Fiji hopes that the

Agreement will lead to the sustainable utilization of the

living resources of the sea. For its part, Fiji was both

honoured and privileged to have played a small part in

facilitating the work of the Conference. We have kept true

to the promise of Ambassador Sikivou that Fiji would play

its part, however humble, in the affairs of this great

Assembly.

At this time I would like to pay a special tribute to

Ambassador Satya Nandan, under whose guidance as

Chairman the Conference completed the difficult task of

weaving together the sometimes competing interests that

underlie the often complex and technical negotiations that

allowed for an agreement. Ambassador Nandan has done us

proud, and Fiji is indebted to him for his enduring

contribution.

Fiji has followed with keen interest the deliberations

of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations under

the brilliant stewardship of Mrs. Erica-Irene Daes, under

whose guidance a draft declaration on the rights of

indigenous peoples has been completed. Fiji believes that

the draft declaration is comprehensive and contains the

fundamentals that should be part of any instrument that

seeks to address the legitimate concerns and aspirations of

all indigenous peoples. We would urge all States

Members of the United Nations to support efforts to

conclude work leading to early adoption of the draft

declaration. However, while the draft declaration is

important, Fiji considers that it is now time to give the

fullest recognition at the international level to the rights

of indigenous peoples by commencing negotiations to

conclude as soon as possible a legal covenant on the

subject. My Government believes that such an instrument

would be a logical progression following the adoption of

the draft declaration and would signal that the political

will to respect the rights of indigenous peoples exists.

During the greater part of the life of the United

Nations, the strong have dictated to the feeble, the big to

the small, the mighty to the weak. While there has been

some semblance of order, it has often been at the expense

of justice and equity. In this context, while the United

Nations has been a symbol of hope for people from small

countries such as mine, much more remains to be done

before it can fulfil the promise of promoting human

dignity, improved standards of living and social progress

for all. That said, however, Fiji’s view is that the United

Nations remains the best and most imaginative

organization mankind has yet devised for its survival in

peace, justice and progress.

On this day, 10 October, which is the silver

anniversary of the independence of Fiji, and on the golden

anniversary of the United Nations, we want to share with

the international community the extraordinary opportunity

to rededicate ourselves to fulfilling the aspirations of the

Charter. The United Nations must continue to advance the

interests of all mankind by providing a meaningful forum

for genuine dialogue between the rich and the poor for

the establishment of conditions for development, and thus

for peace.

Permit me to conclude with a final walk down

memory lane. When Fiji’s first Prime Minister, the Right

Honourable Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, now President,

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addressed this Assembly on 21 October 1970, he ended his

historic address with these words:

“much of the effort of the United Nations has been

concentrated on improving the material well-being of

the peoples of the world, and I have just been reading

the far-reaching and imaginative report of the Second

Committee setting out a blueprint for the second

decade of economic development. It may then sound

ungrateful for a small country like Fiji, which has so

often been at the receiving end of the bounty, to

question this priority. But so many of these schemes,

welcome as they are, are confined within the

boundaries of one country. Spiritual and moral values,

on the other hand, know no frontiers, and by

upholding and encouraging these, we are following a

course which is truly international, and which is

calculated more than anything else to give reality to

the concept of one world. We do not live by bread

alone, and it is only from the firm base of sound

moral and spiritual standards that we can go on to

meaningful economic progress”. (Official Records of

the General Assembly, Twenty-fifth Session, Plenary

Meetings, 1876th meeting, para. 210)

I would suggest that this advice, given with

characteristic humility, as it was then by the architect of

modern Fiji, is no less powerful today than it was 25 years

ago. I recommend it for the further consideration of this

gathering.