Fiji, 1998

My country and my delegation

wish to take this opportunity to extend to Mr. Didier

Opertti our warmest congratulations on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-third

session. His election to the high office is a tribute to both

him and his great country. My delegation also wishes to

convey our deep gratitude and appreciation to the

outgoing President at the fifty-second session of the

Assembly, His Excellency Hennadiy Udovenko of

Ukraine, who presided with boundless energy, vision and

competence.

Change is a fact of life in our world. Change covers

new paradigms, new systems, new technologies, new

patterns in international relations and new initiatives

aimed at lasting peace and international security.

Thus we welcomed the wind of change in the area

of nuclear disarmament when we adopted the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) two

years ago. My country was the first to ratify the Treaty.

But the more things change, the more they remain the

same. Some months ago, India and Pakistan conducted

nuclear tests. My delegation calls on India and Pakistan

to reconsider their nuclear pretensions and to become

parties to the CTBT. We call on all countries to become

parties to this Treaty and to fully implement the

provisions of the Treaty.

My delegation would like to see the CTBT improved

to set a clear time-frame for the elimination of all nuclear

weapons. As an imperative for meaningful change, my

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delegation urges all nuclear-weapon States to destroy all

stockpiles and arsenals of nuclear weapons, and in so doing

rid our world, once and for all, of nuclear weapons.

My delegation also calls for meaningful change

regarding the elimination of all weapons of mass

destruction. Let us rid our world of chemical weapons and

biological weapons. We call on all nations to become

parties to the landmines Convention so that we can all act

collaboratively and meaningfully to rid our world of

landmines as well.

Over the past three decades, the developing countries

of the world have waged a desperate struggle for

fundamental change in international economic relations in

order to attain economic justice and facilitate economic

development and sustained economic growth — thereby

laying the foundation for eradicating the problems of high

unemployment, hunger, disease and poverty, which ravage

the least developed and developing countries. The

establishment of the World Trade Organization was

supposed to have laid the foundation for a new system of

international trade relations which would contribute to the

development of developing and least developed countries.

As a developing island State, we seek Members?

support and indulgence in understanding the special needs

and the vulnerability of small island States. They should be

differentiated further, as a separate group of disadvantaged

States. The work has already started on the determination

of criteria for such differentiation based on a vulnerability

index.

Among the members of the United Nations

organizations, development is measured through the human

development index, which takes into account the expansion

of gross domestic product, real gross domestic product per

capita, life expectancy of the population and other

yardsticks. However, the hurricane that recently struck a

number of islands in the Caribbean, the devastating tidal

wave in northern Papua New Guinea and extreme drought

conditions in many countries, including mine, demonstrate

the vulnerability of small island States to natural disasters.

We also sympathize with China and Bangladesh, which

have suffered from extensive and prolonged flooding.

In Fiji, the Government right now is providing special

food and water relief assistance to more than 54,000

households, or more than a quarter of Fiji?s total

population.

Because of the drought, we are expecting this year

a 50 per cent reduction in our production of sugar, which

is our main export, and there is no guarantee for an

improvement for next year. Also, because of the drought,

we do not have seeds of sufficient quality to allow for a

quick recovery in the foreseeable future. Such is our

vulnerability, and no part of the aforementioned index has

any real relevance to our calamity. Things may have

changed, with new names and new systems, but, alas, it

is the same old story.

I appeal to the United Nations development support

system to consider special schemes of assistance covering

natural disaster situations. There are already examples of

such schemes in the Lomé Convention between the

European Union member countries and the African,

Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States.

The creation of the World Trade Organization was

intended to lay the foundation for changes in international

trade by ensuring an open, secure, equitable, transparent

and predictable multilateral trading system. Yet

developing countries continue to be paid paltry prices for

their primary products; they continue to be denied access,

under one pretext or another, to the markets of the

developed countries; and even the little export trade we

have is being taken away, as in the case of Saint Lucia

and its banana exports to the European Union. Export

trade is vital to economic development and sustained

economic growth in developing countries. My delegation

calls for remedial change in international trade —

facilitating better prices for primary products, greater

access to the markets of developed countries and the

retention of special trade arrangements for the essential

exports of developing countries.

We in the developing countries require substantial

foreign investment capital flows to promote economic

development, sustained economic growth and social and

human development. Regrettably, there has been little

change in the volume of international capital flows, the

pace of such flows and the direction of such flows.

Where flows have taken place, they have been directed to

a handful of developing countries. My delegation calls for

strategic change in the area of foreign investment through

substantial, increased and continuous capital flows to

developing countries.

25

We in the developing countries require new,

environmentally sound technologies to facilitate and sustain

economic development and social and human development.

There is a dire need for us to participate in and benefit

from appropriate, environmentally sound technologies. Yet

despite our pleas for the cooperation and assistance of the

industrialized countries for reciprocal change — by the

transfer of appropriate technologies at an affordable price,

by assisting us in institutional development and capacity-

building to accommodate the transfer of such technologies

and by assisting us with funding, education and training

programmes to facilitate the transfer and stimulate increased

cooperation at a business-to-business level — the situation

has remained virtually the same.

Sustainable development is critical to small island

developing States such as mine, for which the paramount

challenge is to balance economic and social development

with environmental protection. Six years have passed since

the first Earth Summit in Rio, and the second summit has

come and gone. Little progress has been made in securing

new sources of financing for making the transition to

sustainable development. My delegation calls for

stimulating change on the issue of sustainable development

through the prompt and full implementation of the

commitments and recommendations of the United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development.

The reform of the United Nations to make it more

relevant to today?s world and more responsive to the needs,

aspirations and hopes of the international community in all

aspects of international relations has engaged our attention

over the years, and more so last year with the presentation

of the Secretary-General?s reform programme. If the reform

of the United Nations is to bring about purposeful change,

then the Charter of the United Nations should be revised to

remove the anachronisms contained in it and to make it

more relevant to our world today and tomorrow. A

geographical reconstruction of regional groups adapted to

the geopolitical dimensions of today?s world ought to be

implemented. We submit that the current set of regional

groups should be increased numerically and reconfigured.

My delegation further submits that the membership of all

United Nations organs and organizations should be

governed by the principle of geographic rotation, so that

each country can enjoy its right as a Member to serve on

all United Nations bodies. The current system of rotation

has resulted in some countries becoming de facto

permanent members of the United Nations organs and

organizations.

The Security Council is a classic example of things

remaining the same. Membership on the Council,

permanent and non-permanent, continues to be

geographically inequitable. The system of rotation does

not provide all Member countries the opportunity to serve

on the Council, and the system is further aggravated by

the number of regional groups and their geographical

configuration. My delegation continues to call for a

review of the membership and operations of the Council.

International peace and security has been one of the

main pillars of the United Nations. This year marks 50

years of United Nations peacekeeping as an instrument

for maintaining international peace and security. Yet we

all are still beset by conflicts of one kind or another, and

lasting peace and security in our world continues to elude

us. My country is fully committed to the international

peacekeeping missions of the United Nations.

In fact, this year also marks 20 years of participation

by my country in United Nations peacekeeping. I should

like to take this opportunity to pay homage to our brave

sons who have made the supreme sacrifice in the service

of international peace and security.

Because of the eminent contribution of international

peacekeeping to permanent and lasting peace and security

in our world, we call on all Member countries to settle

their assessments for peacekeeping operations promptly

and fully. My delegation would like to take this

opportunity to express to the Secretary-General our

sincere and deep appreciation for citing Fiji, among other

countries, as consistently among the stalwart nations ready

to contribute troops, police and observers and to take

other steps to improve overall readiness.

My delegation deeply appreciates the meaningful

change that has taken place in the scale of assessments of

Member countries. My country welcomes the new

assessment rates. But while such a beneficial measure has

taken place, the arrears in the annual contributions of

some Member countries continue to plague our coffers

and to place the finances of our organizations and our

many and varied international programmes in jeopardy.

My delegation calls on all Member countries which are in

arrears in payment to pay those arrears promptly, fully

and without conditions.

At a time when so many changes have taken place

in our world in the areas of human development and

human rights, the bleak future of the world?s indigenous

people has remained the same. My delegation calls on the

26

international community to be more responsive to the need

for a better future for our indigenous people. In the interest

of meaningful change, my delegation calls for the speedy

adoption of the draft Declaration on the Rights of

Indigenous Peoples, the setting up in our Organization of a

unit for indigenous peoples? affairs, the granting to the

indigenous people of the right of self-determination, and the

establishment of an international fund to promote and

facilitate their survival, development and progress.

My delegation is aware that the most pervasive

violation of human rights is violence against women, which

cuts across all boundaries of culture, economic status and

geography. In this connection, the Government of the

Republic of the Fiji Islands has maintained the

commitments entered into at Beijing through the

implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and met

its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

In promoting greater participation by women in

economic and social development, a major initiative by the

Government will be the launch by our Prime Minister, in

the next few days, of its National Plan of Action.

Addressed in the Plan will be areas such as the

development and strengthening of women?s enterprises,

gender parity at decision-making levels, training, promotion

and appointments, domestic violence, sexual abuse and

child abuse, and review of laws which disadvantage

women.

One area of meaningful change in our world has been

the Convention on the Law of the Sea. It enjoys universal

support and almost universal participation, and all States

benefit from the stability and certainty that has been

achieved by the Convention. The work being done with

respect to the oceans requires the support of the

international community if the achievements of the

Convention are to be consolidated and its promise of

benefits to the peoples of the world realized.

Sadly, the more things have changed in the Middle

East, the more they seem to have remained the same. Peace

in the Middle East remains as elusive and perpetually

shifting as the Negev desert. The international community

must play a stronger and more decisive role in getting the

peace process on track, keeping it there and ensuring that

it moves at a faster rate. We call on all the parties to the

crisis to pursue positive and genuine negotiations to effect

meaningful change through compromise and achieve a just

and lasting peace in the Middle East.

My delegation calls for conciliatory change in

Lebanon with the full implementation of resolution 425

(1978) in order that Lebanon may fully enjoy its

territorial integrity, sovereignty and political

independence.

Similarly, my delegation believes that a concessional

change is necessary to find a solution to the situation in

Kosovo. My delegation calls on the parties to the

internecine conflict to enter into constructive dialogue on

a political solution that should include a substantially

greater degree of autonomy and meaningful self-

administration in the territory.

The issue of Taiwan has remained unchanged. China

and Taiwan contribute significantly to the development of

the South Pacific region. My country is committed to a

one-China policy and enjoys very good relations with

both China and Taiwan. We therefore warmly welcome

the renewed talks between China and Taiwan and hope

that they will lead to profitable change on the Taiwan

issue.

Likewise, on the Korean peninsula, we urge South

Korea and North Korea to continue their dialogue to

amicably resolve their common future.

The removal of tension and the resolution of

remaining international disputes in East Asia are vitally

important to the maintenance of peace and security in the

entire Asia and Pacific region. For the Fiji Islands and

other small island countries in the South Pacific,

permanent peace in the wider Asia-Pacific region has a

direct bearing on our economic future.

Given my country?s commitment to global peace, the

Government of the Republic of the Fiji Islands strongly

condemns international terrorism in all its violent forms.

It is a scourge, and all States should treat it as such. My

delegation urges universal condemnation of such

indiscriminate acts of violence, and we pledge to

cooperate with all other members of the General

Assembly in preventing such acts and in bringing those

responsible to justice.

We welcome the recent adoption at Rome of the

statute of the International Criminal Court, and we

express our gratitude to the Italian Government for

hosting the conference at which this took place.

Last but not least, my delegation wishes to inform

the Assembly that a new Constitution of Fiji was

27

promulgated on 27 July 1998. Pursuant to the coming into

force of the new Constitution, the name of our country has

been changed to the Republic of the Fiji Islands. An

innovative feature of the new Constitution is that it makes

provision for the formation of a multi-party system of

Government through representation in the Cabinet of all

political parties that secure a certain number of seats in

Parliament.

The new Constitution also makes provision for the

appointment of a Human Rights Commission and a

Constitutional Offices Commission. The Government of the

Republic of the Fiji Islands considers the promulgation of

the new Constitution as laying the foundation for

meaningful change in our multiracial country. General

elections under the new Constitution are due to be held next

year.

Change is a paradox in international relations. If we

are to fashion a new and better international community in

which international democracy is to prevail and in which

the development and progress of all nations is to be

engendered, we, collectively and in collaboration, have to

inculcate change in the many issues which my delegation

has enumerated. We must make meaningful change in our

world an international imperative.