Fiji, 2011

I bring warm greetings

to all from the Government and people of Fiji. May I

take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Al-Nasser on

his election to the presidency of the General Assembly

at its sixty-sixth session and pay tribute to his

predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss.

This year, it was my honour to open new missions

in Indonesia and South Africa. The Fiji High

Commission in Pretoria is our first diplomatic mission

on the continent of Africa, and we see it as a gateway

to that great continent. Our new embassy in Jakarta is

intended to strengthen our warm, fraternal relations

with Indonesia. In the same spirit, I journey next week

to Brazil to open Fiji’s first embassy on the South

American continent.

In May this year Fiji had the privilege of being

admitted to membership of the Non-Aligned

Movement. We have pledged to play our full part in the

Movement’s activities, particularly in the area of

South-South cooperation and sustainable development.

These positive developments complement the Fijian

Government’s Look North Policy and our intention to

expand relations with non-traditional partners. We

believe that such an expansion of outlook is essential

to our national development and our full exercise of

Fiji’s global rights and responsibilities. Here at the

United Nations, we are active members of the Asia-

Pacific Group and, along with our fellow Pacific small

island developing States, we greatly appreciate the

support given to us by members of that regional group.

Fiji’s guiding document, the People’s Charter for

Change, Peace and Progress, has given our nation the

task of enhancing Fiji’s international relations, both

bilaterally and multilaterally. In pursuit of this task,

since the beginning of last year Fiji has formalized

diplomatic relations with 37 countries, bringing to a

total of 114 the number of countries with which Fiji

has formal diplomatic relations. Fiji is firmly on the

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path of formalizing our diplomatic relations with all

States Members of the United Nations.

Fiji remains steadfastly committed to the work of

the United Nations in safeguarding world peace,

including all international counter-terrorism efforts. In

2006, Fiji voted in favour of the preparation of a robust

arms trade treaty (resolution 61/89), and we commend

all those who have shown commitment to preparing

that treaty for signature in 2012.

Fiji’s commitment to the Charter of the United

Nations remains steadfast. Our tradition of service in

the Blue Helmets of United Nations peacekeeping

began in 1978 in Lebanon with the United Nations

Interim Force in Lebanon, in which the Fijian battalion

served for 24 years. In 1982 when the multinational

force and observers were deployed as peacekeepers in

Sinai, a Fijian battalion was among them and has

remained there to this day. In Iraq, the guard unit of the

United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)

has been manned by Fijians since 2004. With the

planned withdrawal of the United States forces from

Iraq this year, the United Nations has seen fit to

increase the size of its UNAMI guard unit and, after

due process, Fiji was selected to provide the extra

personnel. We thank the United Nations for the

confidence it has shown in our servicemen and

servicewomen.

In addition, Fijian servicemen and servicewomen

are currently stationed in peacekeeping missions in

South Sudan, Abyei, Darfur, Liberia and Timor-Leste. I

pause here to profess my country’s recognition and

respect for the selfless service given by United Nations

peacekeepers in the troubled regions of our world, and

to pay tribute to those of them who made the ultimate

sacrifice.

Fiji is currently the Chair of the Melanesian

Spearhead Group (MSG), whose membership includes

Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and

the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front of

New Caledonia. This year, the MSG was pleased to

admit Indonesia and Timor-Leste to observer status.

Fiji wishes to commend the work of our brother MSG

missions at the United Nations in bringing Melanesian

concerns to the attention of the United Nations Special

Political and Decolonization Committee. Through its

membership of the Decolonization Committee, Fiji will

continue to call for the Committee to conduct effective

monitoring and assessment of the progress of New

Caledonia’s Nouméa Accord. In this regard, we would

welcome the establishment of arrangements for closer

cooperation and information-sharing between the

United Nations Secretariat and the MSG secretariat.

We also express our gratitude to the Government of

France for its cooperation and assistance to this end.

The United Nations Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) continue to inspire our economic

development efforts. In Fiji, we have concentrated our

focus on national infrastructure development under our

road map for democracy and sustainable socio-economic

development. Under the road map, priority has been

given to rural electrification expansion, access to clean

water and to national road development. This focus is

with a view to creating the bedrock required for

sustainable economic growth.

Since the reform of Fiji’s laws to bring them into

line with the Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination against Women and the

Convention on the Rights of the Child, further progress

has been achieved. We are experiencing increased

participation by women in local decision-making

bodies, thereby empowering rural women, increasing

the enrolment of women and girls in tertiary education,

gender mainstreaming within the Government system

and increasing the provision of welfare assistance to

the marginalized, including single mothers.

The Domestic Violence Decree, which came into

effect last year, is now being effectively implemented

by the law enforcement agencies in conjunction with

civil society groups. Its regime of restraining orders is

intended to deter perpetrators of family violence from

inflicting further violence, while allowing families to

remain together in peace. The Decree recognizes the

difficulty experienced by women and children in

gaining access to the justice system because of family,

community, cultural and attitudinal barriers.

In order to address the MDG HIV/AIDS target,

the Fijian Government enacted a new law this year

that, among other things, safeguards the privacy and

rights of persons infected or affected by HIV. The

HIV/AIDS Decree is based on the United Nations

international guidelines on HIV/AIDS and on the

Declaration of Commitment to a human rights-based

approach to dealing with the epidemic. The Decree has

been acknowledged as one of the most progressive HIV

laws in the world. Fiji participated in and was

represented by our Head of State, His Excellency Ratu

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Epeli Nailatikau, at the HIV/AIDS High-level Meeting

that was held in this Hall in August.

In addition to the HIV/AIDS Decree, Fiji this

year passed the Mental Health Decree, based on World

Health Organization guidelines on best practice for

mental patients, and the Child Welfare Decree, which

creates a system that requires the mandatory reporting

of child abuse by doctors, police officers and lawyers

to the Ministry of Social Welfare.

Fiji is determined to provide to all Fijians

enlightened and progressive laws on health care, access

to health services and justice. A large percentage of

Fiji’s population is at risk of contracting a

non-communicable disease (NCDs), or lifestyle

disease, including cardiovascular or cancerous

diseases. We welcome the high-level commitment of

the international community to address this crisis and

the successful completion of the High-level Meeting on

NCDs this week. The Fijian Government has taken key

actions to address NCD issues, including being the first

country to sign and ratify the Framework Convention

on Tobacco Control. It is also one of the first countries

to pilot a salt-reduction programme.

The economic reforms undertaken by the Fijian

Government have produced positive mid-term results.

Last month, we were heartened to learn that Fiji’s

economic standing was assessed at a higher level by

the credit-rating agency Standard and Poor’s. This

improved rating is also attributable to the strong

support of all development partners, including the

private sector, which have worked closely with the

Fijian Government. I wish to take this opportunity to

thank them for their cooperation, assistance and

collaboration.

As a small island developing State (SIDS)

vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change,

Fiji has a strong desire to see positive and concrete

outcomes achieved at the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in

Durban later this year. We hold firm to the hope of a

successful outcome from the UNFCCC negotiations.

However, the urgency of the situation for many small

island and low-lying coastal States, and the real threat

posed by sea-level rise, prompted the Pacific SIDS to

draw the attention of the Security Council to the

security implications of climate change. Fiji hopes that

the presidential statement adopted by the Council in

July (S/PRST/2011/15*) at the end of the open debate

on the security implications of climate change will

enable the Council to look further into the plight of

those countries that are most at risk of losing their

territory to climate change.

As the first signatory to the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea, Fiji has kept its

oceanic obligations at the core of its foreign policy.

With the increasing interest in seabed mining, and in

order to avoid a race to the bottom by countries

wishing to exploit the untapped mineral resources on

the ocean floor, it is imperative that the International

Seabed Authority remain vigilant in safeguarding the

environmental integrity of the world’s seabeds. Fiji has

invested much time and many resources in the

responsible consideration of seabed mining, and thus

welcomes the Advisory Opinion of the Seabed

Disputes Chamber on the responsibilities and

obligations of States parties with regard to seabed

mining. We also welcome the decision by the Council

of the International Seabed Authority to approve the

application by Tonga and Nauru for the exploration of

polymetallic nodules in the mid-east Pacific Ocean.

We see the Pacific small island developing States

as legitimate participants in this oceanic resource. The

Pacific Ocean is the mainstay of our country’s

livelihood, our food security and our economy. Fiji

views the blue economy as an essential element of the

green economy. In this regard, we consider the 2012

Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on

Sustainable Development to be critical to protecting

that economy.

Since I last addressed the General Assembly (see

A/65/PV.19), Fijians have benefited from the nation’s

Strategic Framework for Change. The Framework set

in place the road map that will take Fiji to the holding

of national elections by September 2014. Under the

provisions of the road map, from September next year

until 2013 our nation must turn its attention to the

development of a new constitution premised along the

laudable principles set out in the People’s Charter for

Change, Peace and Progress. The road map clearly

states that in the process the new Fijian constitution

must do away with racial categorization and

discrimination so that for the first time in Fiji’s history,

Fijians will go to elections in 2014 on the basis of

common and equal suffrage. That will be real progress.

It will undo decades of undemocratic laws and policies

inherited from our colonial past and entrenched in past

Constitutions that have impeded our nation’s progress.

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This is a determined move to create a society based on

substantive equality and justice and respect for the

dignity of all Fijians.

As we enter this formative two-year period in

Fiji’s history, we recognize that inclusiveness will be

an essential part of the process in the formulation of

the new constitution. We also recognize our national

responsibility at all times to ensure that the nation’s

overall peace, well-being and sustainable economic

development prevail over divisive factional interests.

The Fijian nation will prevail, and we have every

confidence that our beloved country has the

homegrown ability to pull itself up by its own

bootstraps. In this respect, I am happy to inform this

gathering that electronic registration of voters for the

national elections is scheduled to commence in January

next year.

We trust that our trading and development

partners, friends old and new, will give us the

understanding, the space and the assistance we need to

ensure that true and sustainable democracy can take

root in Fiji. In this regard, we have taken great heart

from recent assurances of support from many of our

bilateral and multilateral friends, not least of which is

the United Nations.

Once again, I offer my congratulations to the

President on his election and my best wishes for a

productive sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.