Maldives, 2009

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

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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.