Marshall Islands, 1994

Allow me at the

outset to congratulate the President of the General

Assembly on his unanimous election. It is indeed a great

21

honour for his country. I can assure him of my

delegation’s willingness to assist him in his duties.

Let me also congratulate His Excellency Ambassador

Samuel Insanally of Guyana on the exemplary manner in

which he carried out his duties. His innovative use of

expert hearings on the question of development were

followed closely by the Marshall Islands delegation.

My compliments are also extended to our

distinguished Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whom we thank for his tireless

efforts on behalf of this Organization.

On a more sombre note, I wish to extend the

condolences of my Government, delegation and people to

our neighbours in the Pacific, Papua New Guinea and

Japan, which have both recently experienced devastating

volcanic eruptions. Our prayers go out to the peoples of

both countries in the hope that they will be able to make a

speedy recovery.

Further grim descriptions and graphic pictures of the

terrible loss of life on the high seas in the sinking of the

"Estonia" have been occupying the air waves and television

screen. We should like to express our deepest sympathy

and condolences to the affected families and Governments

over this tragic accident.

We now wish to join other delegations in welcoming

South Africa to this Organization. The struggle of its

people with racial inequality resulting from apartheid was

long and difficult, often resulting in the loss of precious

lives. We share their excitement in finally joining the

concert of nations.

We also wish to congratulate our neighbour the

Republic of Palau on attaining its independence on 1

October this year.

The aftermath of the cold war has made it necessary

for the United Nations to take on many challenges. The

Organization itself has become involved in several

ambitious undertakings in innovative international relations

and multilateral actions. We hope that these new

endeavours of partnership will produce lasting solutions to

many of our global problems.

That very partnership is evident by the work being

undertaken on the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change, which is viewed with great interest in

the Marshall Islands. Currently, we are working together

with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), of

which we are a founding member, in introducing a new

protocol to the Convention. We commend the Chairman

of the Alliance of Small Island States for her coordinating

work in the International Negotiating Committee. In

addition, we welcome the urgent call made by the

German Foreign Minister for more immediate reductions

in carbon dioxide emissions. The German Government’s

support for the AOSIS protocol is most gratifying. We

hope that the Conference of the Parties will adopt the

proposed protocol to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change on Greenhouse Gas

Emission Reduction next year in Berlin.

As an island nation, the Republic of the Marshall

Islands regarded the adoption by the General Assembly at

its forty-eighth session, earlier this year, of the Agreement

relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United

Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as historic and

of great importance. We view this Agreement as a

positive step in bringing order to the exploitation of

marine resources. In this vein I am happy to announce

that we will sign that Agreement at this session. We are

also happy to note the imminent entry into force of the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in

November this year.

In the months leading up to the Barbados

Conference last April, we were very confident that at last

the international community would try to do something

positive for the small island developing States, a group of

countries that we feel has been neglected. We are

pleased that we now have a Programme of Action, and

we will do our utmost to seek its successful

implementation to enhance our island economic

development.

As a country with one of the highest population

growth rates in the world, the Republic of the Marshall

Islands has followed with great interest the International

Conference on Population and Development. It was a

shame that this process was nearly derailed by semantic

disagreements. Fortunately, the Conference, in Cairo,

after arduous and intensive negotiations, saw fit to adopt

an expanded international population strategy, as a result

of which we now have a well-thought-out Plan of Action.

It is of concern to us that so much of the cost involved in

the implementation of the Plan of Action will be borne by

individual countries. We will, however, make every

effort to maximize our participation in this Plan of

Action.

22

The United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish

Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks recently

completed its third round of discussions here in New York.

We all owe a great deal to its distinguished Chairman for

his masterful stewardship. For the Marshall Islands, this

Conference is particularly important as we seek to build our

capacity to utilize our marine resources responsibly. Unlike

distant-water fishing nations, our geographical location

compels us to ensure the sustainable exploitation of our

fisheries resources for future generations, whether within or

outside our exclusive economic zone. This is a matter of

survival, one that transcends economics.

I submit, however, that large-scale commercial

fisheries are a new concept for our people. That being so,

we are interested in modern methodologies for the

commercial exploitation of fisheries resources. We must

familiarize ourselves with them. In this regard, the active

assistance of the developed countries is needed to train our

people in the modern techniques of commercial fishing. In

this context, it is essential that we gain preferential access

to international markets. We have brought this matter up

many times, and we urge the Assembly to promote trade as

well as training. While we are not asking for much, we do

hope that assistance for self-help will continue to be

forthcoming.

The development of human resources is probably the

most important factor in improving the economic situation

in the Marshall Islands. We are grateful to New Zealand

and to the current Chairman of the South Pacific Forum -

Australia - for their efforts in this field. We encourage

others to follow their example. Thus, together with other

Forum countries, we will aspire to develop a strategy that

will prepare the way for the World Summit for Social

Development.

We recognize that further improvement of our

relationships with the various United Nations agencies in

our region is essential. Furthermore, because of their

increased responsibilities and workloads, we would

encourage an increase in the number of representatives of

the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, the

United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations

Development Programme in the region, and we would also

support an increase in their funding.

I also wish to associate myself with my colleagues

from the region regarding the application by the South

Pacific Forum for observer status at the United Nations. I

urge the General Assembly to seriously consider this

request, as it would be of great value to our region

inasmuch as it would strengthen our ties to the United

Nations.

Of equal importance is the World Conference on

Women in Beijing next year. As a matrilineal society, we

have long recognized the wisdom of including women in

our decision-making process, and we look forward to

participating in the Beijing Conference.

During the World Hearings on Development earlier

this year, many of the expert witnesses spoke of the high

proportion of United Nations expenditures earmarked for

peace-keeping, much to the detriment of overall

development efforts. This is a matter of ongoing concern

to the Marshall Islands as well as to several other small

countries. We feel that the sheer number and cost of

these operations are getting out of hand. The preservation

of global peace is of the utmost importance, but in

relative terms the costs that fall on smaller developing

States is very large. The Marshall Islands will actively

participate in this matter in the Fifth Committee, and we

hope to work together with others for a more equitable

apportionment of expenses and assessed contributions.

We are fully supportive of the views put forward by the

President of Latvia regarding the concept of the "capacity

to pay".

The people of the Marshall Islands regard with

abhorrence the numerous human rights abuses that are

occurring around the world. We shall be very vigilant in

the discussions following on the Vienna Declaration on

this matter. We believe there is no statute of limitations

to human rights abuses, as clearly they are crimes against

humanity. The prevalent lack of common decency, which

the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina so painfully

described in his recent address, must be eradicated.

We note that His Excellency President Boris Yeltsin

of the Russian Federation stated that the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations should also

commemorate the victims of the Second World War. My

delegation fully supports this concept, particularly since

the fate of many Pacific Island people during the Second

World War remains an unwritten chapter in the history

books. For example, the atrocities carried out against the

people of Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands have not been

fully addressed. We trust that moral restitution will be

made to the memory of these victims.

The consequences of recent geo-political events have

amply demonstrated the need for the expansion of the

Security Council. With 184 Members, the United Nations

must ensure that the Security Council reflects the realities

of the changed situation. My delegation supports the

proposal for increased membership. Moreover, there is an

acute need for increased transparency in the work of the

Council. In this context, it is appalling to note that the

Security Council, whose decisions affect all Members, does

not involve more States in its decision-making process. As

a positive remedial solution, the suggestion by the Minister

for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand in this regard is of

great significance and should be considered.

I should like to remind the members of the General

Assembly of the continued presence in the Marshall Islands

of dangerous residual radioactive contaminants from United

States nuclear- weapons-testing programmes. Members will

no doubt recall that it was during the relatively brief period

of the United Nations-approved trusteeship that 67 atomic

bombs were detonated on islands that had been inhabited

peacefully and productively by the people of the Marshall

Islands for centuries. This must be regarded as a matter of

more than historical interest, in view of the resulting legacy

of horrific environmental degradation and tragic human

suffering - a legacy that threatens to haunt the Marshallese

people for centuries to come.

Documents recently declassified and released confirm

that the full extent of the radioactive contamination

resulting from these tests was not disclosed to the Marshall

Islands by the United States during the negotiation of the

Compact of Free Association. Accordingly, neither the

compensation provided nor the remedial measures

undertaken or contemplated for the clean-up of some of the

contaminated islands and the treatment of the affected

human population can now be regarded as adequate.

My Government lacks the huge sums required to

ensure the proper clean-up and disposal of the radioactive

contaminants and the treatment of the radiation-induced

illnesses and birth defects caused by the nuclear-weapons

tests. Notably, the containment facility that was established

for the radioactive materials gathered from some

contaminated areas is wholly unsatisfactory by any

reasonable environmental standard.

What, then, is my Government to do? We may hope

for the unreserved cooperation of the former administering

Power in fully cleaning up and disposing of its nuclear

waste and in adequately aiding our afflicted people.

However, as a country that every day continues to suffer

the consequences of the failure by that Power to meet its

obligations, we must look to such alternatives as we may

find. In short, we must do more than simply hope.

It is with this unhappy dilemma in mind that we ask

the General Assembly to consider sympathetically our

efforts to attend to the restoration of our lands and the

treatment of our people. The clean-up and disposal of

nuclear contamination in the Marshall Islands will require

very large sums of money indeed. The effective disposal

of those contaminants will require their permanent

isolation from the human biosphere. An international

facility on a remote, uninhabited atoll of the Marshall

Islands for the safe, permanent disposal of nuclear

materials would, if technically feasible and politically

acceptable, meet these requirements. My Government

wishes it to be understood that such a facility would also

serve the global interest in securing the safe and

permanent disposal of a portion of the world’s dangerous

nuclear materials, an interest that, at present, is by no

means accommodated anywhere in the world.

Consequently, my Government has resolved to conduct a

preliminary feasibility study for such a facility and to

consult closely with interested members of the

international community as we proceed.

In this regard, I wish to commend the remarks made

by the Foreign Minister of Norway in calling on the

International Atomic Energy Agency to convene an

international conference on the management of nuclear

wastes. We look forward with interest to such a

conference, and we pledge our support.

My Government recognizes that the establishment of

a nuclear materials disposal facility in the Marshall

Islands may upon detailed analysis be found to be

unfeasible or otherwise unacceptable. In that event, my

Government will look to the Members of this

Organization for their support in the effort to secure the

complete removal from the Marshall Islands of all

residual radioactive contaminants and of the existing

storage facility. We expect that the party responsible for

the radioactive contamination of the Marshall Islands will

provide the funds and the technical means required to

effect this removal promptly and completely, as well as

to ensure the restoration of all the affected islands to their

full economic viability. We expect that this Organization,

which placed our islands under trusteeship in the first

place, will ensure that justice prevails.

At this time, my Government requests the

sympathetic support of the General Assembly as we

24

continue with the effort to secure a commitment to

adequate treatment and full compensation of all the victims

of the nuclear-weapons-testing programme. My

Government attaches the utmost importance and immediate

urgency to this matter.

The issues I have mentioned are of high priority. It is

my sincere hope that when we gather together next year,

our efforts will indeed have yielded concrete results, visible

and meaningful to our peoples. To accept anything less

would be a disappointment.