Marshall Islands, 2011

On behalf of

President Jurelang Zedkaia, I bring warm greetings

from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the

General Assembly. The Marshall Islands also welcomes

South Sudan as the newest Member of the

Organization.

The Marshall Islands congratulates the Secretary-

General for making nuclear disarmament and nuclear

safety a top priority at the United Nations during his

second term. Fifty-seven years ago, at the dawn of the

Cold War, the United Nations held the Marshallese

people in trust. Marshallese leaders petitioned the

United Nations to put a halt to the testing of nuclear

weapons. The United Nations responded with

Trusteeship Council resolutions 1082 (XIV), adopted

in 1954, and 1493 (XVII), adopted in 1956. Acting

with assurances of our protection, the United Nations

and its administering authority, the United States,

detonated 67 large-scale nuclear explosions in the

Marshall Islands. For decades, Marshallese leaders

have returned to the United Nations to speak of the

continuing impacts — cancer, fear and continued exile

from our homeland — and of a science where

goalposts are always moving.

Three weeks ago, the leaders of the Pacific

Islands Forum, in their communiqué, not only

recognized the special responsibility of the United

States of America but also agreed to support the

Marshall Islands at the United Nations, including in

addressing the issue of the Secretary-General’s report.

The United Nations has a clear responsibility to

acknowledge and address the consequences of nuclear

testing undertaken under its watch — and a special

responsibility has already been acknowledged by the

parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons.

Last year, the General Assembly requested the

Secretary-General to report on the effects of atomic

radiation in the Marshall Islands. Such a report would

represent the potential for the Marshall Islands, the

United States and the United Nations to take a very

positive step forward towards understanding our past,

bringing closure to this sad chapter in our history and

beginning to understand how the international

community can assist us in addressing future

remediation challenges. The involvement of the United

Nations is key.

Sadly, I am concerned that the Secretary-General

has thus far neglected this critical opportunity. The

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of

Atomic Radiation, which was invited to contribute to

the Secretary-General’s efforts to assemble a report,

has termed the General Assembly’s deliberate mandate

to be “not appropriate” and “an apparent error” in need

of formal correction (A/66/46, para. 13).

That is not only insensitive but it reveals that

perhaps the United Nations itself has yet to come to

terms with, or even to merely acknowledge, its

decisions on nuclear safety taken 60 years ago. That

negative approach could preclude efforts to bring to the

attention of this body important scientific work that has

been done in assessing the consequences of the nuclear

testing in the Marshall Islands.

It is our hope that United Nations will have the

courage and will to rise above the past and make a

difference, rather than allow itself to remain controlled

by history, and make excuses. As I said earlier, for

decades, Marshallese leaders have returned to the

United Nations to repeatedly speak of the legacy of the

nuclear testing in our country. It is my hope that one

day a new generation of Marshallese leaders will come

to this forum not to speak of this sad legacy, but rather

to proclaim that the work is done and that all is well.

The impacts of nuclear testing are not the only

historical legacy from international actors in the

Marshall Islands. Unexploded ordnance from the

Second World War and oil leakage are persistent issues

for our outer island communities. They pose threats to

our human security, public health and environmental

safety. We welcome the attention of Pacific Island

Forum leaders, and we join the call for assistance from

international bodies and development partners.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is not just a

small island State; we are a large ocean nation.

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Together, the oceanscape of the Pacific islands is an

area that covers 10 per cent of the world’s surface and

is four times the size of Europe. The way we manage

our maritime space is therefore a central pillar in our

basic development aspirations, and has significant

implications for the health of global oceans.

International commitments to ensure sustainable

fisheries and to visibly advance our development

aspirations can no longer be paid mere lip service and

then later be ignored by our partners in regional

processes, including the Western and Central Pacific

Fisheries Commission. The Marshall Islands presently

only sees a penny of benefit for every dollar of the

market value of our Pacific tuna. The conservation

measures by the parties to the Nauru Agreement,

including the Vessel Day Scheme and high seas

closures, must be implemented by our partners, not

only to reduce pressure on overfished stocks but also to

ensure our rightful place as a full economic actor.

Twenty years ago, global leaders meeting at Rio

de Janeiro set forward a high international benchmark

for sustainable development, crafting a range of

strategies and commitments. Next year, the critical

United Nations Conference on Sustainable

Development must not only focus on moving towards a

global green economy but must also pay specific

attention to a global “blue economy” — one that

ensures specific, measurable and time-bound targets

for guaranteeing the sustainability of the global oceans

and their fish stocks, particularly in regions dotted by

small island States like my own. Greater commitment

is needed to utilize targeted global high seas closures,

thereby ensuring sustainable fisheries, as we are

already doing in the Pacific. The hour is past for vague

rhetoric. Leaders must respond with action rather than

continued neglect for the world’s oceans.

The Marshall Islands warmly welcomed the visit

this month by the Secretary-General to the Pacific

region. The Secretary-General was able to see for

himself the vulnerability and existential threat facing

low-lying island States. He has now rightfully

challenged world leaders to respond. What were once

theoretical and distant risks are now on the verge of

becoming our reality.

International climate negotiations are at serious

risk of entering a phase of political stalemate.

Negotiators have spent more than two decades in

complicated processes that have delivered very little in

terms of practical action to mitigate the climate change

problem. Often blocked by only a handful of countries,

the international community is still unable to commit

to emissions cuts and targets sufficient to ensure the

survival of the Marshall Islands and other low-lying

nations.

The Marshall Islands can wait no longer. We are

now choosing creative paths to drive urgency into our

broken negotiations and to pursue practical initiatives

to address the threats and risks. First, the Marshall

Islands joined with the Government of Mexico in

urging the United Nations in its coming Climate

Change Conference to consider the use of voting as a

means of last resort. Secondly, in July, we joined with

our Pacific small island developing States colleagues to

push for the Security Council to recognize that climate

change now poses an incontrovertible threat to

international peace and security.

We reiterate our call for the Secretary-General to

report on those threats. Petty arguments about forums

and mandates cannot be allowed to prevail at the risk

of our statehood. All organs of the United Nations must

now be proactively engaged. We do not need

sympathy; we need solutions and political innovation.

Thirdly, the Marshall Islands is carefully studying

options for clarifying the relevant international

obligations related to climate change and how it affects

our statehood. Working with our close neighbour, the

Republic of Palau, we are committed to pursuing

requests for legal advisory opinions from international

tribunals in order to recognize the international legal

principles that address questions of our survival and

security in the context of climate risks. We have also

agreed to work with Palau and other vulnerable and

low-lying countries to formulate and advance our own

legally binding climate agreement. We, the most

vulnerable, must act when others lack the political will

to do so.

As a significant global economic leader, Taiwan

can make substantial contributions to the international

community. The Republic of the Marshall Islands

welcomes increased dialogue on key cross-Strait

issues. That progress deserves recognition by the

international community. Given that the primary

purpose of the United Nations is to maintain

international peace, the world cannot afford to

overlook Taiwan’s strong efforts in promoting peace

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and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, including with

regard to climate change.

The 2009 invitation by the World Health

Organization for Taiwan to participate as an observer

has not only benefited global medical progress,

including on non-communicable diseases, but also

serves as an effective model for its wider participation

in other key organizations. We urge the United Nations

and its Member States to consider that model and

develop effective means for Taiwan’s participation in

specialized agencies, including the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change and the

International Civil Aviation Organization.

The Security Council must transform itself into

an effective and contemporary body. The Security

Council should be restructured to accommodate those

nations whose size, leadership and responsibility, in

particular the Group of Four — Japan, Germany, India

and Brazil — warrants a permanent presence in the

Council. Further efforts should be made to ensure that

Africa and small nations, including island States, have

improved access and an amplified voice.

The General Assembly witnessed a historic

moment last week, in which, for the first time, the

general debate was initiated by a woman, namely,

President Rousseff of Brazil. The Marshall Islands

welcomes the Secretary-General’s renewed priority on

addressing gender, including a strengthened

UN-Women institution, particularly in the Pacific.

The message for nuclear weapons, global security

and climate change is the same: international law is not

an empty promise.