New Zealand, 2006

New Zealand remains

unwavering in its support for the United Nations. Our

commitment has not changed since we helped found

the Organization 61 years ago. This year’s events have

only reinforced our belief that the world would be

substantially worse off without the United Nations.

It would be remiss of me at this time not to pay

tribute to Kofi Annan. It is to his vision, determination

and courage that we must attribute many of the reforms

achieved thus far. Five years ago, when he was

awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee

paid tribute to his efforts on reform. Since then he has

continued to work tirelessly for a United Nations that

can live up to the hopes that “we the peoples” have

invested in it. This is all the more remarkable given

that, for much of his stewardship, the United Nations

has been confronted with some of the most difficult

international crises of its existence.

New Zealand is committed to multilateralism.

This is not some act of faith, but a commitment to a

multilateralism that really delivers. We need to be

prepared to work diligently for the good of the global

community.

The United Nations is passing through a period of

challenge to its relevance and effectiveness. It has

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confronted serious political and security shocks —

fresh hostilities in the Middle East, the tragic and

worsening situation in Darfur, and, in our own region,

instability in Timor-Leste.

Last year, world leaders agreed to an ambitious

reform agenda based on the three pillars of peace and

security, development and human rights. Progress has

been made, but this is no time to rest. We must press

on, for much remains to be done.

The challenge of development has never been

higher on the international agenda. Never before has

the commitment to eradicating poverty been so critical.

But increasing aid levels will not be enough; we must

become more effective. We need to make sure that

every dollar we spend makes a positive difference.

That means addressing the key threats to our

success — poor governance, corruption and gender

inequality. We need to secure fairer international

trading relationships, and we must work on all of those

together.

The theme of this year’s general debate is the

implementation of a global partnership for

development. For New Zealand, collective action is

imperative. We need participation, ownership and

responsibility from recipient countries. We seek

harmonization with larger contributors to align and

combine our contributions. We seek partnership with

multilateral development agencies in our campaign to

eradicate poverty, and we endorse the efforts of the

United Nations and those agencies to coordinate better,

country by country.

New Zealand, as members are aware, has a

relationship with the Pacific that is based on history,

culture and economic and social linkages. Our bonds

with Pacific States are an important dimension of our

other relationships. We want nothing less than

educated, healthy, well-governed, economically

prosperous and safe communities.

In the Auckland Declaration of 2004, Pacific

leaders committed themselves to a “region that is

respected for the quality of its governance, the

sustainable management of its resources, the full

observance of democratic values and for its defence

and promotion of human rights”. These are ambitious

goals, and translating them into reality means hard

work by all Pacific countries. That is a challenge that

New Zealand accepts.

In facing that challenge, we confront economic,

environmental, governance, development and security

issues. Markets are distant. Climate change is a reality.

Political instability does not help. Threats from

communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and

pandemic influenza must be managed.

The Pacific accounts for almost one quarter of the

surface of the world — an area bigger than Europe and

the Middle East combined. Its strategic significance

presents opportunity and challenge. New Zealand is

determined to seek out the benefits of that significance

and guard against the threats, among which I include,

sadly, cheque-book diplomacy.

Across the Pacific, we have learned that regional

problems require regional solutions. Last year, Pacific

Island Forum leaders adopted the Pacific Plan for

regional cooperation. Through that plan we will

strengthen regional cooperation where it can most

make a difference, and we will use it to promote the

four goals of the Pacific Islands Forum: sustainable

development, economic growth, security and good

governance.

At the same time, we do not forget that our

regional endeavours depend on strong international

frameworks. The Framework Convention on Climate

Change is an essential example. Another example is the

United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement on the

conservation and management of straddling and highly

migratory fish stocks.

We are proud of our achievements in regional

fisheries management. The Western and Central Pacific

Fisheries Commission, with its headquarters in

Pohnpei, manages the region’s migratory fish species.

We are in the midst of developing new regional

arrangements for non-migratory fish stocks.

These mechanisms are central to the region’s

ability to ensure the sustainable management of its

most important natural resources. They are at the

leading edge in establishing best-practice management

norms.

There have been profound political and security

shocks over the past year — in the Middle East and in

Darfur, as well as instability in Timor-Leste — those

and more are testing the United Nations system.

It is a sad reality that the situation in the Middle

East has been on the agenda of the United Nations for

60 years, ever since its inception. The lack of sustained

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political will to see through more than a handful of

decisions on the Middle East has undermined

confidence. It has contributed to an unstable

environment where extremism, injustice and despair

flourish.

These issues must be tackled with a new resolve,

using the international multilateral system as a tool for

peace and progress. The international response to the

Security Council’s call for an expanded United Nations

Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) shows that the

international community can react to conflict and

provide basic stabilization. But such responses are

doomed to failure unless the underlying political and

security issues are addressed. It is therefore imperative

to relaunch the Middle East peace process covering all

issues, on the basis of the relevant Security Council

resolutions.

The Organization’s efforts to introduce a United

Nations force into Darfur is being cynically thwarted

by the Government of the Sudan. That is simply

unconscionable. The Government of the Sudan must, in

the name of basic humanity, accept the need for a

United Nations force as the best chance for the security

of the people of Darfur.

New and fragile States face enormous challenges.

Recent unrest in Timor-Leste demonstrates that fact.

New Zealand responded quickly to Timor-Leste’s

needs with a military and police contribution to help

restore stability. The regional response has been swift

and robust. The United Nations played an important

role in facilitating Timor-Leste’s independence, and it

is clear the United Nations will continue to be involved

in Timor-Leste for many years to come. The

deployment of a substantial United Nations police

force is vital if peace and stability is to be maintained

even in the medium term. The nature of the expanded

United Nations mission in Timor-Leste reflects the

deep and broad engagement required to build a lasting

peace. Timor-Leste encapsulates the principle that

peace and security cannot be separated from economic

development, social reconciliation and the protection

of basic human rights. The Security Council’s mandate

for Timor-Leste endorses that truth.

New Zealand fully supported the renewed focus

on human rights at last year’s World Summit. We

strongly campaigned for the new Human Rights

Council, and we worked hard to bring it into being. We

have high ambitions for it and will follow its activities

closely. It must remain strong, focused and effective. It

must be able to deal swiftly with emerging situations of

human rights concern, in a balanced way, with

scrupulous attention to verifiable facts. It must be

aspirational, inspirational and practical. Its working

methods must be transparent and inclusive. Above all,

there must be genuine political will to make it work.

A few weeks ago, encouraged all the way by

energetic non-governmental organizations, Member

States agreed on the first new comprehensive human

rights instrument of the twenty-first century: a draft

convention relating to persons with disabilities. We are

proud in New Zealand of the role we played in those

negotiations on the text. The draft convention stands to

make a real difference to the lives of approximately

650 million of the world’s most disadvantaged citizens.

New Zealand is also conscious of the

disadvantages faced by indigenous peoples in many

parts of the world. We were closely engaged in the

lengthy negotiations towards a declaration on the rights

of indigenous peoples. We had hoped that the

declaration would be a new standard of achievement

for Governments that could be implemented to really

improve the lives of indigenous peoples. Therefore, we

are disappointed that that was not to be so. The draft

declaration that emerged with less than conclusive

support from the Human Rights Council is deeply

flawed and represents a lost opportunity for the world’s

indigenous peoples.

At the beginning of his term, the Secretary-

General set an important goal for the United Nations:

to perfect “the triangle of development, freedom and

peace” (A/51/PV.88, p. 13). The Secretary-General’s

words still ring true today. We have travelled only part

of the journey towards that goal. Considering our

achievements over the past year, we can be satisfied

with progress made in setting up the Human Rights

Council and the Peacebuilding Commission. The

challenge now is to make those two new bodies truly

effective. The welcome adoption of the United Nations

Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288)

reminds us of the efforts we must continue to make at

regional and national levels.

New Zealand wants to see continuing reform high

on the list of priorities for the sixty-first session in

order to ensure that the United Nations can be as

responsive as possible to the needs of Member States,

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and efficient in getting the best from the resources

available to it.

Sixty years ago, New Zealand had high hopes for

the United Nations. In 2006, we still do. New Zealand

is a country that engages with the United Nations with

no hidden agenda. What we say is what we mean. We

engage with no other or hidden agenda. But those that

do so pervert and weaken this Organization.

In 2006, at this meeting, New Zealand declares

that we will continue to put our efforts behind the

principles and policies that will make the United

Nations strong.