New Zealand, 2014

It is an honour to

address the General Assembly today on behalf of the

Prime Minister and Government of New Zealand. Our

general election took place in the past week. Our Prime

Minister, the Right Honourable John Key, is engaged in

forming a Government, and that is why he is unable to

be in New York today.

I want to begin by acknowledging the success of

the recent third International Conference on Small

Island Developing States, held in Samoa. The success

of the Conference was the result of the extraordinary

work Samoa put into preparing for the Conference and

the ownership of the agenda that was demonstrated by

the small island developing States (SIDS). While it is

undoubtedly true that small island developing States

have placed great value on the opportunity to talk, it

is also true that there was an undertone of frustration,

born of the fact that too often in the past talk has not

been followed by action. I strongly identify with that

view. The multilateral world is awash with talk of plans

and strategies and funds, while out there in the real

world of small island developing States, not enough is

happening on the ground. My country, New Zealand, is

intent on avoiding that shortcoming, especially in our

own region, the Pacific.

Renewable energy featured strongly in the SIDS

Conference agenda, as it had at the Secretary-General’s

2014 Climate Summit in the past week. Pacific nations

spend 10 per cent of their gross domestic product and up

to 30 per cent of their entire import bills on importing

diesel fuel for electricity generation. Sustainable

economic development therefore simply cannot happen

in our region without renewable energy.

Significant progress is being achieved, especially

since the Pacific Energy Summit 2013 that we co-hosted

with the European Union in Auckland in March 2013,

at which $635 million in funding was committed for

over 50 projects. The Tokelau Islands have moved from

100 per cent dependence on fossil fuels to 93 per cent

renewable. During the SIDS Conference itself, we

opened a 2.2-megawatt plant, a solar array in Samoa.

A year earlier we opened a 1.2-megawatt plant in

Tonga. Next month, we will open a 1-megawatt array in

Rarotonga. And in the next 12 months, all of the outer

islands of Tuvalu and all but one of the outer Cook

Islands will be close to 100 per cent renewable.

We are making real progress towards converting

our Pacific neighbourhood to renewable energy,

bringing significant environmental benefits and

greatly enhancing prospects for sustainable economic

development. My country has committed over

$100 million to that process. We are not waiting for a

new multilateral agreement or a new green fund. We

are simply getting ahead with robust partnerships and

making it happen.

Another key topic at the SIDS Conference was

sustainable fisheries. For our region, that is critically

important. The biggest economic asset in the Pacific

is its fisheries. In the past year, over $3.3 billion worth

of tuna was harvested from Pacific waters, yet only

14 per cent of that value, about $460 million, made

its way back to Pacific nations. New Zealand has

committed over $70 million over the next five years

to advance a comprehensive approach that includes

enhanced surveillance, training of monitors, training

in commercial fishing practices, research and science

initiatives and improving management practices. Our

objective is to see the owners of the Pacific tuna resource

receive a significantly greater share of the value of that

resource, and to ensure that it is sustainably managed

for the future.

A key message from the SIDS Conference is the need

to share experiences and skills among the SIDS regions.

That is starting to happen. Fisheries management is a

prime candidate for greater cooperation. We have also

commenced a process of interregional cooperation in

renewable energy by supporting the development of

geothermal energy in the Caribbean and Africa.

While small island developing States are showing

real leadership in addressing climate change and

shifting to renewable energy, those issues require action

on a global scale. We therefore commend the Secretary-

General for convening the Climate Summit here in

New York last week. We are participating actively in

those negotiations and hope they will pave the way for

a successful conclusion in Paris next year. We have

made an initial commitment to the Green Climate

Fund to show our support for the global effort, but we

will unashamedly continue to prioritize making real

progress with real projects in our own region, which

will continue to consume the bulk of our resources.

The other major event that has recently taken place

in the Pacific is the election in Fiji. We congratulate the

Prime Minister, his party and the people of Fiji on their

successful return to democratic rule. Fiji’s successful

elections are hugely important for the region. I am

delighted that following the preliminary report of the

multinational observers group, both the Pacific Islands

Forum and the Commonwealth have commenced the

process of lifting Fiji’s suspension. We look forward to

rebuilding and strengthening the connections between

us. Neither New Zealand nor Fiji can contemplate a

future that does not entail close and continuing links

with the other. We also welcomed the safe return of the

Fiji peacekeepers who were held hostage in the Golan

Heights. That incident again underlined the great

challenges and the dangers faced by United Nations

peacekeepers and the responsibilities we all have to

ensure the safety and security of peacekeeping and

other United Nations personnel.

It is as well that we are able to note some bright

spots for our region, because the situation in other parts

of the world does look bleak.

What happened over the past few months in

Gaza was an affront to humanity. No good was done

for the cause of Palestine by Hamas firing rockets

indiscriminately into Israel. No good was done for peace

in the Middle East by Israel pounding Gaza with such

intensity and at such cost of civilian lives. We welcome

the ceasefire that was agreed after so many false starts

and are thankful that so far it endures. We call on all

sides not only to keep the guns and rockets silent but to

refrain from actions that may destabilize what can only

be described as an uneasy peace. In that connection, we

express our profound regret at Israel’s appropriation of

400 hectares of privately owned Palestinian land near

Bethlehem for settlements. That act itself is profoundly

unhelpful.

The problems of the Middle East are deep and

difficult. They go back to the earliest days of the

Organization and beyond. But what happened over

the past months in and in relation to Gaza was a

modern failure — a failure of leadership, of purpose

and of vision. We urge the leaders of Israel and of

Palestine, both West Bank and Gaza, to live up to their

responsibilities to their peoples and to their positions.

In Syria and Iraq, we see the truly frightening

consequences when leadership, both internally and

in the Security Council, has failed. Syria has been a

weeping sore for over three years. Thousands of Syrians

have died, millions have become refugees and all

Syrian people have suffered terribly from the multiple

conflicts engulfing the country. And now the tragedy

of Syria has spilled over into Iraq, which was already

wrestling with its own deep-seated problems. Many

actors, in both the recent past and over a longer time

frame, have had a hand in contributing to the situation

we now confront, but now it is time for action.

We need to find a way to contain the madness that

is the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, to address

the humanitarian tragedy and to help the people of Syria

and Iraq craft a better future. By any objective standard,

that is a situation that cries out for Security Council

attention, and that is true of both sides of the border.

We need the Council members and the Governments

concerned to move past the ideological stalemate that

has kept the Council largely impotent for the past three

years. The challenge we all face in Syria and Iraq is

unlike any the United Nations has faced before. The

political circumstances in which it is being played out

are about as bad as they get. Yet somehow we must find

a way of coming together to defeat that shared problem.

Paralysis has also prevailed in the Security Council

over Ukraine. The Council has been essentially

a bystander as one of its permanent members has

undermined the integrity of another Member State. We

recognize the difficulties of managing ethnic tensions

that straddle borders and the risks of local fires being

stoked into wider national and international crises. But

with the strong shared histories of cooperation and

achievement between Russia and Ukraine, there is no

excuse for leaders allowing matters to unravel as they

have, to the point where international peace and security

may be at risk. Already hundreds of innocent civilians

on Flight MH-17 lost their lives through an associated

mistake and miscalculation. We welcome the ceasefire

agreed earlier this month, which has held, for the most

part. We call on all involved to step back, think about

what is at stake and start rebuilding the trust essential

to finding a lasting solution.

Events in the Middle East and Ukraine have

dominated the headlines in recent months and have

diverted attention from the serious situations that

continue to play out in Africa, particularly in Libya,

Mali, the Central African Republic, South Sudan,

Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The

United Nations is directly involved in those crises,

and they continue to challenge the capacity of the

Organization and of the African Union to respond

to the sheer scale of human suffering and to the

continuing need for external assistance to restore and

keep the peace, keep civilian populations safe and

deliver humanitarian assistance. Those issues, no less

than those in the Middle East and Eastern Europe,

will continue to require constant attention from the

Security Council and the coordinated efforts of the

broader United Nations family. They show that for all

its failings and structural inequalities, the Council still

has a vital role to play in maintaining international

peace and security.

But there is one lesson that we must learn from

all those recent crises — the United Nations must

fundamentally improve its performance in preventing

conflict. Once fighting is in full spate, the options for

peace disappear. Prevention is critical, not just in new

conflicts, but also in the cases on the agenda where

conflict has been frozen or where peacebuilding has

not really taken hold.

We are deeply troubled by the unprecedented scale

of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. We recognize

the huge challenges it poses to the economies and

the political and security cohesion in the region. We

have contributed and will continue to contribute to the

humanitarian work under way, and on the formation of

a new Government, we will look at further practical

steps to support the international effort.

In 18 days’ time, the United Nations membership

will decide who will be on the Security Council for the

next two-year term. New Zealand has been a candidate

for that position since 2004. It has been 20 years since

we were last on the Council. It has been a long and

demanding campaign, and it will continue right up to

the elections on 16 October. With tough competitors,

such as our good friends Spain and Turkey, that has to

be the case. The campaign has been a great opportunity

for us to engage with nations around the world. We

greatly value the new relationships we have forged

and the enhanced character of existing relationships.

Whatever the outcome, we are determined to maintain

them.

In the past, New Zealand has demonstrated that as

a member of the Council it acts strongly, effectively and

independently. It champions the rights of small States

and for the voices of all to be heard. In short, as my

Prime Minister said from this rostrum last year, there

is no point in joining the Council simply to make up the

numbers. Sometimes one has to speak up and shine a

light on what is going on, or not going on, even when it

is embarassing or inconvenient to others to do so.

Above all, I can assure the Assembly that if we

are elected, New Zealand will be a credible, positive

influence on the Security Council. At our core, New

Zealand is an optimistic country and New Zealanders

are an optimistic people. We believe that things can be

better than they are and are prepared, as a people, to

work hard to achieve that. Despite the many challenges

on the international agenda, my hope is that the

membership of the United Nations will give us an

opportunity to prove that by serving on the Security

Council from next year.