Palau, 1996

It is my distinct honour to

address the United Nations during this historic session,

which I am confident will be remembered for all time for

its adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty.

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The Republic of Palau applauds and thanks those

countries that will be signatories to the Treaty, for we

believe that it does much to advance our goal of ridding the

planet of nuclear weapons. The Treaty, by banning further

testing, will help prevent the development of more

dangerous nuclear weapons. Furthermore, the Treaty will

help prevent other nations from obtaining existing nuclear

weapons. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty thus

clearly helps to make the world a safer place for us and for

all of our children.

The Republic of Palau’s commitment against the

creation and proliferation of nuclear weapons is long-lasting

and resolute. When the people of Palau adopted our

Constitution in 1978, we became the first country in the

world to become a constitutionally mandated nuclear-free

country. Indeed, protecting our citizens from these horrific

weapons of destruction is at the very heart and soul of our

Constitution.

While not every country will sign the Treaty, the fact

that the world’s five recognized nuclear Powers — the

United States, China, France, Russia and the United

Kingdom — have agreed to abide by the terms of the

Treaty and that the overwhelming majority of other nations,

including the Republic of Palau, have also agreed to abide

by its terms gives the citizens of my country and of every

other nation on Earth the hope that one day we will be free

from these catastrophic weapons of destruction and of the

threat they pose to each of us and to our global

environment.

Accordingly, I would like to thank all of those who

helped bring the citizens of the world this Treaty, including

the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Nuclear Test

Ban, Ambassador Ramaker of the Netherlands, and

especially our close neighbour and great friend, the

Government of Australia, which took the lead at the United

Nations in making this Treaty a reality.

Another of my nation’s primary concerns is the issue

of how to protect the environment while providing

sustainable economic development. This is a central issue

for small island nations in particular and for other

developing countries around the world. The Republic of

Palau is therefore very pleased by the recognition and

affirmation that human beings are at the centre of

sustainable development and that they have the right to a

healthy, productive and meaningful life in harmony with

nature.

However, to make sure that this affirmation becomes

a reality, action must be taken at all levels of government,

in particular at the international level. To help every

nation achieve this goal, developing countries, including

small island nations, must be provided the necessary

resources to enable them to implement the decisions and

recommendations of the United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development, the Global Conference on

the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States and other significant international conferences.

The Republic of Palau, a small island nation in the

Pacific, cherishes its recognition as an independent

country and greatly values its membership in the United

Nations, which allows our voice to be heard on global

issues such as the importance of freeing the world of

nuclear weapons and protecting our global environment.

We believe that perhaps the most critically important role

of the United Nations is to provide a forum for nations

large and small to discuss, debate and reach agreement on

how best to serve economic, social, cultural and other

humanitarian problems. Consequently, we believe that

those countries which have made demonstrated efforts to

advance regional and global peace, security and prosperity

by establishing partnerships with other countries to further

these causes have much to offer the United Nations as a

whole and to its constituent Members individually.

In his inaugural speech to his country, United States

President Bill Clinton pointed out that it is very likely

that every problem we face has already been solved

somewhere in the world. The challenge for us all is to

communicate with each other so that we can discover

those solutions. The United Nations clearly provides the

forum for such dialogue and discovery to take place. The

Republic of Palau believes that a greater number of

voices invited to participate in these discussions can only

lead to better solutions to the myriad global problems we

all face.

The overwhelming support given to the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty aptly

demonstrates that, through many people working together,

the cacophony of historically divergent voices can be

harmonized for the benefit of all the peoples of all the

nations on Earth.