Palau, 2012

This year’s general debate began

with a Declaration by world leaders that our collective

response to all challenges must be guided by the rule

of law (resolution 67/1). Palau is very proud to join in

that Declaration, as our national story is inextricably

linked with the international rule of law. Not long

ago, Palau emerged as the last United Nations Trust

Territory, granted independence after more than 100

years and four successive colonial administrations. Our

unique road to freedom left us with a lasting legacy: a

strong partnership with the United States of America

and a constitution that guarantees the Palauan people

the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights.

Through independence, we have preserved our

heritage, our culture and our environment. That

preservation was marked this year by UNESCO’s

designation of the Rock Islands of Palau as 2012’s only

natural and cultural world heritage site. And, just last

year, the United Nations Development Programme

ranked Palau forty-ninth in the world in its Human

Development Index, a composite measure of life

expectancy, health, educational attainment and living

standards. We are very proud of that ranking for this

small, new country. It is a tribute to Palau’s success.

Having gained so much, Palau has worked to give

back to the international community and to make the

world a better place. Palau proudly deployed officers as

peacekeepers in Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands,

and continues to do so today in Darfur.

Upon first taking its United Nations seat, Palau

focused its energies on the odious practice of deep-sea

bottom trawling. And though it has taken some time

and considerable buy-in from others, the two consensus

resolutions 61/105 and 66/68 show that we can help

protect vulnerable deep-sea marine ecosystems and

biodiversity on a global scale.

In 2009, from this rostrum, Palau’s President,

Johnson Toribiong, launched the first volley in an effort

to save the world’s dwindling shark populations. He

declared the world’s first shark sanctuary in his general

debate address. The ocean’s vitality depends on healthy

shark populations. So we are grateful that States and

territories from across the globe have joined Palau in

committing to nurture shark sanctuaries. Today, almost

2 million square miles of ocean — an area approximately

nine times the size of Palau’s waters — are safe for

sharks.

Palau was also the first to sound the alarm on the

security impacts of climate change. With our Pacific

brothers and sisters, we moved early on to declare

climate change a security issue that demands the special

attention of every organ of the United Nations system.

That was a new and different way of thinking about

the problem. Some sceptically questioned whether Blue

Helmets would be able to hold back the rising tides.

But 18 months after we began, the Assembly

adopted consensus resolution 63/281, inviting the

relevant organs of the United Nations to intensify

their efforts to consider and address climate change,

including its possible security implications. That call

was heeded by Germany, when it took up the issue last

July as President of the Security Council. Thanks to

Germany’s efforts, as well as those of others on the

Council, we now have a historic presidential statement

highlighting the potential risks of climate change to

international peace and security.

Germany’s statement and resolution 63/281 have

not stemmed the rising tides, but they have helped to

change the way we understand and discuss climate

change. No longer can anyone question the impact of

climate change on energy security, on food security, on

water security or indeed on our territorial integrity. No

longer can anyone deny that rising seas and oppressive

droughts are displacing people across the globe. As

the United States Permanent Representative said

at last year’s Council meeting, to deny the security

implications of climate change would be pathetic.

The world has reached a crossroads on sustainable

development. We have recently concluded discussions

at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable

Development and will soon delineate new sustainable

development goals, focusing again on small island

developing States. For Palau, that crossroads is an

opportunity to better integrate healthy oceans and

fisheries into the regulatory development framework.

Sustainable fisheries are Palau’s lifeblood. For

Palau, it has always been, and continues to be, a blue

economy or no economy. That is why we have limited

purse seine fishing, agreed with our neighbours to

close the doughnut holes between our jurisdictions, and

implemented an innovative vessel day scheme strategy

through the parties to the Nauru Agreement. That is

also why we have conserved 58 per cent of our in-shore

marine area through the Protected Areas Network,

banned bottom trawling and declared the world’s first

shark sanctuary.

We were honoured this year that the Protected Areas

Network Act and the Shark Haven Act received the 2012

Future Policy Award for outstanding maritime policy

and for contributing most effectively to the sustainable

management of the world’s oceans and coasts for the

benefit of current and future generations. We thank the

World Future Council, the Convention on Biological

Diversity, the Food and Agriculture Organization of

the United Nations, the Okeanos Foundation for the Sea

and the Global Environmental Facility for conferring

their generous recognition and support through that

award.

Palau champions three straightforward principles

for global fisheries. First, global fisheries should be

fair. If distant-water vessels want to come for fish that

traverse Palau’s waters, they should respect our laws.

They should fish within our limits and recognize our

right to realize the benefits of our natural resources.

Illegal fishing is tantamount to piracy; it robs us of our

livelihoods and undermines our security.

Secondly, global fisheries should be sustainable.

We should use every means at our disposal to achieve

stock levels that will ensure healthy fisheries for

the long term. That includes closing fisheries when

necessary.

Thirdly, global fisheries should be accountable.

Reports show that 87 per cent of global fish stocks

are now fully exploited or overexploited. Those are

the worst numbers on record. Regional fisheries

management organizations, which stand in the shoes of

the General Assembly, should do better and should be

more transparent. We are encouraged that negotiations

this year enabled the resolution on sustainable fisheries

(resolution 66/88) to better reflect those three principles. Palau is pleased to report on the success of a number

of key domestic initiatives, which we have previously

raised in the general debate. Palau has taken innovative

steps to reduce our emissions by solarizing our airport,

our Government buildings and our highways. By

2020, we will generate 20 per cent of our energy from

renewable sources. We have also created a successful

green mortgage programme to assist the financing of

greener homes. That programme, which began with

a small amount of financing from Italy, was recently

the subject of a workshop among 13 regional financing

institutions, with plans for expansion throughout the

Pacific.

Palau is also working to connect itself to the

world — literally. It is inconceivable to many of us here

in New York, but Palau remains without broadband

Internet. That means that no Palauan can watch

the streaming video of this speech. The Broadband

Commission of the International Telecommunication

Union tells us that broadband access is a prerequisite

to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and

that a 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration

increases a developing country’s gross national product

by 1.4 per cent. We are sure that a 100 per cent increase

would fundamentally improve Palauan health, business

and civic engagement. We continue to seek partners

that might help Palau to reach that goal.

Last year Palau underwent its Human Rights

Council Universal Periodic Review. The most repeated

recommendation by Human Rights Council members

was that we should establish a national human rights

institution. With the help of new partners, we are

translating human rights conventions into Palauan,

bringing the lessons of international human rights into

Palauan schools, harmonizing our national legislation,

regulations and practices with the international human

rights instruments, and supporting human rights

programmes and services in Palau through that formal

institution.

All those activities have been complemented by

the outstanding work being done to remove explosive

remnants of Second World War from Palau. As President

Toribiong stated from this rostrum last year, many of

those explosives are still live and are being discovered

near our schools, roads and utilities. With the help of

our partners, much of this unexploded ordnance is being

destroyed. We hope that anyone interested in our efforts

will attend our upcoming regional workshop in October

to see first-hand the successful model of cooperation

between Palau’s Government, non-governmental

organizations, donors and the local community that is

eradicating that scourge from our midst.

We would like to express our gratitude for the

strong support and friendship of our partners for

helping to get those and other important projects off

the ground. Palau thanks especially the United States,

Japan, Australia and the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Palau continues to believe that Taiwan’s meaningful

participation in the United Nations system will help to

further promote the system’s efficacy, goals and ideals,

including those of the International Civil Aviation

Organization and the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Palau very much appreciates the President’s

choice of “Bringing about adjustment or settlement

of international disputes or situations by peaceful

means” as the theme for this year’s general debate. It is

as important as ever that we commit to upholding the

peace and condemn violence wherever it occurs. To that

end, Palau condemns in the strongest possible terms the

recent attacks on the diplomatic premises in the Middle

East. We agree with President Obama that such attacks

are “an assault on the very ideals upon which the United

Nations was founded” (A/67/PV.6, p. 11). We must be

vigilant in protecting all diplomatic missions, wherever

they may be.

Closer to our shores in the Pacific, Palau is also

hopeful that tensions in the East China Sea will

dissipate, and that all of our neighbours can engage in a

more peaceful dialogue.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned the

world last week that we are wilfully blind when it

comes to climate change. We are awash in reports

telling us that the situation is dire. We have experienced

more than 100 consecutive months of temperatures

above global averages. Nine of the 10 warmest years

on record have occurred since the year 2000. Arctic

sea ice is at its lowest level in recorded history. Coral

reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate. Now, buried

in the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change regarding the management of risk is

advice to policymakers in small island States that, in

certain cases, they may wish to consider relocating their

populations. We assure the members of the Assembly

that Palau has no intention of moving its people. Our

islands are their home. They are the essence of Palau’s

very being. I can state with every confidence that Palau will pursue every legitimate recourse available before

we concede hope.

The current situation at the UNFCCC is

unacceptable. After more than 20 years of negotiations,

we are running out of creative ways to say that countries

are being destroyed. Sadly, it seems that the most

vulnerable countries have become acceptable collateral

damage. The world knows the causes of climate change.

It is within our grasp to effect a solution. No army

stands in our way. If something is not done soon, all

the good, hard work to which Palau and the other island

nations of the world have dedicated themselves will be

for naught.

In conclusion, we know that the times we live in

are turbulent, but we must heed our leaders’ call to be

guided by the Charter of the United Nations and the

international rule of law. Palau will continue to do

its part by being a moral voice for what is right, and

hopefully, a model global citizen.