Papua New Guinea, 1999

On

behalf of the people and the Government of Papua New

Guinea, I wish to join previous speakers in congratulating

His Excellency Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab on his election to

the presidency of the General Assembly. His unanimous

election shows the esteem in which the international

community holds him personally, and his country,

Namibia. The Papua New Guinea delegation is confident

that he will guide the fifty-fourth session of the General

Assembly to a successful conclusion. My congratulations

go also to the other Assembly officers.

May I also take this opportunity to express my

delegation's sincere appreciation to his predecessor, His

Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti, for his outstanding

stewardship in facilitating the work of the fifty-third

session.

We would also like to place on record our

appreciation to the Secretary-General for his diplomatic

skill and for the leadership he has provided on major

issues of international concern. I must also congratulate

the Secretariat staff for the tremendous work they put into

the discharge of their functions and duties, at times under

very difficult and dangerous circumstances.

Like others who have spoken before me, I too

congratulate on behalf of the people and the Government

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of Papua New Guinea the three new Member States, all

from the South Pacific Forum region — the Republic of

Nauru, the Republic of Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga

— and welcome them into the United Nations family. I

would also like to pay tribute to all Member States which

made their admission possible. This is an Organization in

which smallness in terms of population or size should not

be a handicap. I am confident that the work of the United

Nations will only be enhanced through the sharing of the

particular experiences and knowledge that these three new

Members will bring.

It has only been a little over two months since the new

Government, of which I am a part, was elected to office in

my country. But this time has been hectic and very

challenging. The Government has been confronted with

problems inherited from previous Governments over the last

23 years of our independence and especially over the last

two years. These have been compounded by other problems

associated with the recent downturn in the global economy,

with the economic crisis in the Asia-Pacific region and with

natural disasters, all of which we have little control over.

This experience, together with my country's location

and its close relations with other countries in the region,

defines my Government's foreign policy focus on

partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region. This point has been

brought home by a series of natural disasters which have

affected Papua New Guinea over the last 10 years. There

have been 30 of them in that decade. The droughts, floods,

bush fires, cyclones, frosts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes,

tsunamis and landslides have shown that peoples and States

throughout the world have to be partners in dealing with the

causes and consequences of such disasters, and must

manifest preparedness to take responsive and remedial

measures. There must be a global partnership in developing

appropriate mechanisms for disaster prevention and disaster

reduction.

When my Government came into office on 14 July

this year, it had five main priorities. These are: restoring

integrity to the institutions of the State; stabilizing the

exchange rate of our currency, the kina, and containing

inflation and reestablishing constructive dialogue with

Papua New Guinea's development partners; restoring

stability to the national budget, focusing on fewer and more

important priority areas and advancing the privatization of

some of our public institutions for a fair run; creating better

conditions for the private sector by removing barriers to

investment growth; and continuing the Bougainville peace

process.

My Government has addressed these challenges,

including a comprehensive programme of structural

adjustment through the mini-budget recently adopted by

Parliament. In doing so, we are working hard to make

sure that a strong and efficient private sector can

contribute to public welfare and national development. By

the same token we are also reviewing the size and

effectiveness of the public sector to make it more

responsive to the desires and aspirations of our people.

The results, together with other measures we have

adopted, will, we hope, stabilize the economy, thereby

stimulating economic growth. The signs are very

encouraging.

I know that as a small open economy, my country's

development is directly influenced by global factors,

including world market prices for our products. Currently,

my country is suffering from the economic crisis

experienced by our major trading partners in Asia, and we

are forced to undertake significant reform programmes to

protect our economy and our people. In this regard, we

turn to international financial institutions to help us

restructure our economy. The World Bank, the

International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development

Bank have been very positive in their responses to our

policies, especially my Government's recent mini-budget

last month.

I held bilateral discussions with friends such as

Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand two weeks ago

during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council

ministerial meeting in Auckland, New Zealand. They

indicated their support for the current structural

adjustment programmes my Government has introduced.

For Papua New Guinea to realize and sustain its current

reform programmes, it has to secure external financial

support.

I see my Government's foreign policy of partnership

in the Asia-Pacific region as a building block for the

global partnership on which the future of my people

depends. There is really no other alternative.

On peacemaking and peacekeeping, the Bougainville

conflict involves substantial commitments of personnel

and funds by the Government of Papua New Guinea, by

neighbouring countries and by the United Nations. My

Government acknowledges and is deeply grateful for the

constructive role played by Australia, Fiji, New Zealand,

the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as well as by the

United Nations Development Programme and a number of

non-governmental organizations including churches and

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the Red Cross. We are also grateful that the Security

Council found it possible to answer our request to send an

observer mission to ensure that the parties involved in the

peace process continue to honour the Lincoln Agreement.

We note the reference to Bougainville in the Secretary-

General's report on the work of the Organization.

As peace continues to be consolidated on the ground,

so the role and size of the neutral regional Peace

Monitoring Group can be expected to change. Re-

establishment of police, courts and correctional services will

provide important supports and benchmarks for progress

towards lasting peace on the island. In the event that the

Bougainville parties are unable to resolve the constitutional

arrangements before the end of this year, we hope that at

the appropriate time the Security Council will agree to an

extension of the mandate of the United Nations mission on

Bougainville.

I pay tribute to all United Nations Member States, and

especially to those current and immediate past members of

the Security Council, for responding positively and for their

continued support for a peaceful resolution of our

Bougainville crisis.

Consistent with our commitment to peaceful dialogue

between nations, Papua New Guinea condemns those who

employ terrorism against innocent people and who finance,

recruit, train and deploy terrorists and mercenaries.

In 1975, when I addressed this forum from this

podium at the time of our admission to the United Nations,

I committed Papua New Guinea to the principles and

purposes of the United Nations Charter. Now, some 24

years later, we recognize that like any other institution, the

United Nations has limitations. We believe that after 50

years the time is right to review the Charter, taking into

account today's realities.

The Charter should be a document that puts the people

of the world on centre stage, and at the same time it must

recognize that the Governments are here to represent them

as well as to serve them. In this respect, there cannot be

any distinction as to colour, creed, race, sex or religious

persuasion.

My delegation welcomes the Secretary-General's

current and ongoing reform programme. As a member of

the Non-Aligned Movement, my delegation reaffirms the

position that the Security Council should be reformed and

expanded in both categories, taking into account today's

realities. My delegation believes the numbers in the Council

should reflect the increased United Nations membership,

and therefore I concur with the majority of Member

States who have advocated a Security Council of the new

millennium consisting of 26 or more members.

Papua New Guinea believes that all permanent

members of the Security Council, including new

permanent members, should have similar privileges and

rights. The use of the veto power should be done away

with, or curtailed and applied only to Chapter VII issues.

The working methods of the Council should be more

transparent.

The reforms of the Organization would not be

complete without the reconfiguration of the regional

groupings within the United Nations structure. My

Government believes that an effective Security Council

should be composed of a representative from each

subregion of the world. In this regard, due consideration

should be given to current realities, especially to the

geographical location of each Member State. For example,

in the reformulation Australia and New Zealand should be

considered as part of the South Pacific subregion of the

Asian group. The reforms in the Security Council should

therefore take account of this change.

Changing the world, through decolonization, from a

system of relations between imperial powers and the

colonized to a partnership between sovereign States is

among the United Nations greatest achievements. The

process, however, will not be complete until the

remaining 17 non-self-governing territories have exercised

their inalienable right to self-determination and/or

achieved self-government and, where appropriate,

independence. Neither small size nor remoteness should

be allowed to qualify or limit this inalienable right.

On the regional front, Papua New Guinea is pleased

to note the progress made in implementing the Matignon

Accords, culminating in the recent agreement contained

in the Noumea Accord, which confirms the way forward

for the exercise of the right of self-determination by the

people of New Caledonia, especially the indigenous

Kanak people. The Noumea Accord will, we believe,

provide a sound basis for the future fulfilment of all

legitimate political aspirations. We urge all parties to

honour both its letter and spirit.

We acknowledge that the United Nations Decade for

Decolonization will come to an end next year. We urge

the administering Powers and the members of the Special

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Committee to work together to develop a new programme

of action for the year 2000 and beyond.

On East Timor, my Government welcomed the

agreement between the Republic of Indonesia, the

Portuguese Republic and the United Nations on 5 May

1999, which enabled the United Nations to organize the

ballot on 30 August. The overwhelming 98.6 per cent

turnout at the ballot and the 78.2 per cent vote in favour of

independence are very clear.

My Government calls on all parties to respect the

results of the United Nations-supervised ballot and the

wishes of the East Timorese people. Although since the

ballot there have been deaths, massive destruction of

property and the undemocratic and forced displacement of

people by the militias and certain members of the

Indonesian military who did not accept the results, we are

pleased that this has changed after the recent announcement

by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, B. J.

Habibie, reaffirmed by Foreign Minister Alatas yesterday.

Democracy is all about the will of the majority. It is not

about unanimity, nor is it about enforced application of

rules by a minority.

We are also pleased that the Government of Indonesia

was able to recognise its obligations — not only as a party

to the 5 May Agreement, but also as a Member of the

United Nations — to permit the deployment of a Security

Council-sanctioned multinational peacekeeping force in East

Timor.

At the same time, however, it is our fervent hope that

in the interests of the long-term security and stability of the

region, the leaders and the people of East Timor will also

make peace with their neighbours. It is important for them

to acknowledge the fact that it was the Government of

Indonesia that made it possible for the people to exercise

their right to self-determination.

We are firmly committed to the Barbados Programme

of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States, including issues of climate change and

the consequent effects of rising sea levels. We strongly urge

its full implementation. My Government will continue to

follow and support the future work on these issues,

including the special session of the General Assembly on

small island developing States to be held on 27 and 28

September 1999. The world's leading scientists have

concluded that the rise in global temperatures poses serious

threats, including sea-level rise and an increase in natural

catastrophes such as the El Niño and La Niña phenomena.

The greatest challenge for the United Nations is to

strengthen the global community's capacity to respond

promptly and effectively to natural disasters. The

devastation caused by the recent earthquakes in Taiwan

and Turkey and by the floods in the United States and in

the Bahamas resulting from hurricane Floyd makes it all

the more imperative for the international community to

take positive action.

On the question of the management of the oceans

and seas, Papua New Guinea joins others in calling on

Member States at this session of the General Assembly to

work together on a resolution to establish a consultative

process to improve coordination and management of the

programmes for the protection of the oceans and seas. At

this Assembly session we should formalize this process.

We are concerned that at the recent meeting of the

Council of the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica,

a number of States appeared to be more preoccupied with

reducing our potential to prosper from prospecting,

exploring and exploiting the deep seabed. The debate in

Jamaica clearly reflected that the States with stringent

environmental guidelines no longer endorse the principle

of a global commons. They now find themselves caught

up in a conflict of interest in which their role as guardians

of the global commons is now being overshadowed by

their desire to grab the benefits for themselves, with little

or no sense of obligation to the world community at

large.

We have also noted a tendency by countries that

have co-sponsored pioneer investors in deep-sea mining

to try to avoid their international obligations towards the

environment. We are particularly concerned that they have

placed the interests of investors above the interests of the

global community. We make particular mention of the

trend to withhold information from the International

Seabed Authority under the guise of “confidentiality”,

“proprietary interests”, and “information of a scientifically

sensitive nature”: these are merely codes for denying

global communities access to information that might

allow them to prepare better for disaster prevention and

other actions needed to protect the environment.

Regarding nuclear issues, Papua New Guinea,

consistent with our shared commitment to a stable,

peaceful and environmentally safe world, supports the

objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-

Ban Treaty. Together with our partners in the South

Pacific Forum, we continue to reaffirm our commitment

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to maintaining the South Pacific region as a nuclear-

weapon-free zone. We also express our support for the

other regional nuclear-weapon-free zones in Africa, South-

East Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, and also

for the proposed new initiatives for Central and South Asia.

We call on all nuclear-weapon and threshold States to

stop all testing, manufacturing and stockpiling of these

weapons and to take steps towards the destruction of all

nuclear weapons. Indeed, the same principle should apply

to all weapons of mass destruction.

The South Pacific Forum members have always

maintained that we have a right to ban transboundary

movements of radioactive and other hazardous wastes,

within and through the region. We also continue to share

the position that appropriate compensatory mechanisms

should be established to compensate victims of past nuclear

tests and provide compensation for damage resulting from

any accidents.

In conclusion, I wish to reaffirm that Papua New

Guinea is firmly committed to the United Nations Charter;

to the reforms initiated by the Secretary-General, especially

those relating to the Security Council and the

reconfiguration of the regional groups within the United

Nations system; and to the United Nations decolonization

process and the Nouméa Accord for the Kanak people of

New Caledonia. We support the determination of the United

Nations to work towards a global mechanism for natural-

disaster preparedness and prevention; the special session of

the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of the

implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for

the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States; and the management of the oceans and seas.

Partnership in promoting change is the key to

addressing the challenges that the world will face in the

twenty-first century. I believe that the challenge for all

Member States is to join together to bring about

transparency, accountability and good governance as the

basic tenets of this Organization, its organs and subsidiary

bodies. If this is achieved, the “people first” sentiment of

the United Nations Charter will be truly embraced.