Papua New Guinea, 2003

Let

me from the outset congratulate the President of this

fifty-eighth General Assembly on his election. I have

no doubt that his election by the international

community is a recognition of his vast diplomatic skills

and leadership qualities. His election is also

recognition of the coming of age of small island States.

I also wish to thank his predecessor Mr. Jan Kavan for

his stewardship of the work of the fifty-seventh

General Assembly.

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Please allow me also to pay tribute to the United

Nations Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan and his

staff for their dedication and commitment in dealing

with many pressing international issues that confront

us today.

I join others delegations in expressing our

Government’s sincere condolences to the families of

the United Nations staff, including the late Sergio

Vieira de Mello, the former United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights, who lost their lives

in Baghdad on 16 August 2003.

The attacks were barbaric and against the

principles of freedom, democracy and peace as

enshrined in the United Nations Charter. They must be

condemned in the strongest possible terms.

In pursuit of our commitments to combat

international terrorism, I am happy to report that Papua

New Guinea has substantially complied with United

Nations Security Council resolution 1373 (2001).

Our Parliament recently ratified many of the

conventions and protocols to combat global terrorism.

Yesterday, I personally deposited four conventions with

the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General.

Having fulfilled these requirements, Papua New

Guinea is now faced with resource constraints and

other challenges to implementing the treaty

obligations. This situation is further exacerbated by

other threats, such as illicit drug trafficking,

proliferation of small arms and light weapons,

smuggling of humans and money-laundering.

In the Pacific Islands region, we have taken

positive initiatives to collectively deal with these

threats. The Nasonini and Biketawa Declarations

agreed to by the Pacific Islands Forum leaders provide

the framework for cooperation in dealing with these

threats.

In the wider Asia/Pacific Region, the Southwest

Pacific Dialogue has met twice, in addition to the

annual Bali security meetings, to discuss political and

security issues facing the region. The Dialogue partners

include Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand,

Australia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.

Whilst issues of greater political and security

risks are of concern to us, the real threat at this stage is

the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

Small arms and light weapons have not only

destabilized regions, sparked, fuelled and prolonged

conflicts but also obstructed relief programmes,

undermined peace initiatives, exacerbated human rights

abuses, hampered development and fostered a culture

of violence. There are no international treaties or other

legal instruments for dealing effectively with this

category of weapons.

In this context, Papua New Guinea welcomes the

call for the immediate and full implementation of the

2001 Plan of Action on small arms aimed at curbing

and eradicating the flow of small arms and light

weapons.

Let me place this in the context of the crisis in

our province of Bougainville where the proliferation of

small arms and light weapons contributed to the

prolonging of the conflict in the province.

With regard to progress in Bougainville, we have

completed the second stage of the arms disposal

programme, which has been verified by the United

Nations. The regional Peace Monitoring Group (PMG)

has now been wound down and replaced by the

Bougainville Transition Team (BTT). With the help of

the United Nations the Team will maintain logistical

support for the peace process and assist in other

operational areas.

I would also like to inform this Assembly that the

peace process under the Bougainville Agreement has

reached the crucial third stage under the constitutional

amendments agreed to by the Papua New Guinea

National Parliament. While there are delays, every

necessary step is being taken by all parties concerned

to ensure that the momentum built to date is not being

unduly hampered.

My Government therefore seeks the

understanding of the international community,

especially the members of the Security Council, to help

us fully achieve all tasks agreed to under the

Bougainville Peace Agreement. This will signal a win-

win story for all, the United Nations, our Government

and the people of Bougainville.

I express our Government’s profound

appreciation to the Secretary-General for the invaluable

efforts of the United Nations Political Office in

Bougainville (UNPOB), including those of

Ambassador Noel Sinclair.

I also acknowledge and thank our regional

neighbours — Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon

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Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, for their immense

contribution to the peace process.

With regard to the conflict in the Solomon

Islands, the package of assistance developed and

agreed to by the Pacific Islands foreign ministers and

later adopted at the Pacific Islands Forum leaders

meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, last month has

helped restore peace and normalcy in that country. It

was undertaken at the request of the Government of the

Solomon Islands under the Biketawa Declaration.

The Australian-led operation includes the

deployment of both civilian police and armed

peacekeepers from many of the Pacific island member

States, including my own. The cooperation among

member States underlines the strength of regional

peacekeeping, if done properly.

On the Israeli and Palestinian issue, we were

encouraged by the general positive signs of progress

towards resolving and securing peace based on the

United States-led road map. However, this has

deteriorated in recent weeks. We call upon all parties

involved to exercise maximum restraint and work

towards the peaceful settlement of this crisis.

We are pleased that the Quartet has recently

convened in New York to review the road map. We

look forward to their strong leadership in assisting to

resolve this long outstanding issue. Fighting and

violence will not resolve the conflict. We join the

international community’s call for both the Israeli and

Palestinian leadership to make renewed efforts at the

negotiating table, to cease all hostilities by both sides

and to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Our belief is that diplomacy is the only means by

which States may join as partners and co-operate in

bringing about changes which promote peace,

economic and social progress for all people, both in

principle and, more importantly, in practice.

We believe that this too should apply to the

situation in Iraq. We support the work being done in

the Security Council to adopt a new resolution on a

role of the United Nations that would provide a

framework for the widest possible participation of

United Nations Member States in the reconstruction of

Iraq.

Regarding United Nations reforms, Papua New

Guinea commends the leadership demonstrated by the

Secretary-General in the current work being done to

reform the main organs of the United Nations, the

General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies and the

Security Council.

We support the expansion of the Security Council

in both permanent and non-permanent membership

categories. Reforms should take into account the

interests of both developed and developing countries.

All permanent members in an expanded Council

should have similar rights and privileges. However, the

use of the veto power should be curtailed and applied

only to Chapter VII issues. In doing so, we must move

swiftly to complete the reforms of the United Nations

system — including the Security Council — so we can

restore the capacity of the multilateral system to better

serve us all.

Papua New Guinea fully endorses the recent

Declarations and Plans of Action of the Doha,

Monterrey and Johannesburg Conferences. We are

resolved to meet the challenges of poverty eradication;

hunger; illiteracy; environmental degradation; climate

change; and HIV/AIDS, malaria and other preventable

diseases. We are also committed to addressing issues of

good governance. It is the desire of the Government of

Papua New Guinea to incorporate the Millennium

Development Goals into our national development

priorities. We are in the process of adopting the

medium-term development strategy, which is aimed at

redirecting development to the rural areas where the

majority of our people live. We encourage the

international community — including all stakeholders

in developed and developing countries — to continue

to make resources available to fully implement those

Declarations and Plans of Action.

Like other developing member States of the

Pacific Islands Forum, Papua New Guinea is firmly

committed to the Barbados Programme of Action for

the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States. We fully support its 10-year review

process, which will take place at the international

meeting to be held in Mauritius in August 2004. We

call upon our regional and international development

partners to support the review process, as was the case

with the recent conferences of the least developed and

landlocked developing countries.

The recent breakdown in the World Trade

Organization negotiations in Cancún is of great

concern to us all. However, that should not be a barrier

to further negotiations to arrive at a fair and equitable

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arrangement that provides for the interests of all

nations.

On a more targeted front, the African, Caribbean

and Pacific (ACP) group of countries — of which

Papua New Guinea is a member — are now negotiating

with the European Union for a possible economic

partnership agreement. It is important that the main

objective be the eradication of poverty, and therefore

that trade preferences enjoyed by ACP countries under

successive Lomé Conventions and under the current

Cotonou Agreements not be eroded.

The small island developing States of the Pacific

region are among the custodians of the largest ocean

space. The Pacific Ocean is rich in natural marine

resources. The recent Pacific Islands Forum Leaders

Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, again reaffirmed

the Pacific Islands Regional Oceans Policy, which aims

to ensure the future sustainable use of our oceans and

their resources by our island communities, in close

cooperation with our development partners.

The countries of the region, however, have

limited human, financial and technological capacities

to control, manage and secure those resources for the

benefit of our current and future generations. In

protecting our vast marine resources, the Pacific

Islands Forum leaders reiterate their serious concerns

about the shipment of radioactive materials through the

region. They also call upon States engaged in those

activities to accept full responsibility and liability for

compensation for any damage that may result, directly

or indirectly, from the transportation of radioactive

material through the region. The two accidents that

happened in the Atlantic Ocean last year underline the

reality of our concerns.

Papua New Guinea, together with other small

island developing States, continues to express deep

concerns about the adverse impact of climate change,

climate variability and sea-level rise, particularly on

the small, low-lying islands that are already

experiencing extreme hardships. We will continue to

stress the urgent need for developed countries to exert

strong leadership in the reduction of greenhouse gas

emissions.

Papua New Guinea has signed and ratified both

the United Nations Climate Change Convention and the

Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol paves the way

forward for developed countries to fulfil their

obligations under the Climate Change Convention. We

believe that the larger developing countries also have

an obligation to take concrete actions in reducing their

gas emissions. We welcome the support of Japan, the

European Community and China for the Kyoto

Protocol. We urge the United States, the Russian

Federation and Australia to join the global efforts

aimed at addressing that issue, including ratification of

the Kyoto Protocol.

Papua New Guinea is also not immune to the

HIV/AIDS pandemic. Tuberculosis and malaria are

again on the rise, so there is an urgent need to find

preventive measures for those diseases. I am, however,

pleased to report that the Papua New Guinea

Parliament this year enacted legislation aimed at

dealing with the scourge by assisting with prevention

and awareness programmes to reduce and limit the

spread of HIV/AIDS, which threatens the lives of our

people, particularly mothers and children. In that

regard, we thank Australia for its substantial assistance.

We also acknowledge continuing support from other

development partners, including the United Nations

Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Joint United Nations

Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health

Organization.

We also support the work of the United Nations

in relation to the protection and advancement of the

rights of women and children. While we have ratified

the appropriate conventions, we realize that we must do

more. We acknowledge the support being provided by

our development partners, including United Nations

agencies such as the United Nations Development

Programme and UNICEF.

Papua New Guinea fully concurs with the calls by

the international community to reform and restructure

the charters and mandates of the two Bretton Woods

institutions. Their lending policies should be made

more lenient and flexible with regard to assisting

developing countries in their developmental efforts.

Among the greatest achievements of the United

Nations is the process of decolonization. But that

process will not be completed — as it must be — until

the remaining 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories have

exercised their inalienable right to self-determination.

The United Nations should continue to monitor

developments in New Caledonia, Tokelau and the other

14 Non-Self-Governing Territories on the United

Nations decolonization list on a case-by-case basis.

Neither size, remoteness nor population density should

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be allowed to limit the exercise of this inalienable

right. The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting held

in Auckland last month once again reaffirmed its

support for that principle.

In conclusion, I want to reaffirm Papua New

Guinea’s firm commitment to the timeless principles

enshrined in the United Nations Charter. We also

strongly advocate that it is Papua New Guinea’s

position that diplomacy, through positive dialogue, is

the key to addressing these challenges.

Finally, Papua New Guinea believes that a greater

challenge for all United Nations Member States is to

work together as genuine partners. That will serve as

an effective tool for implementing our collective goal:

to create a better and more secure world, both today

and for future generations.