Solomon Islands, 2014

On behalf of the Government and people of Solomon Islands, I extend

warm congratulations to you, Sir, the Minister for

Foreign Affairs of Uganda, on your election as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth

session. My delegation reaffirms the core function of

the General Assembly as the chief deliberative body on

all global issues. We look forward to working with you

in “Delivering on and implementing a transformative

post-2015 development agenda”, which is the theme that

you have chosen for this session.

My delegation pays tribute to your predecessor,

Mr. John Ashe, who has done a sterling job in setting

the stage for a post-2015 development agenda. Under

his watch, he convened four high-level events and

two thematic debates in shaping the new development

paradigm. President Ashe also guided the work of

the Open Working Group of the General Assembly

on Sustainable Development Goals in developing

universal sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Today, we have 17 carefully crafted and delicately

balanced SDGs, accompanied by 169 targets. A means

of implementation is attached to each goal, which, if

honoured, will trigger a seismic shift in the way that

we do business.

We look forward to the Secretary-General’s post-

2015 synthesis report later this year. That report will

provide a structure for our post-2015 negotiations. My

delegation is mindful of the fact that the outcome of

the third International Conference on Financing for

Development, scheduled for mid-2015, will feed into

the negotiation process. Solomon Islands commits itself

to ensuring that our people own and buy into the post-

2015 development agenda.

The Solomon Islands’ scorecard on the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) remains mixed across all

eight Goals. We are on track for achieving some of them,

off track for others and in the process for three Goals.

However, we remain committed to consolidating our

MDG gains and are beginning to build the foundation

for integrating a new development agenda nationally at

all levels.

If sustainable development is to grow roots in any

country, it needs to be nurtured in a politically stable

environment. The Solomon Islands National Parliament

passed the Political Party Integrity Bill in May. The act

allows political parties to develop and to operate in a

regulated and systematic manner, thereby instilling a

predictable and stable political atmosphere, which is an

essential condition for development.

I am pleased to inform the Assembly that, under the

leadership of the Prime Minister, the Honourable Gordon

Darcy Lilo, the ninth Solomon Islands Parliament

concluded its four-year term early this month. As the

people anxiously look forward to exercising their right

to vote in the forthcoming national general election, we

will do so using the biometric voter system for the first

time. As a young democratic State, we are constantly

improving our governance system and correcting past

election irregularities. We could not have achieved that

without international support and partnership. To our

partners, I convey once again the deep appreciation and

gratitude of Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands would also like to take this

opportunity to congratulate both Fiji and New Zealand

on their newly elected Governments and Parliaments.

We stand ready to strengthen our bilateral relations

with our two neighbours and to address issues of

mutual concern. We also convey our best wishes to the

Kingdom of Tonga for its November national general

elections.

Solomon Islands has continued to serve on the

Executive Board of UN-Women. Gender-based

violence is a major economic leakage in any country’s

development. It reduces women’s productivity in all

three dimensions of sustainable development. Gender-

based violence also imposes a cost on the wider society.

Last month, the Solomon Islands National Parliament

met its international obligation under the Committee

on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

and adopted family protection legislation. The act

protects families from domestic violence, deals with

perpetrators and provides practical support to victims

of violence. The legislation has received strong national

visibility and promotes gender equality. Solomon

Islands wishes to acknowledge UN-Women’s Markets

for Change project in the country. The project aims to

improve market governance and on-site services for

women. It recognizes and addresses our rural women’s

challenges and will, hopefully, encourage more women

to engage in economic activities.

The year 2015 marks the twentieth anniversary

of the Platform for Action of the Fourth World

Conference on Women. Solomon Islands conducted a

national review on its implementation of the Beijing

Platform for Action and has identified three areas of

achievements: recognition of gender equality, the

economic empowerment of women and awareness of

gender-based violence. We believe in the notion that

progress for women is progress for all. We remain

committed to implementing the Platform for Action.

The third International Conference on Small

Islands Developing States (SIDS), convened in Samoa,

reaffirmed SIDS as a special case for sustainable

development given their unique and particular

vulnerability. The once-in-a-decade Conference

adopted the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action

Pathway, which outlines 19 priority areas. The

outcome document (A/CONF.223/3, annex) calls for

a comprehensive review of United Nations support to

SIDS.

In that connection, Solomon Islands seeks closer

relations with the United Nations. We would like

to see the United Nations Development Programme

Subregional Office in Solomon Islands upgraded to

the status of country office. After more than three

decades of the United Nations managing Solomon

Islands relations from abroad, it is time to invest in

such relations in my capital.

With regard to a related matter, Solomon Islands

continues to be underrepresented in the composition of

United Nations staff. However, we are grateful for and

welcome the United Nations annual recruitment drive

in Solomon Islands and hope to fill our employment

quota soon, with Solomon islanders joining the diverse

United Nations staff.

Health remains a precondition for sustainable

development. Solomon Islands has continued to

demonstrate its commitment to improving the health of

its people. In July, the first 20 Solomon Islands doctors

graduated from medical schools in Cuba. Solomon

Islands would like to thank Cuba for the scholarships

awarded to the doctors, as well as to the remaining 80

Solomon Islands medical students. This year alone,

we will witness more than 30 new doctors joining our

health services. It is the vision of the Government to

double the number of doctors in the country in the

next two years, to continue to strengthen our health-

care infrastructure, putting in place health and social

protection systems, and to work towards making health-

care coverage in Solomon Islands universal.

Solomon Islands joins the international community

in calling for the lifting of the economic and financial

blockade imposed on Cuba by our friend and partner,

the United States of America. After more than five

decades of sanctions on Cuba, it is time to reset

relations between the two neighbours on the basis of

good-neighbourly relations and respect for territorial

integrity and political sovereignty.

One of the principles of the SDGs is that we

must not leave anyone behind. There are States

knocking at the door of the United Nations, ready to

take on multilateral responsibilities. The Republic of

China on Taiwan continues to seek full and effective

participation with three United Nations specialized

bodies, namely, the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the World

Health Organization (WHO) and the International Civil

Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Those United Nations bodies deal with urgent

global issues in which we all have an interest — from

climate change to the evolving health challenges. ICAO

works to keep our travelling public and air services

safe. I wish to note that 45 million passengers passed

through the Republic of China, Taiwan, in 2012. We

do not have the luxury of time to turn a blind eye to

the required cooperation. The global challenges before

us are too great for narrow interests to adopt a wait-

and-see approach and to keep postponing action that

is needed.

The Republic of China, Taiwan, is a country that

has transformed itself from a developing country into

an industrialized one. It is the twenty-seventh-largest

economy in the world and has experience, technology

and capability from which our shared agenda can

benefit. We have all to gain and nothing to lose by

inviting the Republic of China, Taiwan, to become the

195th member of the UNFCCC, the 192nd member of

ICAO and the 195th member of the WHO.

The Solomon Islands partnership with the Pacific

Islands Forum, under the Regional Assistance Mission

to the Solomon Islands, continues to create positive

conditions, allowing the country to begin a limited

rearmament of its police force. The private sector

and the international community have responded to

the changing environment, with the European Union

upgrading its representation in my capital, Honiara,

and more and more non-traditional partners accrediting

their envoys to Solomon Islands. A new commercial

bank was incorporated and entered the Solomon

Islands market, making it the fourth commercial bank

to provide financial services to our vibrant population.

Sustainable development for Solomon Islands, as

a coastal State, includes its seabed resources beyond

its 1.3-million-square-kilometre exclusive economic

zone. The Solomon Islands has registered a number

of continental shelf claims with the United Nations

Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

(CLCS). My delegation is pleased to see that one of the

claims is now being examined by the Subcommission of

the CLCS. We look forward to further engagement with

the Subcommission during the course of this session.

The world is facing a series of crisis and conflicts

in Africa, the Middle East and now in Europe. In

dealing with conflicts, we must exert greater effort in

seeking the peaceful settlement of disputes. We must

collectively counter extremism, terrorism and crimes

against humanity, and protect civilians, operating

within the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United

Nations.

As the principal organ of the United Nations for

the maintenance of international peace and security,

the Security Council must be part of that solution.

Despite the call of world leaders for the speedy reform

of the Security Council in 2005, nine years on we

are still working at it. At the tenth intergovernmental

negotiations on Security Council reform in July, there

was overwhelming support for the expansion of Security

Council membership and for making the Council more

representative and accountable in terms of improving

its working methods. An advisory group mandated by

your predecessor, Mr. President, produced a non-paper.

It provided structure to the last session’s discussions

and can be used as a basis for negotiations during this

session. We look to you for leadership on that.

Turning now to the recent outbreak of Ebola,

the gravity, scale and spread of the Ebola virus in

West Africa is unprecedented and demands urgent

international cooperation. The Ebola disease has halted

services and disrupted the lives of many people in

the affected countries. The Solomon Islands supports

our Secretary-General’s action to establish the United

Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response,

and acknowledges global efforts in mobilization of

resources to combat the disease as a matter of urgency.

As stated by other delegations, decolonization

remains an unfinished business of the United Nations.

If we are to deliver on the Third International Decade

for the Eradication of Colonialism, we will need the

cooperation of all parties — including the administering

Powers, the Non-Self-Governing Territories, and

regional and subregional organizations — to honour

their commitments under the Charter of the United

Nations and the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of

Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), made

up of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon

Islands and the Front de libération nationale kanak

socialiste, continues to follow the question of New

Caledonia in the United Nations Special Committee

on Decolonization (Committee of 24). The Group

welcomed the Committee’s visit to New Caledonia

in March, and noted its concerns relating to the

Territory’s electoral process and needed legislation in

keeping within the spirit of the Nouméa Accord. Those

issues have implications in preparing for a credible

referendum process, consistent and in conformity with

the universally accepted principles and practices of

self-determination, as defined by resolution 1514 (XV)

and other relevant resolutions of the Assembly.

My delegation would also like to acknowledge the

diligent work of the Committee of 24 in examining the

question of French Polynesia. Solomon Islands continues

to reaffirm its support for the inalienable rights of the

people of French Polynesia to self-determination, in

accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. It is

our hope that the Decolonization Committee will soon

visit the Non-Self-Governing Territory, in cooperation

with the administering Power.

Solomon Islands, as a member of the MSG, is

working in collaboration with Indonesia on human

rights concerns in Papua and West Papua, the two

easternmost provinces of the Republic of Indonesia.

On 21 May, Solomon Islands established its Embassy

in Jakarta with the genuine intention of continuing to

cooperate with Indonesia on many important issues of

mutual concern, including those taken up together by

MSG members.

Solomon Islands welcomes the World Conference

on Indigenous People. More than 90 per cent of our

population are indigenous Melanesians and Polynesians

speaking more than 87 different languages. Our diverse

cultures are under threat due to forced relocation from

ancestral lands as a result of sea-level rise. Their right

to live in harmony with nature is being threatened by

the declining health of the planet.

Climate change remains the greatest challenge of

our time. It calls for the widest possible international

cooperation on the part of all. This month, Solomon

Islands ratified the second commitment period under

the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We

encourage parties to the Protocol that have not ratified

the amendment to do so as soon as possible. It is in

our collective interest to see the Protocol enforced.

We remain deeply concerned on the slow progress of

climate-change negotiations, and hope that the General

Assembly will invite the UNFCCC to conduct its

negotiations in New York, where diplomats from all

parties to the Convention are located all year round. We

need to accelerate the pace of negotiations. This must

be done while working with our technical experts in

the process.

In looking at the 2015 Climate Change agreement,

Solomon Islands would like to see a credible agreement

that will guarantee the survival of the SIDS and the

least developed countries (LDCs). The agreement must

be comprehensive in scope, addressing mitigation,

adaptation, finance and technology transfer. It must be

inclusive, and respect and respond to the special needs

of SIDS and LDCs. The agreement must be flexible

enough to respond to the changing science and be

adequately resourced.

Climate-change risk remains at the forefront of

our sustainable development path. The flash floods of

great magnitude and intensity that occurred in Solomon

Islands in April claimed lives and destroyed homes and

infrastructure. Damages and losses are equivalent to

9.2 per cent of Solomon Islands’ gross domestic product.

This has created pressure in the form of new expenses,

prompting the Government to borrow and secure

grants externally. Solomon Islands remains grateful

to its neighbours — Australia, New Zealand, Nauru,

Tuvalu, Samoa and Papua New Guinea — as well as

Turkey, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Botswana,

Sri Lanka and the Republic of China on Taiwan, among

others, that have supported our national rehabilitation

and recovery efforts.

Despite the disaster challenges, Solomon Islands

remains determined to build a resilient society. We

are on track in building two hydro-projects in two

provinces, in partnership with the World Bank and the

Asian Development Bank. In partnership with Japan,

we are expanding our port facilities to promote and

enable domestic, regional and international trade. I am

pleased to say that, since the sixty-eighth session, a

number of domestic airports and 18 bridges have been

constructed, further uniting our scattered population.

This would not have been possible without the support

of Australia, New Zealand and the European Union,

and we express our gratitude to our traditional partners.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) confirms that, without additional mitigation

actions, we are heading towards a 3.7-4.8°C world. The

fifth IPCC assessment report indicates that by 2030,

89 per cent of coral reefs are projected to experience

severe coral bleaching, with the temperature increasing

by 1.5°C. By 2050, at 2°C we are looking at 100 per

cent coral reef bleaching. These developments will

occur in our generation and will have an impact on

tourism industries and fish stocks, potentially driving

households in the SIDS and LDCs into poverty traps.

We call on the international community to respect

the principles of fairness and justice and to put SIDS

and LDCs at the heart of international cooperation. In

that connection, my delegation welcomes the Secretary-

General’s Climate Summit, held last week. We also

support your proposal, Mr. President, of convening a

high-level debate on climate change during the course

of this session. We do so because our lives depend on it.

Let me conclude by reaffirming the commitment

of the Solomon Islands to striving for a just, equitable

and inclusive world. Implementing the post-2015

development agenda provides us with our first and last

line of defence in guaranteeing a sustainable future for

our current and future generations.