Vanuatu, 2010

Vanuatu is very pleased

that we are meeting under your presidency, Sir, and, on

behalf of my Government and of the Pacific Islands

Forum, I extend my warm congratulations to you, and

we wish to assure you of our full confidence and

cooperation.

I should also like to take a moment to pay tribute

to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali

Abdussalam Treki, for his exceptional service and

leadership during the sixty-fourth session of the

General Assembly and for the considerable and

important achievements of that session.

15 10-55128

In the same spirit, I take this opportunity also to

commend the Secretary-General for his vision,

leadership and tireless efforts in working towards

achievements in the common interest of all humanity.

Many innocent lives continue to be wasted, with

good people killed or wounded and multitudes

displaced by heinous acts designed to undermine and

destabilize the collective efforts of the international

community to achieve peace and security for our

societies. These many unprecedented events continue

to test the very foundation of our Organization.

As we prepare to enter the second decade of this

twenty-first century, it is vital now more than ever that

our membership affirms its confidence and faith in the

purposes and principles of the United Nations. It is

important that we continue to assert our support for

fundamental human rights and the peaceful coexistence

of our nations. The range and urgency of the challenges

that now confront the international community in our

globalized and interdependent world demand, at the

very least, our steadfast support for and commitment to

peace and security for our communities and peoples,

and for future generations.

If we are to effectively guarantee human rights

and achieve peace and security and social and

economic justice for all, we need to be united in this

endeavour, and our cooperation and multilateral joint

efforts need to be durable and effective. My

Government and people of Vanuatu are steadfast in our

belief that the United Nations remains uniquely suited

to the pursuit and coordination of global initiatives to

attain these objectives.

Vanuatu hosted the forty-first annual Pacific

Islands Forum in our capital, Port Vila, last month. As

current Chair, I wish to inform the Assembly that the

Pacific Islands leaders again noted that transnational

crime remains a threat to national and regional

stability, in particular the proliferation of small arms

and light weapons and illicit drugs. Consequently, the

Pacific Islands Forum has strengthened cooperation in

counter-terrorism measures and emphasized national

efforts and regional cooperation in combating

transnational organized crime and in strengthening

border control capacities. The Pacific Islands Forum

remains committed to collective arrangements and

mechanisms to assist regional Governments recovering

from national conflicts and crises. The value of those

efforts is evident in the positive results of the Regional

Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, created

under the Biketawa Declaration with the assistance of

contributing member States, which would not have

been successful without the strong leadership and

commitment of the Solomon Islands Government.

While many of our member countries have not

ratified the United Nations Convention against

Corruption (UNCAC), Forum leaders recognize the

important role that the Convention offers in providing

an internationally agreed framework for effective anti-

corruption activities around the world. I am pleased to

say that our regional organizations are working with

the various United Nations agencies to advance work

to promote the Convention.

While known as a region characterized by

oceanic isolation, smallness and general vulnerability,

the Pacific region is one of only a few in the world to

have experienced nuclear weapons testing. Therefore,

advancing the cause of nuclear non-proliferation and

the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty — also

known as the Treaty of Rarotonga — remains critical

and relevant to our signatory member States. The South

Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty reflects our region’s

deep commitment not only to international peace and

security but also to collective international action to

ensure peace and security. In endorsing the successful

outcome of the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review

Conference, Forum leaders also welcomed the

announcement by the United States of America of its

intention to ratify all protocols of the Treaty of

Rarotonga.

Notwithstanding their size, national obligations

and circumstances, our respective Forum members

value and are proud of their contributions to United

Nations peacekeeping efforts. My own country is proud

to contribute to United Nations peacekeeping missions

in East Timor, Haiti, the Sudan, Bosnia, the Peace

Monitoring Group and the Bougainville Transition

Team in Bougainville, and to the Regional Assistance

Mission to the Solomon Islands.

Terrorism is an offence to humanity and contrary

to the core values of the United Nations. We must be

resolute in our national and collective efforts to combat

terrorism in all its forms. For my own country, I

reaffirm our strong support for the relevant Security

Council resolutions against terrorism. Those

resolutions provide a clear signal of our determination

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to suppress terrorist activities, including training,

international movement and financing.

All of us present here today have described the

various stages of our progress to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For our

island countries, our increasing vulnerability to threats

and challenges, underscored by the impacts of the

global economic, financial, fuel and food crises, is

exacerbated by the current and impending impacts of

climate change, as well as our inherent limited capacity

to respond. This is not to say, however, that we have

not made progress in achieving any of those goals.

With respect to Goal 2, the primary education systems

of the Pacific region are characterized by high

enrolment, with six of our countries currently

displaying net enrolment ratios of over 90 per cent.

Most, if not all, of our Pacific island countries are

expected to meet the goal of gender equality in

education by 2015. We have been able to achieve those

goals because we have localized the global indicators

by adjusting them to suit our local circumstances and

priorities.

While we remain concerned about the pace of our

progress towards the Millennium Development Goals,

we are committed to accelerating progress towards

achieving them by 2015. The Port Vila Declaration on

Accelerating Progress on the Achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals, which was adopted by

Pacific Forum leaders at their meeting in Vanuatu last

month, recognizes that the MDGs are extremely

important, as is also the incremental path towards

achieving those Goals — a path that should recognize

and accommodate the special circumstances and

challenges we face in the Pacific. The Port Vila

Declaration also highlights the importance of

mainstreaming the programme of support for the

sustainable development of small island developing

States — which is captured in the Barbados

Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development

of Small Island Developing States and the Mauritius

Strategy for the Further Implementation of the

Barbados Programme of Action — as an accelerator for

achieving the MDGs in the Pacific and addressing the

specific vulnerabilities that we face. To ensure the

success of the Port Vila Declaration, we call for the

support, collaborative action and commitment of the

international community and our development partners —

particularly an improved understanding of and ability

to address our vulnerabilities and for improved

coordination of efforts towards achieving the MDGs.

Advancing the Pacific islands’ work with respect

to the Millennium Development Goals is closely and

inextricably linked to the Mauritius Strategy. The

development and endorsement of the Pacific Plan by

the Forum leaders in 2005 underscored the critical

need for creating stronger and deeper linkages between

our countries and for identifying sectors where the

region could gain the most by sharing resources in the

area of governance and by aligning policies. While we

believe that we have made some excellent progress in

effectively implementing the Mauritius Strategy at the

national and regional levels, we also acknowledge our

shortcomings, some of which are beyond our control.

The growing vulnerabilities of our Pacific island

countries are exacerbated by the impacts of the global

economic crisis, climate change and natural disasters,

and those factors affect our abilities to respond.

Climate change remains the greatest threat to the

livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of

the Pacific. Continuing and concerted efforts by Forum

members are being made at the national, regional and

international levels to address the impacts of climate

change on Pacific communities and peoples. The

degree of urgency for real commitments to emissions

reduction must be commensurate with the science and

with the associated impacts of climate change on the

most vulnerable communities. This issue must not be

viewed with an eye to short-term impacts on traditional

industrial growth or political tenure, but rather with a

longer-term consideration of the sustainability of

economies, societies and peoples the world over. A

meaningful, legally binding agreement on emissions

reduction must be reached urgently and without delay.

Recognizing the importance of effective coordination

and implementation of climate change adaptation and

mitigation efforts at all levels — and particularly at the

national level — Forum leaders have endorsed a set of

principles that will guide Forum island countries and

development partners in this regard, bearing in mind

existing and ongoing efforts in the region. Those

principles are consistent with the Cairns Compact and

the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate

Change, and they reflect recognition by Forum leaders

of the important role that regional and international

arrangements play in supporting national adaptation

and mitigation through the enhancement of capacity

and access to resources.

17 10-55128

I am also pleased to say that, ahead of the Cancún

climate change meetings this November and December,

the Government of Kiribati will be hosting the Tarawa

Climate Change Conference in November. We

anticipate bringing together representatives of

countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change,

as well as representatives of major economies.

Allow me at this juncture to make a few remarks

pertinent to Vanuatu’s position on a number of issues.

We are meeting here at this Assembly session to once

again renew our commitment to the United Nations and

to the principles enshrined in its Charter. However, the

need to reform the United Nations to ensure that it

effectively responds to the needs of its Members

remains imperative.

In that regard, I wish to commend the Secretary-

General for advancing the work on the reform of the

Security Council. We note the work done by the Chair

of the intergovernmental negotiations on the question

of equitable representation and increase in the

membership of the Security Council and other matters

related to the Council. So we join all like-minded

States in encouraging the United Nations to pursue

equitable reforms in its institutions in order to

minimize the democratic deficit in the multilateral

arena.

My Government also joins all other heads of

Governments that are Members of the United Nations

family in congratulating the Secretary-General on

bringing to a reality the efforts over four years to

create the office of UN Women, a new entity formally

established by the General Assembly within the United

Nations created in July of this year. That decision gives

more prominence to women and their place in our

society.

Vanuatu celebrated 30 years of political freedom

last July. This year marks the end of the Second

International Decade of Decolonization. My

Government wishes to question the progress on some

important processes of self-determination. It is

disturbing to think that we may legitimize practices

that contravene the very principles on which this

Organization has been founded. Are we to assume that

decolonization issues may be ignored in the years to

come so as not to unsettle the status quo?

Issues relating to decolonization and severe

human rights violations must be effectively and

impartially addressed. We call upon the United Nations

to strengthen its efforts in working towards full

decolonization of Territories that are still under the

control of administrating Powers. Where there are

serious reports of human rights violations, there must

be a stronger United Nations role in investigating all

allegations of human atrocity. We are reminded that the

noble task of our multilateral Organization is to

reaffirm our commitment to and respect for

fundamental human rights and the dignity of the human

person.

We are encouraged to see emerging nations, such

as Kosovo, rising from the turmoil of restraint to take

up their position in the midst of the independent

nations of the world. It is in the spirit of democratic

freedom that justice must prevail for those peoples

whose right to political freedom continues to be

suppressed by colonial and illegitimate administrating

Powers. That includes for those countries whose

political freedom to claim their rights to territorial

sovereignty under the United Nations Convention on

the Law of the Sea and those whose political freedom

to rightfully claim an extended continental shelf under

the Convention are suppressed by colonial

administrative rule.

As we applaud calls for a peaceful resolution of

the conflict between Israel and Palestine, my country

also calls for the lifting of the embargo on Cuba, which

will enable the good people of Cuba to improve their

lives.

My country, together with other least developed

countries in the Pacific, has consistently argued in this

forum that the mechanisms and criteria for assessing

graduation eligibility must not be isolated from the

permanent and inherent vulnerabilities of our countries.

It is unrealistic for United Nations agencies to look at

the progress and make projections without taking into

consideration the issues of permanent vulnerabilities

and capacity to sustain growth in our countries.

Indicators for most Millennium Development Goals

clearly demonstrate little progress in human

development. Climate change, volcanic eruptions and

other disasters will continue to be significant factors

inhibiting human development in our islands. Such

factors are critical, and we therefore reiterate our

position that they must be carefully weighed in the

vulnerability graduation criteria.

In the case of our very close neighbour, Fiji, my

Government believes that all players are interested in

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seeing positive political progress there, which must

continue to genuinely engage the good people of Fiji.

We have learned that multilateralism offers some

constructive innovations in diplomatic practice, but it

may also complicate conflict resolution by increasing

tension between actors.

Finally, in the spirit of reconciliation through the

Pacific way, I call upon all international and regional

diplomatic actors to assist in ways that will not

polarize the region. Instead, our diplomatic approaches

should help to give genuine dialogue and engagement a

more credible opportunity. There should be genuine

and renewed commitment to fostering relations in the

Pacific region, commitment that promotes greater

freedom, regional cooperation, friendship and

integration, as envisaged in the Pacific Plan document.

In conclusion, I take this opportunity to express

my gratitude to all our development partners for the

support that they are providing in building our

economies. I believe more can be done to assist the

Pacific island countries in addressing the growing

challenges confronting the region.