Samoa, 1998

May I congratulate Mr. Opertti

most warmly on his well-acclaimed election and express to

him, on behalf of my Government, our full confidence and

support for his presidency.

We want also to pay tribute to Mr. Hennadiy

Udovenko of Ukraine for his commitment and determined

leadership during the fifty-second session.

At this stage of my statement, I am honoured to speak

as Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

and to do so on behalf of 32 AOSIS States that are

Members of the United Nations.

I take the opportunity from the outset to declare our

heartfelt concerns and deepest feelings for the people and

communities of the Caribbean and those bordering the

Caribbean and in the southern parts of the United States

who have lost families and properties or have been left

homeless by hurricane Georges. We join in the call for the

most generous assistance to them all. Several of the

countries suffering severe damage and devastation — such

as Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Saint Kitts and Nevis and

the Virgin Islands — are AOSIS members, and we have

them especially in our thoughts at this time.

For our small island States, these climate-related

events are occurring with alarming force and regularity.

We have it from the experts that powerful hurricanes like

Georges could be linked to the “cold event” of La Niña,

the contrasting weather phenomenon to El Niño, and that

La Niña may be setting conditions favourable to more

frequent and dangerous Caribbean hurricanes like

Georges. These were the same events described by the

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea in his address to

this Assembly last week, when he spoke of the damaging

effects of El Niño, and by the Deputy Prime Minister of

Fiji earlier today. They are events and disasters which

demonstrate and underscore the extreme exposure and

vulnerability of our island communities.

AOSIS welcomed the action authorized by this

Assembly last year towards early understanding of the El

Niño phenomenon and its impacts, and we fully support

the United Nations system-wide strategy now being

developed. We welcome in particular the proposals

initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP) to reduce the impact of environmental

emergencies through early warning and preparedness,

especially in the case of El Niño/Southern Oscillation. We

note in this connection the importance of practical support

for such initiatives, especially the generous financial

donation from the Ted Turner Foundation.

In Barbados in 1994, at the Global Conference on

the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, the international community recognized their

special characteristics and needs and adopted a specific

Programme of Action to address these needs. The United

Nations Agenda for Development, adopted last year,

reinforced the acknowledgement of special circumstances

and stressed the need for international support to help

island communities with their development efforts.

The months ahead will be a critical time for our

countries as we work towards the first five-year review of

the Barbados Programme of Action next year at the two-

day special session of the General Assembly. The review

will be carried out against the background of the appraisal

of Agenda 21 and the assessment arrived at by the

world?s political leadership then that the overall trends

with respect to sustainable development are worse today

than they were in 1992.

The conclusions of the Commission on Sustainable

Development (CSD) at its sixth session earlier this year,

which reviewed several chapters of the Barbados

Programme of Action, highlighted the continued

7

vulnerability of small island developing States, particularly

to climate change, and the critical need for capacity-

building in such areas as the management of wastes;

freshwater biological resources; and science and technology.

Placing priority on human resource development and the

transfer of appropriate environmentally sound technologies

are essential. Our national institutions and administrative

capacities have been hampered by a severe lack of financial

and technical skills, and the use of regional institutions and

mechanisms for coordination needs to be strengthened or

supplemented.

We look forward to engaging the international

community in detailed dialogue on these aspects at the

donors? conference next February and during the other

review preparatory processes next year. In doing so, let

there be no doubt about our own determination in the

matter, for the primary responsibility for the success of the

Barbados Programme of Action lies with the small island

developing States, first and foremost. We will not be

sidetracked from the ultimate prize of self-reliance, but we

must be assured of the vital support of the international

community.

The AOSIS countries continue to set high priority on

the development of the vulnerability index and will follow

with close attention the quantitative and analytical work

which we believe must continue on the index. Recognition

within the Barbados Programme of Action that small island

developing States are a special case is further supported by

the work of the ad hoc expert group on vulnerability

indices, which reported to the Economic and Social Council

earlier in the year. AOSIS takes particular note of the

conclusion of the experts that, as a group, small island

States are more vulnerable than other groups of developing

countries.

Looking to 1999 and the work of the Commission on

Sustainable Development, we warmly welcome the election

of the Minister of Environment of New Zealand, The

Honourable Simon Upton, as Chairman of the CSD at its

seventh session and look forward to a successful year of

consultations under his leadership.

The agenda for the Commission?s seventh session is

full and an extremely important one: oceans, our heritage;

sustainable tourism, so important to our future; and patterns

of consumption and production, for we know all too well

the need to change if our children are to have adequate and

right choices for their own future. We hope that all States

will take full advantage of the continued constructive

dialogue that we have had in the past and which we expect

during the Commission?s seventh session and the

preparations for the review of the Barbados Programme

of Action. The special session next year will provide an

excellent opportunity to agree on the next steps to

implement the Programme of Action, and to explore in a

focused way the many difficulties which remain.

It is no accident that the first chapter of the

Barbados Programme of Action deals with climate change

and that it leads off with a clear statement that small

island developing States are particularly vulnerable to

climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise.

Indeed, the assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) is that small island States are the

least able to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

We remain at the front line of this issue, an issue

not of our making, and one that calls for urgent and

concerted international action. With the passing of each

season, small island States experience ever more serious

impacts, and practical steps must now be taken to assist

them, especially with the adaptation options that are

available. The impacts of climate change put at risk

habitats and fresh-water reserves, the very life force of

our islands and communities, and thus the need for

AOSIS to restate once again our profound concerns.

As the globe suffers what is on track to be the

hottest year in recorded history, it is essential that the

international community as a whole be formally and

unequivocally reminded that neither the efforts made thus

far in implementing the Framework

Convention on Climate Change nor the emissions

reduction targets, on average 5.2 per cent, adopted in

Kyoto last year, represent an adequate effort to stabilize

greenhouse gases concentrations in the atmosphere at safe

levels. We know from the IPCC reports that we need to

do much more, and to do it immediately, by cuts of

emissions of up to 60 per cent and more.

There is emerging scientific evidence, supported by

experience in almost every part of the world, that climate

change is indeed taking effect, with devastating impacts,

from the forest fires of South-East Asia to the extra

severe and unprecedented flooding in China and

Bangladesh, to the blistering heat of the American

summer. These events, backed by science, must continue

to drive the development of the Convention and the

Kyoto Protocol.

Developed country parties have an acknowledged

historical role and remain primarily responsible for the

8

accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and

they must be the first to accept the responsibility to redress

the situation. They possess the skills and the capacity

effectively to do so now.

It is not sufficient per se to point to the new

mechanisms created by the Kyoto Protocol, for there are

numerous uncertainties concerning the new mechanisms.

They are supplemental to domestic actions and they need

rules for governance and compliance. Nor is it sufficient to

say that developed country actions are conditional on

developing country commitments. In the judgement of the

AOSIS countries, such commitments must be allowed to

evolve over time and in line with a common but

differentiated principle, as well as the other fundamental

principles of the Convention.

There cannot be any doubt as to the major importance

of the first steps taken in Kyoto, and of the quantum

improvements brought about by the provisions of the

Protocol. Notwithstanding the uncertainties I have referred

to, we see a clear obligation on all parties to make every

genuine effort towards early entry into force of the Kyoto

Protocol and the implementation of its provisions. The size

and the urgency of the problem require this of us all. It is

the intent of the AOSIS countries to apply themselves in

every positive and constructive way to help clarify such

uncertainties. In this manner, we have submitted our

suggestions and proposals in respect of several agenda

items and in connection with the preparations for the fourth

conference of the parties in Buenos Aires.

We would need to acknowledge that the science on

climate change is imperfect and incomplete. But the fact

that we do not know everything is not a reason for ignoring

the evidence which does exist. In this connection, we are

concerned by the actions of certain industry interests which

seem yet again to be determined on undermining the

existing credible and universally acknowledged scientific

findings, findings of the IPCC and others on this matter,

and so to work in a negative way to influence public

opinion. Climate change is far too serious and too urgent a

concern for all humanity to be the subject of such

manipulation.

May I now turn briefly to address some additional

issues which are of particular importance to my country,

Samoa. First, we are deeply grateful to Mr. Kofi Annan, the

Secretary-General, for his leadership and for the reform

process he has initiated. Samoa fully supports the ongoing

efforts to strengthen and revitalize our Organization to

better position it for the challenges of the new era. We need

to say, though, that it does not accord with any real sense

of commitment to look to the Secretary-General for

performance, while denying him and the Organization the

means to do so. We, like so many other Governments,

must repeat the call for all arrears to be made good, and

for all contributions to be paid in full, on time and

without qualification.

We are especially concerned about the failure, thus

far, in reform measures for the Security Council and

measures to deal with its current composition.

Membership of the Council must be enlarged in both

categories to reflect the realities of the present time and

to enhance the Council?s effectiveness and legitimacy. We

think the situation of Japan and Germany deserves special

consideration.

We believe very deeply in the sustaining power of

international law in support of the Charter principles. The

United Nations has been a necessary and a cohesive force

in the elaboration of international law and rules for

international cooperation, which now regulate a

phenomenal range of human activity. An important and

often overlooked fact is the comparatively high rate of

State party adherence to international instruments and the

acceptance of a wide range of obligations, whether on the

environment, social development, non-proliferation of

nuclear weapons or in so many other areas. The latest

example would appear to be the Ottawa anti-personnel

mines Convention, an unprecedented global achievement,

which my own country has ratified, and which, by action

of the international community, is soon to come into

force. It is essential that all countries, large and small,

take part in the creation of these rules for international

conduct and behaviour. For small States, they constitute,

ultimately, the most effective measure of protection.

Samoa was able to play a role in the Rome

negotiations for the establishment of the International

Criminal Court, and is a signatory of its Statute. We

believe that the Court will contribute significantly to the

international legal order and security, for it offers, for the

first time, effective responses to serious crimes of

international concern: genocide, crimes against humanity,

war crimes and the crime of aggression. The challenge

now is to bring the Statute into force and to implement its

provisions. We all have a duty to see to this, at the

earliest moment. As the Secretary General has said, it is

an opportunity to take a monumental step in the name of

human rights and the rule of law. Let me note here our

welcome for the recent and very important findings and

decision of the International Tribunal for Rwanda in

9

respect of the offences of genocide and crimes against

humanity.

Our Pacific region is one of peace, and we treasure

our peace. But our security and environment have been put

under threat by explosions and the testing of far too many

nuclear weapons. We will continue with our quest for a

total ban through the development and the implementation

of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty, the second

oldest of the international regional arrangements, and we

call for the active participation and support of all nuclear-

weapon States for the Treaty and its protocols. In like

manner, we will give solid backing to all international

efforts towards the final elimination of these weapons, in

particular, the resolutions of this House on the landmark

Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice

concerning the obligation to pursue in good faith and to

bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear

disarmament in all its aspects.

Samoa condemns all testing of nuclear weapons, as we

did the underground testing in the South Asia region earlier

in the year. However, we have heard in this Hall

encouraging statements by India and Pakistan, and we join

others in urging that they commit to a lasting moratorium

by becoming parties to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-

Ban Treaty (CTBT) and that they adhere to the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Let me say also that we applaud Brazil?s accession to

the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

We welcome these positive developments most warmly.

The United Nations remains a significant part of the

modern development and progress of my country. It is with

complete faith that we renew our commitment to the

Charter. We do so as a small country and with abiding trust

in the principles of the Charter and the most supportive

concern for the welfare of the Organization.