Federated States of Micronesia, 2001

I would like to take this

opportunity to congratulate you, Sir, on your election.

My Government hails the selection of a leader with

such esteemed qualifications, and we are confident you

will lead the work of this body with the same high

competence and spirit as did your distinguished

predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri of Finland. We also

share the pride felt by every Member of this body in

the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the United

Nations Organization and to its highly admired

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan. We take great

satisfaction in his re-election to another term,

especially in this critical period.

Words cannot describe the horror of my people at

the tragic event which unfolded here in New York, in

Washington and other locations in September — and

the one yesterday. On behalf of my people, please

allow me to reiterate our deepest and most sincere

condolences to the Government of the United States

and to the victims and their families from all over the

world. Our resolve to combat international terrorism is

unwavering. My country will stand ready to assist in

any way it can in order to help bring those responsible

for these heinous acts to justice and to ease the

suffering of those affected by their actions.

The recently completed special debate on

terrorism by this body makes it clear that we are all

brothers in this fight, with a shared determination to do

what it takes to eradicate this blight on civilization.

But, despite the great sadness in all our hearts over the

recent and ongoing events, the regular work of this

body cannot be derailed. Part of winning this battle is

to demonstrate the commitment and capacity of this

body to carry on with the great work of the Charter and

on all sides.

Thus, in addition to other actions that are being

taken to confront the current crisis, I call upon all

Member States to ratify and bring into force as soon as

possible the International Convention for the

Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which was

adopted by a resolution of the General Assembly on 9

December 1999. I signed this important Convention

yesterday on behalf of the Federated States of

Micronesia, and I anticipate its prompt ratification by

our Congress.

2

I take pleasure in saying that this year marks the

tenth anniversary of the Federated States of

Micronesia’s membership in the United Nations. In

those 10 years, my nation and the world at large have

undergone unprecedented change. With the assistance

of the United Nations system, the Micronesian people

have worked tirelessly to forge our own identity at the

international level.

Fifteen years ago, we entered into a relationship

of Free Association with the United States of America.

It is a relationship largely unprecedented in

international relations. This arrangement was subject to

great scrutiny by the United Nations, which ultimately

approved the end of our status as a United Nations

Trust Territory. It is testimony to the efforts of this

body and the United Nations system that I stand before

you today as the representative of a nation — an equal

in the community of nations.

For hundreds of years, our culture was isolated

from the rest of the world. In the past 10 years, our

membership in the United Nations has opened up new

horizons, new partnerships and a new understanding of

peoples. We also note our appreciation for the special

knowledge we have gained through our interactions

with all of you here in this forum and elsewhere in the

United Nations system.

In the past 10 years, the world, like Micronesia

itself, has changed at a pace heretofore unknown.

Although we may celebrate some victories in conflict

prevention, clearly, other grave challenges remain, and

new threats to international peace and security have

emerged. We are encouraged at seeing the United

Nations assert its leadership in combating these

problems.

The past year has brought an ambitious slate of

new United Nations initiatives to enhance the well-

being of peoples throughout the world. There are far

more noteworthy new initiatives than I have time to

mention here. But please allow me to highlight a few of

them.

While the effects of some grave threats to the

Federated States of Micronesia will gradually manifest

themselves over the coming decades, my nation is

currently grappling with an ongoing and immediate

concern: poverty. I am not speaking of the poverty of

hunger and unchecked disease, but of the all-too-

common developing world condition that has resulted

from the persistent failure of all nations to achieve

equal and equitable sharing of the world’s bounties.

Unfortunately, we are not alone, but this provides little

solace. We applaud the United Nations as it continues

its heroic work to reduce poverty and to bring a better

standard of living to all peoples of the world. We will

continue to work with our colleagues within the Group

of 77 and China to further poverty reduction measures

and to improve the standard of living of all humankind.

The historic isolation of the Federated States of

Micronesia has sheltered us from the scourge of many

communicable diseases, such as AIDS. Our integration

with the world community has brought about change

here as well. In this past year my country experienced

its first domestic case of HIV infection. This is minor

in comparison to the experience of those countries that

have been devastated by the disease, but it is cause for

concern, nonetheless, in a country of little more than

100,000 people. We wholeheartedly support United

Nations initiatives in this regard, such as the recently

concluded General Assembly special session on

HIV/AIDS.

Traditional conflicts remain and, most troubling,

many old animosities have spilled over into open

hostilities. This serves to underscore the importance of

United Nations initiatives, such as this year’s World

Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,

Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which recently

concluded in Durban, South Africa.

After many years of overall peace and

tranquillity, our region of the Pacific islands has

recently seen a few long-standing conflicts erupt into

violence of disturbing proportions. We applaud the

efforts of the United Nations aimed at arriving at

peaceful settlements, and the Federated States of

Micronesia lends its full support to ongoing measures

designed to keep the peace.

In the Pacific, one of the most effective means to

that end has always been the Pacific Islands Forum. In

the 30 years of its existence, the Pacific Islands Forum

has played a pivotal role in maintaining the peace and

security of our region. It has also contributed to notable

progress on a broad slate of economic and social

issues. I was pleased to participate in the recent

meeting of the Forum and can express my country’s

full support for this year’s communiqué, which has

been issued as a document of this session of the

General Assembly.

3

As a nation with one of the youngest populations

in the world, the issues of children and youth are of

utmost concern to us. We therefore commend the

decision to hold the special session of the General

Assembly on children. We understand fully the need to

reschedule it and are gratified that the Assembly has

decided to hold this session next May in order to give

the issues of children and youth the prominence they

deserve. On a related note, I am pleased to report that

the Federated States of Micronesia has begun the

process of evaluation with a view to signing and

ratifying the two Optional Protocols to the Convention

on the Rights of the Child.

Given the monumental pace of change, it is not

surprising that in some respects the United Nations

itself has been unable to keep pace with developments.

We are appreciative of ongoing reform efforts, but we

would encourage redoubled efforts on remaining

matters that cry out for attention, such as the

reconstitution of the Security Council.

While my nation grapples with the entire

spectrum of transnational problems, such as drug

trafficking and other aspects of international criminal

activity, there is one threat that has our special

attention. I am speaking, of course, about the

accelerated rise in sea level caused by global climate

change. We now know that the production of

greenhouse gases by human activity plays a prominent

role. It is this global issue that threatens my country’s

future as no other.

The Federated States of Micronesia contributes

only in an infinitesimal way to the problem of human-

induced climate change; yet we are among the “front-

line” States that must deal with its impacts. We are

comprised of a geologically diverse range of islands,

from low-level coral atolls to mountainous volcanic

outcrops. All share one common denominator — since

the dawn of time, our people’s livelihood has been tied

to the sea. Even on our high islands, such as Pohnpei

and Kosrae, the vast majority of the population on all

islands lives in the coastal plain. On most islands, the

possibility of moving to higher ground does not exist.

The distinguished scientists of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

have confirmed that the climate is changing and that

human activities are playing a significant part in the

warming of our planet. Credible scientific evidence

suggests that the magnitude of the impact of that

warming may be greater than even the most extreme

estimates just 10 years ago. Indeed, it may already be

too late to save my country and many others like it

worldwide.

Already, our region has seen the beginnings of the

movement of its peoples as a result of the rise in sea

level caused by global warming. This year, Tuvalu, one

of our similarly situated neighbours in the region,

announced that it had begun examining relocation

options. Unfortunately, its initial results were not

encouraging, as there is no uniform willingness among

more fortunate countries to provide a haven for these

first “climate change refugees”. Undoubtedly, it will be

the outlying atolls of the Federated States of

Micronesia, home to about half of our population, that

are among the next to join the people of Tuvalu if

current trends continue.

These developments point with new urgency to

the need for constructive discussion of adaptation

strategies and funding for small island developing

States. We are encouraged by the new attention paid to

these issues at the recent conference in Bonn, and we

welcome the constructive outcomes of the conference

just completed in Marrakesh with regard to such

important issues as the enforcement of compliance.

We and all other parties to the Framework

Convention on Climate Change, signed nine years ago,

were motivated by the “precautionary principle”,

whereby the lack of airtight scientific certainty could

not be the basis for inaction. Today, virtually no

uncertainty remains as to the reality of the main

problem. Yet we are dismayed to see that in the media

and elsewhere a handful of “greenhouse gas sceptics”

are often still given a podium equal to that given to the

distinguished scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change.

In the past 10 years we have seen some progress

in the form of the Framework Convention and the

Kyoto Protocol, thanks to the tireless efforts of many

delegations and good will on the part of Governments.

However, a change in the position of several key

signatories to the Protocol, which are also among the

world’s largest generators of greenhouse gases,

undermines the success of the recent Bonn and

Marrakesh talks, and has created a great deal of

concern on the part of all low-lying island States. We

warmly applaud those countries that have stood by

their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

4

We call upon those that have not to find the political

will to take the actions that are, after all, in their own

long-term best interests.

I do not mean to ignore the initial economic

hardships these changes might entail; we understand

them all too well. In the last five years, the Federated

States of Micronesia has taken unprecedented measures

to reduce the size of its public sector, far and away the

largest employer in my country. These moves were

vastly unpopular politically. Still, they were necessary

and have put us on the right footing for a sustainable

economic future. Similarly, longer-term economic

benefits and competitive advantage can be gained by

those nations that adopt a progressive climate change

strategy.

We Micronesians are a proud people. Throughout

the centuries, we have endured seemingly

insurmountable difficulties. The threat from climate

change is only the latest of these. Like some others we

have faced, it is not of our own making, and it is not

something that we can overcome by ourselves. The

Kyoto Protocol, as it has been hammered out in

Marrakesh, provides a necessary mechanism with

which most nations can begin to attack global

warming. I congratulate the negotiators on their

significant, even historic, accomplishment. The

emission cuts agreed to, however, amount to only a

small first step.

In conclusion, I want to reiterate the sincere

condolences of the people of the Federated States of

Micronesia to those in all regions of the world who are

suffering today from violence, poverty, terrorism and

the violation of human rights. We pray for a peaceful

end to the current conflicts raging throughout many

regions.

We are reassured that the spirit and principles of

the United Nations will guide leaders as they strive to

prevent future outbreaks of violence while seeking to

relieve current suffering. My delegation is proud of its

contributions during our first 10 years of membership

and pledges to do its utmost to continue to advance the

goals of the United Nations for the betterment of all

people throughout the world.