Fiji, 2012

On behalf of the Prime

Minister and the people of Fiji, I congratulate the

President on his election and have full confidence in

his guidance of the sixty-seventh session of the General

Assembly. I wish also to pay tribute to the tireless efforts of his predecessor, Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser,

through what has been an eventful and turbulent year

for the global community of nations.

The world is facing many challenges that demand

our attention and collective action. As we all gathered

last June in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development, millions

of people were recovering from, or living through,

natural disasters. In Fiji, we experienced our worst

f looding on record during the months of January and

April. Beyond the human cost, the economic damage

to infrastructure, schools, businesses, agriculture and

tourism — a sector that generates 33 per cent of Fiji’s

gross domestic product — was immense, and we still

have not fully recovered. Our f loods were by no means

the world’s worst climatic disaster of the year; other

peoples suffered much worse. But as a people who live

on a group of small islands in the South Pacific, we feel

particularly vulnerable.

The ongoing failure of the international community

to seriously address climate change means that we will

all see more frequent and more intense weather events.

Those will erode our development gains and leave our

people feeling poorer and less secure, so it is clear that

it is indispensable to incorporate disaster risk reduction

into global and national development strategies.

The post-2015 development agenda is now under

discussion, and frameworks and modalities are being

developed. However, our job with the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) is not complete. As a

global community of nations that has committed to

those goals, we must give meaningful support to all

those States lagging in their progress. We must also

ensure that a post-2015 development agenda does not

simply delay the target date for the MDG indicators

and goals. The development community can do much

more, including meeting our agreed objectives for

development funding.

Fiji has embarked on a comprehensive reform

programme not only to promote development, but also

to improve the lives of our people. We have embraced

the Millennium Development Goals as they were

intended — to provide specific objective standards for

improving the lives of our people. We are the second

country in the world to introduce the pneumococcal

and rotavirus immunizations as standard, with a view

to minimizing child mortality. That represents progress

towards meeting MDGs 4 and 5.

But the reward is not in meeting the goals; the

reward is in children who are healthier, families that are

less burdened, and generations given a better chance to

become productive adults. We must never forget that

behind each of those Millennium Development Goals

are human beings — the citizens of our nations — who

look to us to provide opportunities for a fuller life. We

still have work to do particularly in meeting MDGs 1,

3 and 6, and we are working on those as best we can.

The particular case of small island developing States

in meeting those goals and their specific challenges

will be addressed by the third Global Conference on the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, to be held in the Pacific region in 2014. The

success of the Conference will be measured in actions,

not simply in more words. Substantive preparations

for the Conference must therefore be oriented towards

taking action and achieving specific goals.

In addition to support for regional development,

Fiji is also taking the lead in the region on broadband

connectivity. It is clear to us that broadband is

an essential technology for improving education,

medicine, agriculture and environmental services.

Broadband technology is especially important to us

because it will help unite a dispersed people and help

draw us closer to our island neighbours in the Pacific.

If we take care to make it accessible, affordable and

understandable, we will bring an entire universe of

wisdom and understanding to the smallest schools and

remotest villages. Information need no longer be the

property mostly of people who live in the cities or who

are attached to large institutions.

Like all islands nations, Fiji relies on the ocean and

its resources as our economic lifeblood and source of

sustainable development. While fish and other living

marine resources have been vital to Fiji’s economy

and livelihood, we believe that our efforts to explore

deep-sea mineral resources have greater potential,

provided that a precautionary approach with regard to

environmental sustainability is ensured.

The theme selected by the President for this

year’s general debate, “Bringing about adjustment or

settlement of international disputes or situations by

peaceful means”, is most relevant in these times of

turbulence across the world. The United Nations must

continue to be at the vanguard of international peace

and security. It must be able to respond to new types

of crises, always with an aim to stabilize the places it enters and leave behind not just a state of peace and

stability, but also an environment that fosters freedom

and opportunity for the people.

In that context, Fiji continues to play a role in

peacekeeping missions around the world that is far

beyond what is expected of a country of our size

and level of development. We contribute troops and

police personnel to operations in Iraq, Liberia, South

Sudan, Darfur and Timor-Leste. Fiji has responded to

exigent requests by the Department of Peacekeeping

Operations, above and beyond agreed contributions,

to ensure that peacekeeping operations in Iraq can

continue unhindered, despite the additional burden it

has placed on our troops operating far from home and

for longer than envisaged. We believe that all nations

must find ways to make the world safer, more humane

and more livable, and as a people we are proud that we

can make that contribution to global peace and security

and to the lives of citizens far away from us. That is

not just Government policy; it is a calling that is deeply

embraced by the Fijian people.

Recognizing the role that peacekeeping missions

with expanded mandates play in helping to build the

foundations of a sustainable future, Fiji has in the past

year also started to contribute in a small yet meaningful

way to the corrections and justice sector of peacekeeping

missions. Mentoring and strengthening corrections and

justice institutions is part of the process of allowing

post-conflict societies to take control of their own

destinies, and Fiji is pleased to be able to be a part of

those unfolding stories around the world.

Fiji has been honoured to be a part of that process

in our own region through our contributions in Timor-

Leste via the United Nations Integrated Mission in

Timor-Leste (UNMIT). Following the successful

elections in Timor-Leste early this year, UNMIT will be

in a position to wind down its operations later this year,

allowing the Timorese people to take full ownership

and control of their own destinies. Timor-Leste is now

an observer to the regional organization of which Fiji is

the current Chair, the Melanesian Spearhead Group, and

we trust that through that organization and the United

Nations we will have many years of collaboration ahead.

In the spirit of supporting self-determination,

Fiji continues to work through the Decolonization

Committee of the United Nations to ensure that New

Caledonia’s right to self-determination, as expressed in

the Noumea Accord, is implemented faithfully by all parties. Fiji works through the Melanesian Spearhead

Group in monitoring the progress of implementation

of the Noumea Accord. Additionally, at the Engaging

with the Pacific Meetings held in Fiji in 2011 and 2012,

Pacific island leaders committed to supporting the

inalienable right of the people of Ma’ohi Nui/French

Polynesia to self-determination. We look forward to

working through the United Nations processes and with

all relevant partners in order to have the question of

Ma’ohi Nui’s self-determination placed on the United

Nations agenda again.

Fiji is itself working through a period of reform and

transition. We are building a sustainable democracy

founded on the principle of “one person, one vote, one

value”. Elections will be held under a new constitution

and electoral system no later than September 2014.

Those elections will see the citizens of Fiji go to the

polls without regard to their race for the first time in

our nation’s history. Fiji’s new constitution will be

based on some unassailable democratic principles: a

secular State that recognizes our multi-faith society;

a common national identity in which all citizens, not

just indigenous people, will call themselves Fijians for

the first time; a war against corruption, which inhibits

the country’s development; an independent judiciary

to uphold the rights of every Fijian; social justice and

the elimination of all forms of discrimination, so that

every Fijian is treated equally; good and transparent

governance; and lowering the voting age to 18 to give

our young people a voice.

We set up an independent Constitutional

Commission in March to draft a new constitution

guided by those principles. It will be a constitution

of and for the people. Ordinary Fijians are seizing

the opportunity to put forward their views at public

hearings throughout the country and to voice the issues

that are most important to them. The Commission’s

recommendations will be reviewed by a Constituent

Assembly in early 2013. This body, made up of a broad

cross-section of Fijian society, will formulate the final

document through public discussion and debate. That

will set the scene for elections in 2014, for which

preparations have already begun. Through a process of

electronic registration carried out in July and August

of this year, almost half a million Fijians have so far

registered to vote.

Throughout this process, we have stayed true to

the principle that we in Fiji must determine our own

destiny, one that is inclusive and fair to all citizens. We are taking the time necessary to get it right. We

have endured criticism and a degree of isolation at the

hands of some of our traditional friends among the

world’s democracies. By now, those countries have

begun to recognize that we are serious about building a

sustainable democracy that is racially blind, that offers

equal opportunity, and that protects all citizens from

the tyranny of the majority. We need the support of the

world’s democracies, and we invite them to work with us

in our quest to establish the kind of democratic system

that they enjoy. After 40 years of strife and instability,

the work of true and sustainable democracy is just

beginning, and we ask the international community to

support us.

We have examined and redefined our world view

to help forge productive, friendly relationships with

all nations of goodwill. In 2011, Fiji opened three

new embassies in Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa.

We have expanded our diplomatic presence this year

by opening embassies in the Republic of Korea and

the United Arab Emirates. We want to learn more, to

exchange more, to develop more, to trade more, and

certainly to contribute more through active and robust

engagement with other nations.

In the United Nations, Fiji pledges to work in the

most constructive manner possible, and to respect the

ideals of the United Nations Charter. That includes the

International Labour Organization (ILO), with which

we are engaged at the present moment. The Fijian

Government’s commitment to a future of equality and

opportunity for all Fijians includes ensuring that the

rights of working people are protected and extended.

The Constitutional Commission has received

submissions from all sectors of Fijian society, including

trade unions and public employees. We expect the new

constitution to help us continue to build an environment

that promotes safe working conditions, protects

workers from arbitrary actions, and allows workers to

form unions. We seek to ensure that unions can take

collective action, as directed by their member workers,

and are subject only to restrictions that are generally

accepted as protecting the public good. We also seek to

protect the rights of those workers who choose not to

affiliate with unions.

The Fijian Government is committed to protecting

workers who are fortunate enough to have jobs and

to ensuring that all workers receive fair wages.

We are equally committed to creating employment opportunities for the young and less aff luent. As part

of Fiji’s progress in reform towards democracy, we

are reviewing our current labour laws to ensure their

compliance with the 34 ILO conventions that Fiji has

ratified. The tripartite Employment Relations Advisory

Board is a key participant in this process. This year

alone, Fiji has ratified or adopted eight ILO instruments,

as recommended by the tripartite Board, including the

2006 Maritime Labour Convention.

By empowering Fijians, the Government is

seeking to ensure that all citizens, regardless of ethnic

background, are on a level playing field and in possession

of the tools needed to compete with their peers in the

global community, improve their livelihoods and fulfil

their dreams. By modernizing Fiji, the Government is

seeking to make the country and its institutions and

legal system strong, independent and world-class.

Fiji may be a relatively small country, but it has

big aspirations. They include being a good global

citizen, a leader by example among island nations,

and an actively engaged member of the international

community. In the spirit of constructive contribution

to the global community and the United Nations, I

am pleased to say that at today’s ministerial meeting

of the Group of 77 and China, Fiji was endorsed as

the Chair of the Group for the year 2013. Fiji takes

on this responsibility with a deep sense of humility, a

willingness to work collaboratively with all States, and

a commitment to addressing the inequalities that exist

between developing and developed countries.

As we look forward to a productive sixty-seventh

session of the General Assembly, we reiterate our full

support for and cooperation with the President and all

Members, with a view to advancing the objectives of

this body and the aspirations of the global community.