Marshall Islands, 1996

I wish to take this

opportunity on behalf of His Excellency President Amata

Kabua and the Government and the people of the

Republic of the Marshall Islands to thank and to

acknowledge the leadership of the outgoing President,

Professor Diogo Freitas do Amaral, and also to

congratulate you, Ambassador Razali Ismail, on your

well-deserved election to the high office of the Presidency

of the General Assembly.

I am pleased to inform you, Sir, that at the recently

concluded South Pacific Forum meeting in the Republic

of the Marshall Islands, your country, Malaysia, was

invited to join the post-forum dialogue next year as a

partner, where we hope to further our cooperation.

In our capacity as Chairman of the South Pacific

Forum, I have the honour first to make some remarks of

a regional nature on behalf of the Forum members that

are also United Nations Members, followed by some

remarks of a more national perspective.

The South Pacific Forum held its twenty-seventh

meeting last month in Majuro, the capital of the Republic

of the Marshall Islands. The theme for this session,

“Pacific Solidarity for the Common Good”, highlights one

of the important building blocks of our regional

cooperation towards sustainable development. The Forum

leaders reviewed a broad range of measures in the area of

economic reform and development. These and other

important decisions of the South Pacific Forum leaders

are contained in the Forum communiqué, which has been

submitted to the Secretary-General and will be circulated

as an official United Nations document.

In his opening remarks to the Forum at Majuro, the

President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, His

Excellency Mr. Amata Kabua, emphasized the unity and

the harmony of the nations gathered at the meeting, which

traversed immense ocean barriers. The restraining pull of

national interests and cultural differences are all

harmonized — fine-tuned, so to speak — into a single sea

of unity. It is through this unity that seemingly

insurmountable obstacles or intractable problems can be

resolved. In deliberating on and reviewing their respective

performances together and charting the way towards a

prosperous and secure future for the region, the Forum

leaders gave deeper meaning to the theme of this year’s

session.

I wish to make some remarks about the outcome of

those discussions. Climate change is a global problem that

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requires a global solution. The Forum has again highlighted

its concern over climate change and called for urgent action

in view of the second assessment report of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which states

that the balance of scientific evidence suggests a discernible

human influence on the global climate. This report has

given us much to be concerned about, and the Forum

countries call on the international community to accelerate

negotiations at the next conference of the parties.

The international community needs to achieve

significant progress towards the goal of lowering

greenhouse gas emissions in the near future. The survival

of many small island developing States, as well as many

other developing States that are adversely affected in some

way by climate change depends upon our taking action. We

will all be adversely affected by climate change. For this

reason we reaffirm our full support for the alliance of small

island States protocol in the context of the discussions of

the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate, which calls for

stronger carbon dioxide reductions in a time-bound

framework.

During this session of the General Assembly we will

review progress on a number of related issues under the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,

including fisheries conservation and management and

efforts to reduce the incidence of illegal fishing practices.

We will also reiterate the importance that our region has

placed on the effectiveness of an international legal regime

for oceans and their resources, including, in our view,

providing adequate financial resources to the International

Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Forum leaders underscored the importance that

the Pacific fish stocks have for international trade and our

livelihood. We recognize that this important resource must

be managed sustainably to maximize its benefits to our

region. In this connection, the Forum leaders have

requested our regional experts to develop comprehensive

agreements for the sustainable management of the region’s

fisheries across the full geographical range of the stocks,

including the high seas, taking into account the Agreement

on straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks

opened for signature here in New York last year. The

Republic of the Marshall Islands has offered to host a

second High-level Multilateral Consultation on the

Conservation and Management of Fisheries Resources of

the Central Western Pacific next year to advance this

process. This ministerial meeting will discuss a number of

issues, including restocking, greater involvement of the

distant-water-fishing nations in conservation and

management, data gathering on the range of the stocks,

and transshipments.

The Forum leaders are also committed to the review

and appraisal of Agenda 21, which will take place at the

special session of the General Assembly next year.

Mechanisms have been established for regional dialogue,

partnership and participation in the development of

concrete proposals for action regarding the progress made

since the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development in 1992. The Forum has asked its Advisory

Committee to coordinate these tasks and make

preparations to submit reports to that special session. In

this respect I wish to call on our development partners to

support the efforts of the Forum countries and our

regional organizations, so that the special session will be

a thorough and comprehensive review. But in this regard,

we caution against a proliferation of organizations and

meetings when the concerted efforts of the international

community should be focused on practical measures,

which will improve on the efforts under way at the

regional level. It is problematic for our administrations,

with limited resources, to cover too many meetings

dealing with the same topics, and we fear that

unnecessary duplication may occur as a result.

We will report to that session on a number of

initiatives, following on from the report submitted to the

Commission on Sustainable Development in 1996 by the

South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme

(SPREP). In our region we recognize the importance of

the multiple role that forests have, and the need for a

comprehensive approach by the international community

to the sustainable management and conservation of all

types of forests. For our part in sustainable forests

management, the Forum endorsed a South Pacific Code

of Conduct for Logging of Indigenous Forests in selected

South Pacific Forum countries. Also, in the light of the

fact that 1997 will be the Year of the Coral Reef in the

Pacific, we hope to include progress reports on the

implementation of coastal-zone-management strategies.

The international community took steps at the

Barbados Conference to acknowledge the special situation

and interests of small island developing States. We stress

the need to give particular attention to the comprehensive

Programme of Action produced at that Conference, and to

have the special needs of small island developing States

adequately addressed in the United Nations development

efforts. In its review of Agenda 21 the special session

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should lay the grounds for further international cooperation,

national and regional initiative, and the mobilization of

resources for meeting the sustainable development needs of

small island developing States.

I wish to raise some of issues of political significance

for our region. The Forum commended progress by France

and parties in New Caledonia on the implementation of the

Matignon Agreements. It welcomed the recent reception

accorded to the Ministerial Mission from the Forum

countries by the French and New Caledonian authorities.

Forum countries encourage all parties to continue dialogue

in the search for a durable solution to the question of the

territory’s long-term future.

I wish to inform the General Assembly that the Forum

has reaffirmed its strong and unanimous support for

Australia’s candidature for the Security Council in this

year’s election. Furthermore, in recognition of the

importance of Japan as a constructive partner for the region,

the Forum also expressed strong and unanimous support for

the candidature of Japan at the same election.

The Forum expressed satisfaction at the permanent

cessation of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

This marked the end of all nuclear testing in a region that

had been subjected to both atmospheric and underground

testing for five decades. China’s recent announcement of a

moratorium on nuclear testing meant that all five nuclear-

weapon States were now observing testing moratoriums

long urged by the Forum. Earlier this month the General

Assembly took action to adopt and open for signature a

comprehensive test-ban Treaty (CTBT). This was an effort

fully supported by the Forum, and the resolution was

sponsored by all the United Nations members of the Forum.

We are pleased with the passage of resolution 50/78, and

urge all States to join with us in signing and ratifying the

CTBT as soon as possible, to facilitate the Treaty’s earliest

implementation.

We should recall the Advisory Opinion tendered by

the International Court of Justice on the legality of the

threat or use of nuclear weapons, which recognized that all

members of the international community have an obligation

to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion

negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its

aspects under strict and effective international control. The

Forum leaders urged all States concerned, particularly the

nuclear-weapon States, to continue meaningful negotiations

with a view to further significant reductions of nuclear

stockpiles in the near future as a step towards the ultimate

elimination of nuclear weapons.

They also warmly welcomed the signature and

ratification by Vanuatu of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free

Zone Treaty, the signature of Tonga, and the signing of

the protocols to the Treaty by France, the United

Kingdom and the United States of America. As a result

of these developments, all States within the Treaty area

have now given their support to the Treaty, and all five

nuclear-weapon States have undertaken to respect its

provisions. We welcome the ratification by France of the

protocols. The Forum also urged early ratification of the

protocols by the United Kingdom and the United States

of America.

The Forum leaders were encouraged by the

establishment since their last meeting of two nuclear-

weapon-free zones: in South-East Asia and Africa.

Leaders noted with satisfaction that these developments

represented progress with respect to the decisions

accompanying the indefinite extension in 1995 of the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In

this context, Forum leaders expressed support for an

appropriate resolution at this session of the United

Nations General Assembly whereby signatory States of

the southern hemisphere nuclear-weapon-free-zone treaties

and other members of the international community could

affirm their support for these zones and cooperate in the

furtherance of the goals of these zones and of nuclear

non-proliferation and disarmament.

The Forum again reaffirmed the existence of a

special responsibility towards those peoples of the former

United Nations Trust Territory administered by the United

States, the Marshall Islands, which was adversely affected

as a result of nuclear-weapon tests conducted during the

period of the trusteeship. This responsibility includes the

safe resettlement of displaced human populations and the

restoration to economic productivity of affected areas.

The Forum wishes again to raise concerns over

shipments of plutonium and radioactive wastes through

our region. These shipments must be carried out in

accordance with the strictest international safety and

security standards. All contingencies must be fully

addressed, and full consultation must be carried out with

the countries of the regions through which the shipments

will occur.

I now wish to make some comments on behalf of

my national delegation.

In regard to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty (CTBT), it is important that countries that were

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severely affected by nuclear testing play a role in the 51-

member Executive Council being envisaged within the

CTBT framework to oversee all aspects of the

implementation of the Treaty. I wish to reiterate that the

Republic of the Marshall Islands stands ready to present its

candidacy for that Council, once established.

We are grateful to President Clinton and his

Administration for their transparent policy of disclosing

previously classified information relating to the nuclear-

testing programme in the Marshall Islands. We also wish to

thank our friends and supporters in the United States

Congress for their assistance. We hope that our cooperation

continues to improve and that the process of disclosure is

accelerated. All the information pertaining to the nuclear-

testing programme should be provided to my Government,

in order that we may fully comprehend the implications for

our planning for the health and well-being of our citizens

and our environment.

The Government of the Republic of the Marshall

Islands has recently learned that the damage caused by

nuclear-weapon-test programmes during the trusteeship is

far greater and more horrible than originally disclosed. The

radiation released by all 67 nuclear-weapon tests is

currently known to affect more atolls and more groups of

people than previously disclosed, as reported by the White

House Advisory Committee on Human Radiation

Experiments. The health, environment, medical, social and

economic consequences resulting from the effects of the

radiation released remains a major concern for the

Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As a

result, at our current level of knowledge the costs related to

the effects of radiation make it very hard to properly treat

and care for the people who have, and continue to show,

radiation-related illnesses. This also applies to programmes

related to the rehabilitation of contaminated islands and the

safe resettlement of affected communities.

We cannot solve these problems on our own, and we

feel obliged to appeal to the international community. Our

concern continues to be that our situation has not been fully

addressed and rectified until now. We welcome the new

willingness of the United States authorities to constructively

work with the Republic of the Marshall Islands to address

the full range of outstanding nuclear issues, which have for

so long affected our relationship and the well-being of our

people. We acknowledge the assistance that has been

provided up to now, which includes efforts at clean-up and

resettlement. But much more needs to be done.

We reiterate the call that was made to the High-level

Open-ended Working Group of the General Assembly on

the Financial Situation of the United Nations to reduce

the so-called floor rate in the scale of assessments. This

is an issue of vital importance to all developing countries

with small economies, in particular a large number of

small island developing States and least developed

countries. The situation was firmly noted by the

Committee on Contributions in its last report:

“the current floor assessment rate of 0.01 per cent

resulted in a serious departure from the principle of

capacity to pay for a number of smaller Member

States.” (A/50/11/Add.2, para. 50)

We call on the Fifth Committee to take action on

this matter as soon as possible, and the time for this has

come at this session of the General Assembly. In our

view, this would have a beneficial effect for over 60

countries.

Another area of reform that is of great concern to us

is the expansion of the Security Council. The need for a

more democratic process and for allowing greater

participation in the work of the Council is something that

we all reaffirmed during the fiftieth-anniversary session.

However, we have to make more progress in

implementing our ideas in this regard.

This will be a very important year for the United

Nations in that we will take stock of many of our current

activities and lay the groundwork for many others. As

Chair of the South Pacific Forum, the Republic of the

Marshall Islands will spare no effort to ensure a

successful conclusion to this year’s agenda. The Republic

of the Marshall Islands has been an active participant in

this Assembly in the five years that we have been a

member. We have come a long way since the adoption of

our Constitution in 1979. We pledge our cooperation to

the President’s leadership and we look forward to

working closely with him and the members of the General

Assembly.