Marshall Islands, 2005

I wish to extend

warm greetings of iokwe from the people of the

Marshall Islands as we gather for the sixtieth session of

the Assembly. I am honoured to speak on behalf of

President Kessai H. Note, who had to leave New York

ahead of schedule due to an urgent matter at home.

Sixty years have passed since a visionary course

of action was charted recognizing that freedom, justice

and peace in the world are based on the inherent

dignity, equality and inalienable rights of all. The

world has felt the direct impact of the United Nations,

and we have good reason to be grateful. Critics

notwithstanding, our Organization has served the

global community and has touched every aspect of our

lives.

The Marshall Islands is grateful for the United

Nations, for without it, how could a small remote

island nation express its concerns, be heard, and be on

common ground with the rich and powerful?

Five years after we made a unanimous

commitment to peace, liberty and sustainable

development, we have gathered here again to take

concrete measures. We approved last Friday an

instrument that the Secretariat and the General

Assembly can build upon in streamlining the United

Nations and in meeting the many new challenges of the

twenty-first century.

All aspects of life in the Marshall Islands have

been profoundly affected by its extraordinary history,

which encompasses a Pacific war and the legacy of

nuclear testing. Its remoteness, size and vulnerability

continue to limit opportunities for the economic growth

of the Marshall Islands. In finding ways to work

together for the betterment of the population,

traditional leaders and representatives of our national

and local governments, non-governmental

organizations, and private and public sectors convened

last month in a special retreat - an opportunity for

everyone involved to build trust and to think and work

together in crafting a shared vision that can and will

ensure the prosperity of the people. We continue to

move beyond words to action.

We continue also to engage actively in regional

activities in the Pacific, including through our regional

organizations, such as the Pacific Islands Forum. A

great deal of work has been done in the development of

the Pacific Plan, a strategy for broader regional

cooperation based on the key goals of economic

growth, sustainable development, good governance and

security. The Plan will be presented to Forum leaders

when they meet next month. It will also be discussed at

our small island States meeting, which the Marshall

Islands chairs.

In the international arena, we continue to reaffirm

our solidarity with the Alliance of Small Island States.

We are grateful for the support of the General

Assembly in its endorsement of the Declaration and

Strategy for the Further Implementation of the

Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development

of Small Island Developing States, adopted at the

Mauritius International Meeting last January. The

Strategy requires quick and practical action to address

the unique challenges facing the sustainable

development of small island developing States.

The Marshall Islandsí small resource base,

limited market access, fragile environment,

vulnerability to climate change and variability, as well

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as the high costs of energy, along with issues related to

infrastructure, transportation and communications, are

among the many constraints we face within the existing

international economic environment. Our vulnerability

to environmental and economic events continues to

impede our opportunities for development.

Our development efforts will be in vain if the

results are reversed by continued degradation of the

environment and depletion of natural resources.

We are pleased that the Kyoto Protocol has now

entered into force. However, some major emitters

remain outside of it. A more inclusive international

framework needs to be developed for stabilizing

greenhouse-gas emissions beyond 2012, with broader

participation by all major emitters - developed and

developing countries.

Climate change is a serious and long-term

challenge that has the potential to affect every part of

the world. It is time to undertake concrete actions and

measures at all levels. In that context, we welcome the

progress made in terms of the establishment and

development of an all-hazard early warning system.

United Nations international efforts were very

swift and effective in the wake of the devastating

tsunami in the Indian Ocean and, more recently,

following Hurricane Katrina in the southern United

States. We hope that the international community will

not act so humanely only in the aftermath of natural

disasters but also in the context of the far less dramatic,

but no less crucial global actions needed to mitigate

climate change and arrest sea-level rise before it is too

late to act and the people of the Marshall Islands and

others become environmental refugees.

On health issues, the Marshall Islands continues

to face the challenges associated in dealing with major

diseases such as diabetes, influenza, bird flu, SARS

and the risk of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and other

sexually transmitted diseases. Despite the difficulties

we face in addressing these challenges, we are proud

of, and grateful for, the involvement of the traditional

leadership, which has contributed to the substantial

progress made at the local and national levels.

We are in the final stages of completing the

HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan. Our ambition to

carry out this task is strong, but we cannot do it alone.

The support of the international community is

extremely important to help build our capacity; to

strengthen our human resources; to help us implement

effective public education programmes that will

encourage behavioural change among the high-risk

groups in our population; and to provide technical

assistance to facilitate prompt access to the Global

Fund and other financial sources to combat HIV/AIDS,

tuberculosis, diabetes and malaria.

We have integrated family planning and maternal

and child health programmes into reproductive health

services, and we fully support the initiatives on

accessibility to reproductive health services under the

Millennium Development Goals.

On sustainable development, the Marshall Islands

has established a task force to ensure that the

Millennium Development Goals are fully integrated

into our national strategy. One challenge we continue

to face is the need for human and technical resources,

but, despite that and other challenges, we are

determined to work towards achieving the Goals.

During this, the first policy year of its first

implementation cycle, we recognize the important

precedent set by the thirteenth session of the

Commission on Sustainable Development as to how

future cycles could be conducted and what type of

outcomes could be expected. The Marshall Islands is

working hard to improve access to freshwater, develop

environmentally responsible waste management

systems and provide affordable and renewable energy

sources. Our programme would be impossible without

the continued support of the international community

and development partners, for which we are always

grateful.

One issue that continues to haunt the people of

the Marshall Islands is the effects of nuclear weapons

testing. When people in most parts of the world talk

about nuclear devastation, they tend to think of

Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, few are aware that

the Marshall Islands experienced the equivalent of 1.6

Hiroshima-sized bombs every day during the 12 years

that numerous nuclear weapons were detonated and

tested in our country. Interestingly, this took place

while the Marshall Islands was part of the United

Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

We would like to emphasize the need for full

resolution of this issue based on the changed

circumstances that have come to light and the new

information gathered from recent scientific and

medical studies on radiological safety, clean-up and the

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malignant effects of radiation on health. I call on the

international community to support the Marshall

Islands in this endeavour.

The Marshall Islands has experienced the far-

reaching and invasive effects of a nuclear testing

programme on the most intimate and personal levels:

from home islands no longer inhabitable to the illness

and death of many of our friends and families. We can

prepare our health system to deal with this burden, but

we can never remedy the human and emotional toll that

this has had and continues to have on us as individuals,

families, communities and as a nation.

Concerning disarmament and non-proliferation,

we believe that sustainable peace and development will

not be achieved without major steps towards

disarmament. Reiterating our firm commitment to the

Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

we look forward to strengthening its implementation,

including through future review conferences.

As a nation whose single most important

productive sector and key export are its fisheries, the

state of the worldís oceans and fish stocks and how

these vital resources are being exploited remain our

utmost concern. We recognize the importance of the

Convention on the Conservation and Management of

Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and

Central Pacific Ocean. We remain seriously concerned

about instances of illegal, unreported and unregulated

fishing within our exclusive economic zone. The

continued assistance of the international community is

needed in building capacity for monitoring and

surveillance in this regard.

The global threat the world faces today is a

challenge of a different nature from anything we have

had to deal with before. We recognize how poverty,

environmental degradation and the abuse of human

rights undermine human security. We welcome the

recent adoption of the International Convention for the

Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. We continue

to cooperate closely within the Pacific region to ensure

that effective regional action is taken to combat threats

to our peace and security. We have taken steps to

combat money-laundering and the financing of

terrorism and to implement the twelve core anti-

terrorism conventions and relevant Security Council

resolutions. In our global effort to counter terrorism,

agreeing on the definition of terrorism is one of the

many issues that requires serious consideration and

resolution.

Concerning the Middle East peace process, we

commend the determination and strong resolve of

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in his effort to

reinvigorate the Middle East peace process by fulfilling

Israelís pledge to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

Concerning the International Criminal Court, we

welcome its progress in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Uganda and Darfur situations. We are also

pleased with the entry into force of the agreement

between the International Criminal Court and the

United Nations. We continue to call on all States to

strengthen the rule of law around the world by ratifying

the Rome Statute governing that Court.

Bearing in mind the phrase "we the peoples" in

the Preamble to the Charter, Marshall Islands believes

that if the United Nations adheres to the principles of

universality and self-determination, it must not exclude

the 23 million people of the free, democratic and

independent nation of Taiwan. As a free and

prosperous country, Taiwan has much to contribute to

the peace and security of the Western Pacific, and we

reiterate our full support for the ongoing quest of the

people of Taiwan to be granted membership in this

family of nations. Denying membership to a free and

democratic nation and condoning the presence of

repressive States is a flagrant violation of basic

democratic principles.

In a world divided by chasms between the rich

and the poor, between the powerful and the powerless,

differences of interest are certain to shape all our

reform efforts and perpetuate a contradictory and

divided Organization. We share the aspirations of a

United Nations guided by the following values and

principles: belief in multilateral cooperation, the

imperative of prevention, respect for the rule of law

and human rights, solidarity with the poor and

suffering, concern for the rights of women and the

children of the world and their future, and for the

health of Planet Earth.

We reiterate our support for reform and expansion

of the Security Council, using a criteria-based

approach based on factors such as economic size,

population, commitment to democracy and human

rights, financial contribution to the United Nations,

contributions to peacekeeping and record on counter-

terrorism and non-proliferation.

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The Marshall Islands will continue to participate

in this sessionís important debates on how to reform

and strengthen the United Nations as an institution and

how to ensure that it effectively addresses the threats

and challenges of the twenty-first century. We assure

you of our full cooperation towards the goal of a

strong, effective and accountable Organization.