Marshall Islands, 2008

I am honoured and

privileged to be able to speak in this great Assembly on

behalf of the people of the Republic of the Marshall

Islands.

I sincerely congratulate Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann

on his election. We have every confidence in his

wisdom and able leadership to guide us through our

deliberations. I extend my sincere appreciation to the

Secretary-General for his leadership and commitment

to the work of the United Nations.

As this body enters its sixty-third year, I am

moved to express my profound appreciation to those

visionaries who foresaw the importance of the United

Nations and took it upon themselves to establish the

necessary structures for the governance of our

collective affairs. It is not that the creation of this body

has led to the cessation of war; it has not. Rather, it is

that we now have an international forum in which

nations can talk over and deliberate issues of mutual

concern. One could well imagine what the alternative

to talking might be in certain circumstances.

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Like its sister island States in the Pacific region,

the Marshall Islands is struggling with the

implementation of its Millennium Development Goals.

Our effort has been made difficult by unforeseen global

forces capable of draining every ounce of our

resources. The Marshall Islands is a small economy

and inter-island distances are vast, making

transportation excessively expensive. Formulating

development strategies that address the new conditions

has not been easy.

An excellent example in this case may be found

in the current energy crisis arising from the escalation

in the cost of fossil fuel. Its adverse impact has been

immediate and severe. The transportation of essential

goods and the movement of people to and from far-

flung islands have been sharply curtailed. The

distribution of essential services and food products has

been acutely impaired, crippling our ability to sustain

normal public services and posing a particular threat to

food security and medical services. The rising cost of

fossil fuels occurring in rapid succession has left the

Marshall Islands with no choice but to declare a state

of economic emergency.

I am sure, and the International Monetary Fund

has observed, that at the height of the crisis, when the

cost of a barrel of oil was over $140, numerous other

countries were also at the tipping point.

As a small island developing State and a member

of the Pacific Islands Forum, we are now exploring the

concept of bulk purchasing of petroleum, as endorsed

by Pacific Forum leaders in Niue last month. Given our

painful experience, we request that the international

community give special consideration to the creation of

a comprehensive financial facility that can help small

island States to cope in times of crisis. In addition,

such a facility should also help small island States

transition from fossil fuel-based energy to affordable

and renewable energy sources.

Our small island States in the Pacific region are

among the lowest greenhouse gas emitters in the world,

yet we bear the full brunt of climate change and its

frightful consequences. The Marshall Islands supports

international initiatives aimed at stemming the tide of

climate change. In that context, we endorse the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,

the European Union-Pacific declaration; Japan’s Cool

Earth 50 Programme — which provides funding for

adaptation and mitigation — and the Niue Declaration

on Climate Change.

In further pursuit of greater guarantees of our

territorial integrity, the Pacific island countries intend

to introduce at this sixty-third session of the General

Assembly a draft resolution calling for climate change

to be addressed by the Security Council as nothing less

than a security concern of the utmost serious nature.

The litmus test of the international community’s

commitment to those agreements should be reflected in

its ability to provide sustainable financing for

immediate and concrete adaptation programmes on the

ground in small island States. It is one thing to produce

agreements or resolutions; it is another to give them

real meaning in concrete terms. Our commitments must

show themselves in deeds, not in words alone.

On the scale that we have experienced over the

past few months, the effect of rising fuel costs could

bring everything to a standstill. Nevertheless, some

in-country adjustments could be made, however painful

and agonizing those might be. Insofar as climate

change is concerned, however, we have no option. We

can alter neither the size nor the height of our islands.

They are our natural givens and we are stuck with

them. Our own very survival is at stake. If sea levels

rise by two metres, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the

Marshall Islands will be completely submerged under

sea.

Thus, clearly the only alteration or adjustment

that is possible is in the mindset and the moral,

economic and political behaviour of the heaviest

emitters of greenhouse gas. In summary, nothing is

more glaring now than the fact that not only are those

issues interrelated, but that their cross-cutting global

character clearly demands an effective and immediate

global response.

If wars have been waged to protect the rights of

people to live in freedom and to safeguard their

security, why will they not be waged to protect our

right to survive the onslaught of climate change? Is the

former more morally imperative than the latter? I urge

the United Nations to elevate this threat — this

nightmare — as justification for total war against

climate change.

Recent positive developments, evidenced by the

easing of tension and the improvement of relations

between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan

13 08-51845

have begun a new era of good will and hope for

improved economic possibilities and political stability.

In the context of those emerging dynamics now

maturing between China and Taiwan, we see evidence

of a mutual desire for dialogue and engagement in a

process that can forge better relations and

understanding. It is a development worthy of our

respect, and it presents an excellent opportunity for the

international community to encourage and strengthen

that process.

In light of that, the Marshall Islands firmly

believes that the time is now ripe for the 23 million

people of Taiwan to be accorded full participation in

the specialized agencies of the United Nations. This is

a starting benchmark that is consistent with the

principle of true universality.

As we continue to build a United Nations that

better represents our global diversity, the Marshall

Islands believes that membership in the Security

Council should not be guarded as something that is

overly sacred and untouchable. To do so would be to

fail to keep in tandem with the principle of change.

Council membership should instead be enlarged to

reflect reality.

Japan’s fitting aspirations to seek a permanent

seat on the Security Council deserve favourable

consideration. Japan is a world economic and industrial

power, and its leadership and contribution to the

United Nations is admirable and self-evident. We are

confident that, as a permanent member of the Security

Council, Japan will bring much that is good to the

Council and to the United Nations as a whole.

Earlier this month, the United Sates marked the

seventh anniversary of the tragic loss of lives resulting

from barbaric acts carried out against the American

people on 11 September 2001. That event threatened

our collective security, prompting a response against

acts of terrorism.

It is a matter of personal gratification for me to

say that, over the past few decades, the special

relationship between the Marshalls and the United

States has continued to deepen with encouraging

outcomes. I am proud to say that, in Afghanistan and

Iraq, Marshallese young men and women have been

participating actively in coalition forces as part of the

United States armed services personnel, demonstrating

our commitment to shared democratic ideals.

I take this opportunity to express our deep

gratitude to the United States for its continuing

constructive role in our partnership under the Compact

of Free Association, as well as for its leadership in

advancing the cause of freedom around the world.

While the ideal of peace envisioned by the

framers of the Charter of the United Nations 63 years

ago is yet to be fully achieved, this should not be a

cause for despair. People of goodwill everywhere have

expressed their yearning for world peace. Today, we

see vast increases in movements and organizations

devoted to humanitarian work, empowerment of

women and mobilization of youth. We see young and

older nations engaged in matters of mutual concern.

The United Nations has demonstrated our collective

capacity for united action in a wide range of social and

economic initiatives. It has affirmed our collective will

to build a better future.

I believe the time has come for the United

Nations to convoke an international convention where

the fundamental principles and tenets of permanent

world peace can be deliberated. Such a bold step will

draw our attention more sharply to our true nature, to

existing constructive forces and to the need for

unifying social structures that can foster the

establishment of a truly new world order, a global

society animated by principles of social justice.

Today nothing is more urgent, more imperative

and more important for this great institution than the

establishment of a world peace that is permanent and

that rests firmly on the bedrock of justice. And as we

jointly undertake to gradually build that edifice of

lasting international peace, let us draw our strength and

take comfort in these words from the Gospel of

Matthew: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall

be called the children of God”.