Nauru, 2002

I bring warm greetings from

the people of Nauru, who join me in congratulating

you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the

fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly, and in

commending the outgoing President for his strong

leadership and guidance throughout the tumultuous

year gone by.

My delegation takes this opportunity to

congratulate Switzerland on becoming a full member

of the United Nations, making it the 190th Member

State in this brotherhood of nations.

Much of the work of the United Nations since the

last session of the General Assembly is reflective of the

state of the world. The events of 11 September 2001

and the ongoing conflicts around the world have

focused the work of this body on security issues, and

that is understandable. The Security Council's adoption

of its resolution 1373 (2001), obligating Member States

to implement anti-terrorism measures, has the full

support of the countries of the Pacific Island Forum, of

which we are a member.

At the international level, my Government is

pleased with the outcome of the first session of the

Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the

International Criminal Court, which concluded only a

few days ago.

We commend with admiration the United Nations

operation in East Timor for successfully nursing an

occupied territory and its people from despair to

nationhood, with the proclamation of an independent

Democratic Republic of East Timor on 20 May this

year.

The communiqué of the 33rd meeting of the

Pacific Islands Forum, held in Fiji last month, sets out

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wide-ranging concerns that impact the livelihood and

welfare of the peoples of the Pacific. First and foremost

among those concerns is the environment. The

continued degradation of the Earth's environment

cannot be ignored, in the light of the natural disasters

that are occurring in different parts of the world:

flooding, earthquakes and droughts, to name but a few.

There is enough scientific evidence to show that the

changes in the Earth's environment and climate are

human-induced. The World Summit on Sustainable

Development recently held in Johannesburg was an

earnest attempt by us to remedy the situation.

All of us in the Pacific region were disappointed

by the lack of meaningful targets in the Johannesburg

Plan of Implementation. However, we believe that the

commitments for significant new resources and

partnerships reached at the Summit will go a long way

in helping to accelerate implementation of sustainable

development.

Nauru is very pleased by the assured entry into

force of the Kyoto Protocol, thanks to the commitments

made by India, Canada, Russia and China to ratify that

instrument. But that is only the first step in what has to

be a universal campaign to address climate change. We

would therefore join the call for the United States and

Australia to see their way clear, in the not-too-distant

future, to ratifying the Protocol.

Another issue of special importance to Nauru is

the health of our ocean. We are the custodians of the

largest ocean, rich in natural marine resources and

minerals. The ocean also frames our cultures and is the

source of our future well-being. This is particularly

true in the case of Nauru, which has a land area of only

10 square miles and an ocean area of at least 120,000

square miles. We use the ocean to provide desalinated

water, and earn a substantial amount of our income

from fishing license fees. For the sake of our future,

the international users of our ocean space must work

with us to conserve the ocean's natural resources

against unsustainable use; protect its biodiversity from

pollution, including through the shipment of toxic

materials; and ensure that island countries benefit

equitably from the trade in the ocean's natural

resources, living or non-living.

Just as the economies and the environment of

Pacific Islanders are vulnerable to external forces, so is

the security of our peoples and Governments. Our

region, the world's very first nuclear-free zone, has a

long history of supporting disarmament and the non-

proliferation of nuclear weapons, born of the region's

harsh experience with nuclear testing by colonial

powers.

I joined other Pacific Leaders last month in

expressing concern on the trans-shipment of nuclear

waste through our waters. My delegation welcomes the

initiative by Mongolia to institutionalize its territory as

a nuclear weapon-free zone and will support United

Nations action towards the realization of this goal.

On the domestic front, the potential fallout on our

economy of the OECD initiative on harmful tax

competition is worrisome, to say the least. While my

Government reaffirms the sovereign right of nations to

establish domestic tax regimes of their own design and

choosing, we have expressed our strong commitment to

developing a cooperative framework within which

countries can work together to address transparency,

capacity building and information exchange in relation

to tax matters.

We remain of the view that the only place where

money-laundering can be controlled effectively is at

the source. While Nauru has done all it can to date to

ensure that its legal and administrative system is

sufficient to prevent such activities, we appear to

remain the subject of adverse criticism from the

Financial Action Task Force on Money-Laundering

(FATF). Nauru was disappointed not to have graduated

out of the special, non-cooperating countries list. We

will, nonetheless, continue to work on satisfying the

key players in FATF on this issue.

Two most pressing issues facing my Government

in a “post-phosphate” future are energy and the supply

of fresh water, as both have direct impacts on the

standard of living of the community. Nauru is

dependent on the import of fossil fuel for its entire

energy requirement, including for the desalination of

seawater to complement catchments of rainwater.

Before I conclude, Mr. President, I wish to

reiterate Nauru's support for the reform of the United

Nations Security Council, and to support calls for this

issue to continue to receive top priority. In terms of the

United Nations itself, the ongoing administrative and

budgetary reforms by the Secretary-General are

welcome, but much more certainly needs to be done.

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Nauru is disappointed to see that contributions to

the Global Health Fund are only trickling in, contrary

to our enthusiastic undertaking at the Special Session

last year. Consequently HIV/AIDS, malaria and

tuberculosis continue unabated in their destruction of

communities and continue to rob the manpower of

affected nations. Nauru pledged to contribute $1 per

head of its population to the Fund, and I am pleased to

announce that this pledge has been honoured. I again

call on all Member States, rich and poor, to contribute.

Finally, Mr. President, in the past two years the

Millennium Summit and the Monterrey and

Johannesburg Summits have illustrated the United

Nations' increasing role as a forum for building

consensus. Indeed, the last twelve months have been

trying times in our efforts to build consensus on

development and to maintain international peace and

security. The challenge facing us in this area is not so

much one of building consensus, because we all know

what needs to be done, but rather one of

implementation. Achieving our lofty goals requires

action and cooperation at all levels, from local to

global. Mr. President, we look to you for leadership in

this decisive period and offer our steadfast support.

Finally, 11 September 2001 seems to be a way of

life for some people. It is now etched into history and

what a pity. The perpetrators cannot be proud of what

happened, and we should not allow them or encourage

them to proceed on their merry way. We must pursue

the alternatives we have, as they can be a great legacy

for our children. We the small nations have faith in the

United Nations. We the small nations have hope in the

United Nations. Let us embrace love in its entirety, for

love is a beautiful way of living. Thank you. God bless

the United Nations.