Nauru, 2010

I would like to offer my

heartfelt congratulations to the President of the

Assembly on his assumption of the presidency of this

body at its sixty-fifth session. Also, allow me to

commend his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali

Abdussalam Treki, for his capable leadership during

the sixty-fourth session.

This week is vitally important for my island

nation of Nauru and for small island developing States

generally. This week we will complete the high-level

reviews of the Millennium Development Goals and the

Mauritius Strategy, two programmes that are central to

the sustainable development prospects of my country.

We gather here on this occasion to reaffirm the

central role of the United Nations in global

governance. However, the centrality of the United

Nations system must derive from its ability to help

bring about positive outcomes for all of its

membership. In that regard, the United Nations report

card is mixed.

While this body and others have brought attention

to the unique and particular vulnerabilities of small

island developing States, they have not always

succeeded in delivering concrete benefits. There is a

proliferation of global action plans but a paucity of

action. For this reason, Nauru has relied more on its

domestic institutions and bilateral partners than on

multilateral governance solutions.

Nauru turned a corner in 2005 when it adopted its

National Sustainable Development Strategy, commonly

known to us as our NSDS. Under that plan we have

made significant progress across most sectors. Our

financial system is now more transparent and

Government more accountable. Most importantly, we

have restored some measures of security for our

citizens: expanded public health programmes, new and

refurbished schools, updated curriculum and more

teachers. Power is more reliable and its usage more

efficient. Regular air and maritime travel has been

restored, and we have seen major improvements in our

communications system.

Most of the gains in the past five years have been

the result of our own efforts, largely supported by

bilateral development partners targeting our national

plans. However, our journey is far from over. Our

NSDS lays out a clear path forward to aid

independence based on our national circumstances and

capacity. Its medium- and long-term milestones are

fully consistent with, and complementary to, the

Millennium Development Goals and Mauritius Strategy

programmes. It is my hope that the United Nations can

play a more significant role in this next phase of our

development.

Five years after our initial request, I am pleased

that the United Nations has opened its joint presence

office in Nauru. It is my hope that that will enable

United Nations agencies to be more familiar with, and

responsive to, our unique development challenges.

The future of all my people depends on an

effective United Nations system, but none more so than

the future of our youth. Not long ago, my country

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suffered a devastating economic crisis. It was followed

by the explosion in global fuel and food prices and

then by the global economic downturn, which many of

us are still grappling with today. Those crises were

exacerbated by virtue of Nauru being a small and

isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. As a

country, we will overcome. However, some impacts

will be felt longer than others.

Perhaps the cruellest legacy of our economic

crisis is the impact it had on the youth who grew up

during that trying time. Advantages that my generation

took for granted — a good education, basic health care

and abundant job opportunities — were simply not

available for many of our youth during a critical period

in their lives. In the absence of such advantages,

substance abuse, illiteracy, delinquency and lifestyle-

related illnesses became commonplace. As we progress

as a nation, we must ensure that we do not leave one

segment of our community behind. Our collective

future will not be secure unless we invest in the

community and business leaders of tomorrow.

It is for this reason that Nauru appreciates the

importance of the International Year of Youth, which

commenced in August 2010. This United Nations

tradition began 25 years ago when this body

recognized the profoundly important role that youth

should have in shaping a new international economic

order based on equity and justice.

My Government has made investing in our youth

a top priority. Nauru is on track to reach our

Millennium Development Goal of universal primary

education by 2015. We have been successful despite

the significant shortage of quality Nauruan teachers.

Of equal importance to the development of our

primary and secondary education systems is the need to

develop technical and vocational training, recognizing

and certifying skills and job-oriented training. Only by

continued investment in human resource development

will the next generation of Nauruans be prepared for

the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Our health sector, too, has made gains in curative

services and preventative health programmes.

However, around 75 per cent of people in the Pacific

suffer from non-communicable diseases. That is not

sustainable. Investments in public health must be

accompanied by investments in improving food

security. It will be difficult to change that alarming

statistic for the better unless my people have a reliable

supply of affordable and nutritious food. Health

education must also receive more emphasis in our

educational programmes.

Education and public health are obviously two

areas that are fundamental for the well-being of our

youth, but alone they are not enough. Our youth must

also be given the opportunity to use their skills in

productive ways, lest those skills wither on the vine.

For that we need a growing economy, and for a

growing economy we must look to our development

partners and multilateral institutions for assistance.

Aid should be deployed so as to build a

foundation for sustainable development in all economic

sectors, including basic infrastructure, in which to date

there has been less progress than in health and

education. The re-establishment of banking and

financial services continues to elude us despite all our

urgent efforts to obtain assistance. Nation-building and

youth development must run parallel to each other if

either is to succeed. Investments in basic infrastructure

will enable us to expand our economic base, increase

exports and also reduce the costs of imports.

The United Nations system must also be

enhanced in order to avoid the mistakes of the past.

That is why we are joining others in calling for the

creation of a formal small island developing States

(SIDS) category within the United Nations system.

The international community has consistently

recognized the unique vulnerabilities of the small

island developing States, yet that recognition has not

been translated into effective action. The preparatory

work for the five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy

for the Further Implementation of the Programme of

Action for the Sustainable Development of Small

Island Developing States found that the vulnerabilities

of SIDS remain and that progress towards sustainable

development is far below expectations. It is clear that

business as usual is not working and that a new

approach is long overdue.

The creation of a new SIDS category would make

the United Nations more responsive to the particular

needs of small islands. This new category should be

accompanied by structural support mechanisms in the

areas of development assistance, financial support and

trade. Only by dealing with the vulnerabilities of SIDS

can there be any realistic prospect of SIDS attaining

sustainable economic growth.

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The most important test of our commitment to

our youth is the state of the world that we leave to

them. We have long been aware of the environmental

crises currently facing our oceans and our climate, but

we have done precious little to address them. Without

immediate and aggressive international action on both

fronts, we will bequeath to our children a world that is

far poorer than the one we ourselves inhabited.

Nauru takes these threats very seriously, which is

why my country, along with other island countries in

the Pacific, recently strengthened the Nauru

Agreement. That multilateral agreement on oceans

governance is a major step in strengthening an

effective regime for managing and protecting regional

tuna stocks. The preservation of that resource is

essential to our region’s food security and to our

economic development. Regrettably, the sustainability

of the tuna stocks and other marine resources that we

rely on is threatened by actions beyond our control.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and

overfishing by large fishing nations is rife in the

Pacific, and we lack sufficient resources to respond to

that criminal activity. One of the pillars of our

economic future is literally being stolen from our

children.

With regard to climate change, my island and

many others like it face an existential threat far beyond

our capacity to adapt. Rising sea levels and extreme

weather may one day render my home uninhabitable.

But an island can die long before it has disappeared

beneath the sea. All that is required is to deprive its

youth of hope. What incentive will they have to invest

in their home if it will not be there for when they are

older? We have an opportunity to change course later

this year at the United Nations Climate Change

Conference to be held in Cancún. We must act as if our

children’s future depended on the decisions we make.

Climate change is a global issue and demands the

full participation of all. We therefore call on the

immediate inclusion of Taiwan in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

process. We must also recognize that climate change

poses many threats — security threats — that are not

addressed under the UNFCCC process. That is why the

Pacific small island developing States introduced in the

General Assembly a resolution on climate change and

its possible security implications (resolution 63/281).

The Security Council, as the primary body of the

United Nations entrusted with preserving international

peace and security, must also play its role.

Lastly, we must ensure that the views and

perspectives of all nations and peoples are incorporated

into the decision-making of the United Nations system

and its specialized agencies. In that context, Nauru

strongly supports Taiwan’s campaign for meaningful

participation in the International Civil Aviation

Organization.

I would like to conclude by thanking our

development partners for their long-standing

commitment to Nauru, particularly our major

partners — Australia, Taiwan, the Russia Federation,

New Zealand, the European Union and Japan — as

well as our many other active partners, including Cuba,

Italy, India, the Republic of Korea and Israel. We

further recognize the international and regional

organizations that have continued to stand by our side

during a difficult period in our history, and I look

forward to our continuing cooperation.

I would also like to commend the United Nations

for beginning a difficult process of reflection and

reform so as to be able to more effectively respond to

the global challenges we all face. Nauru looks forward

to participating in this important discussion so that the

United Nations can continue to play a central role in

global governance.

May God bless the Republic of Nauru and may

God bless the United Nations.