Samoa, 1996

Samoa congratulates you most

warmly on your highly acclaimed election. It is a particular

pleasure for me to express to you our full confidence in and

support for your presidency. I want also to pay tribute to

His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal

for his outstanding service and leadership during the

historic fiftieth session of the Assembly.

Samoa welcomes the adoption by this Assembly of

the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT),

which I will sign on behalf of my Government later

today. We are signing the Treaty because it is what we

have all sought for so long. We applaud and thank

Australia for the initiative to bring the Treaty directly to

the General Assembly. For us in the Pacific, the CTBT

brings to an end a long and unsatisfactory situation. Too

many nuclear weapons, far too many, were tested in our

region, and we remain fearful of the consequences,

especially to our fragile environment and marine

resources. Like others, we acknowledge the shortcomings

of the CTBT and regret that it was not possible to reach

the required consensus in the Conference on

Disarmament. But that must not be allowed to stand in

the way of the work that remains to be done. The CTBT

is a mark of critical progress. We must all now employ

the most serious effort in moving the disarmament

process further, including bringing the CTBT into force.

Today the international community is united, perhaps

more so than at any other time, in recognizing the

complete elimination of all nuclear weapons as a

fundamental goal. Samoa is deeply committed to this

goal, and we will continue to work for its achievement

together with other members of the United Nations as

well as with members of civil society.

It is a matter of the greatest encouragement to my

Government to have the favourable opinion of the

International Court of Justice on the question of the

legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. We

welcome in particular the Court’s very timely reminder of

the obligation to pursue in good faith, and to bring to a

conclusion, negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament.

We accept entirely the important opinion of the Court that

nuclear disarmament, in all its aspects, must be under strict

and effective international control.

I should also acknowledge the signing earlier this year

by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and

France of the Protocols to the South Pacific Nuclear Free

Zone Treaty. The prompt ratification by France is

appreciated, and we look forward to full adherence by all

nuclear-weapon States. We believe that their full

participation will not only inspire confidence within our

region, but will also carry a message of hope for the rest of

the international community.

We place considerable faith in the importance of

nuclear-weapon-free zones and the vital role they play in

the disarmament process. During this session, along with

other delegations, Samoa will support efforts aimed at

developing links and enhancing cooperation among southern

hemisphere nuclear-weapon-free zones.

We are from a region which treasures peace and

security, and we seek for ourselves the highest measure of

peaceful coexistence with all countries. We therefore share

in full the anguish of our fellow humans in all countries

who are being denied the conditions to live and to develop

in peace and in fulfilment.

My Government welcomes the developments in Bosnia

and Herzegovina and the implementation of the Dayton

Agreement. Our hope is that the recent elections too will

serve to provide confidence and trust among all the parties.

We continue to pray for lasting peace in the Middle

East. We commend President Clinton for initiating the

recent Washington meetings, and we urge all sides, in the

renewed negotiations now taking place in the region, to

make every effort possible to restore stability and direction

to the peace process in the spirit of mutual respect.

We are also a country which cherishes the United

Nations Charter and the fundamental principles for which

our Organization stands. This is the basis for our support of

the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the People’s

Republic of China.

We have faith in the elaboration of rules to regulate

international behaviour and cooperation. Increasingly,

developments in the international system require both State

and citizen to submit to international scrutiny. One area

that calls for attention concerns serious humanitarian

offences and crimes of international concern, including

terrorism. Samoa fully supports the early establishment of

an international criminal court to deal with these crimes.

Reforms of the United Nations were given a great

deal of focus at the fiftieth session and much has already

been said during this general debate, and rightly so. At

almost every level, the Organization remains in need of

substantial change and improvement. My own country is

fully committed in its support for the ongoing efforts to

strengthen and revitalize our Organization to make it

more democratic, fair and representative. I must say,

however, that having only a small delegation to cope with

the multifaceted work being carried out in the five high-

level Working Groups, we feel both disadvantaged and,

at times, dispirited about the pace and often the direction

of the discussions.

The membership of the Security Council must be

enlarged to reflect the realities of the present time and to

enhance the Council’s effectiveness and legitimacy. There

is need to give particular consideration to the case of

Japan and Germany. My Government is also giving the

most serious thought to proposals, such as that of Italy,

that would ensure the proper and regular representation of

small States and their concerns in the work of the

Council. We think the discussions during this session

should try and focus on areas with regard to which there

is reasonable chance of progress and on which significant

consensus can be consolidated. We do not see the point

in endless open-ended discussions.

We share fully the concerns voiced about the very

serious and unsatisfactory financial situation of the United

Nations. The payment of assessed contributions is a freely

accepted responsibility and a solemn duty that all States

must discharge promptly and without condition. Samoa

willingly accepts this duty and will continue to meet its

own financial obligations. However, we must say again

that the current floor rate has rendered the present scale

of assessments inequitable for small and least developed

States like my own. A recent report of the Committee on

Contributions has given attention to this anomaly, and we

feel that timely action must be taken to work out a fairer

system of assessment based on capacity to pay in real

terms.

Next year, during your presidency, Sir, we shall

have to undertake the five-year review of Agenda 21. It

will be a first and timely opportunity for comprehensive

2

assessment and for giving momentum to sustainable

development. Given your prominence at the United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, we

shall have to look to you for an extra measure of leadership

to ensure solid results from the review and effective

performance from the institutions charged with

implementing Agenda 21.

Samoa, together with other small island States,

continues to emphasize the importance of the Programme

of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States. It is a realistic plan for our sustainable

economic development. While our endeavours to implement

the Programme of Action have been greatly assisted and

facilitated by United Nations organs, achievement is

ultimately a matter of national effort and perseverance.

With the crucial support of the international community, we

must continue to hold high the ethic of self-sufficiency.

The sea and its resources provide real prospects for

our development. The legal regimes that govern them and

their use are matters of vital importance to Samoa. They

will continue to receive our closest attention. We welcome

the election of members of the International Tribunal for

the Law of the Sea and the establishment of the

International Seabed Authority. We think it is appropriate

to grant United Nations observer status to the Authority and

we will support the efforts to strengthen the organization of

the Authority and to ensure its financial viability.

The preservation of our environment is a major

preoccupation for my country. We will continue to make

every effort to be engaged in international discussions and

to contribute to the development of international

environmental principles and modalities to ensure that our

concerns are adequately reflected. Recourse to international

law and to effective international mechanisms is the

ultimate protection and security for small States.

The global climate is changing, and the impact of this,

especially the rise in the sea level, pose the most serious

dangers for Samoa and for all small islands. As a member

of the Alliance of Small Island States, we have pressed and

will continue to press our concerns for immediate and

effective international action.

The second assessment report of the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change confirms what we have long

feared: human activity is warming and changing the climate

system. Ministers of the Environment who attended the

second Conference of the Parties in Geneva in July this

year endorsed the report as the most comprehensive and

authoritative assessment of climate science.

The Panel’s report underlines the real urgency of the

climate change negotiations mandated at Berlin last year.

Current commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

under the Convention will not be enough to arrest global

warming, and additional and effective commitments by

industrialized countries extending beyond the year 2000

must be established. In 1994, the Alliance of Small Island

States submitted possible solutions as set out in its draft

protocol. It remains the only complete proposal on the

table.

We now have barely a year before the need to

finalize negotiations of a protocol or another legal

instrument to strengthen the Convention on Climate

Change for adoption at the Conference of the Parties next

year in Kyoto, Japan. We call on all Convention parties

to move with all seriousness and urgency on the matter.

The General Assembly has a full and comprehensive

agenda before it. Under your leadership we have every

reason to look forward to firm and positive results.