Samoa, 2004

Samoa warmly

congratulates you, Mr. President, on your election to

steer the course of the Organization’s work at this

critical time in its 59-year history. I know that you will

continue the good work of your predecessor in

highlighting the multidimensional nature of

international security and the need to reform the United

Nations so that our Organization responds more

effectively to the current and emerging challenges

facing our world.

Hardly a week goes by without an act of

terrorism somewhere in the world assailing our senses.

Such murderous acts, regardless of the cause or

grievance advanced by their perpetrators, are utterly

indefensible. Many innocent lives continue to be

wasted, with people killed or maimed and multitudes

displaced by heinous acts designed to undermine and

destabilize the collective efforts of the international

community to achieve peace and security for our

societies. Samoa condemns, in the strongest terms, all

acts of terrorism and will continue to take actions and

contribute our support to the campaign against it.

Besides terrorism, other scourges to world peace

and to the stability of our nations persist. The threat of

weapons of mass destruction, poverty and hunger,

environmental degradation, the trafficking and

smuggling of human beings, HIV/AIDS, malaria and

tuberculosis are becoming perennial major threats to

global security.

The campaign against terrorism can still be

successful, but not merely by force of arms. Preventing

safe havens for terrorists and closing off their sources

of financing are just as crucial. But no less important is

the necessity of addressing the root causes that feed

terrorism.

No sensible administration can fail to be moved

by the tragedy of Beslan and the humanitarian

catastrophe of Darfur. The imperatives for action by

the Organization and the international community to

address those events and their causes have been

eloquently articulated by leaders who have spoken

earlier from this rostrum. I wish only to recall and

emphasize that actions to arrive at solutions to those

events and others like them must be carried out in

accordance with the rule of law.

With regard to Iraq, Samoa deplores the daily

violence that has killed and maimed so many people

and the circumstances that have brought it about. We

fully support the re-establishment of Iraq’s sovereignty,

and we pray for the success of a credible election

process to create an Iraqi Government with a popular

mandate.

Likewise, we can only pray and hope that a

workable solution will be found soon for the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict, before many more lives are lost on

both sides.

Last month, Samoa hosted, in the capital, Apia,

the annual Pacific Islands Forum Summit of leaders.

As the representative holding the current chairmanship

of that group, I wish to inform the Assembly that the

Pacific leaders again noted the dangers to the world of

terrorism, and — to the Pacific region, in particular —

of transnational crime, illicit drugs and the spread of

small arms assault weapons. Consequently, the Pacific

Islands Forum countries have strengthened their

cooperation in counter-terrorism measures, as well as

emphasized national efforts and regional cooperation in

combating transnational organized crime and in

building border-control capacities.

The Pacific Islands Forum is also committed to

collective arrangements and mechanisms to assist

regional Governments to recover from national

conflicts and crises. The success of these arrangements,

undertaken with the support of the United Nations, is

already evident in the positive results of the Regional

Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands. While much

more remains to be done, Solomon Islands is making

good and steady progress, and the Forum will remain

engaged in sustaining the mission.

Similarly, peace has been achieved in

Bougainville, with elections for an autonomous

Bougainville Government to be held by the end of the

year. The roles of the Governments of Papua New

Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, with the support

of the Pacific Islands Forum, working together with the

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United Nations Observer Mission, is critical in guiding

Bougainville during this important period.

An important feature of the response mechanism

put in place by the Pacific Islands Forum to assist

regional Governments is its flexibility. The Pacific

Islands Forum is now in the process of responding to a

crisis in one of our member countries resulting from

causes quite different from those in Solomon Islands

and Bougainville.

In recognition of the importance of good

governance for economic growth and sustainable

development, the Pacific Islands Forum has invited its

members to become parties to the United Nations

Convention against Corruption. In strengthening

further the institutions of good governance in Pacific

nations, the important role of non-State actors and civil

society was highlighted by the Pacific leaders.

One issue that the Pacific islands have brought to

the attention of the United Nations over the years that

remains relevant — not only for the Pacific — and

that, very importantly, is advancing the cause of

nuclear non-proliferation, is that of the South Pacific

Nuclear-Free-Zone Treaty. The Pacific Forum has

again called on the United States to ratify the Protocols

to the Treaty.

Although the Pacific Islands Forum has been

heavily engaged in overcoming crises with which some

of the regional Governments are grappling, several

Pacific island nations, in addition to Australia and New

Zealand, have nevertheless been contributing in ways

we can to the United Nations peacekeeping efforts. As

for my own country, we provide police to the United

Nations peacekeeping missions in Timor-Leste and

Liberia, in addition to those we have committed to

Solomon Islands.

Clearly, our small nations are trying hard to

contribute to the security and peace initiatives of the

United Nations. However, national obligations —

including reporting obligations for the various

conventions and United Nations resolutions on security

and terrorism — place an onerous burden on the

infrastructure and administrative capacity of small

States. We therefore seek the understanding of the

Organization and encourage the appropriate United

Nations bodies to explore innovative ways to help

small States meet their commitments.

Mr. Spencer (Antigua and Barbuda), Vice-

President, took the Chair.

The challenges to and special needs of small

island developing States are well known, and are

reflected in the Barbados Programme of Action for the

Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States, which has been in place for the past 10 years.

Sadly, despite the commitments made 10 years ago at

Barbados and during the 1999 mid-term review in this

Hall, the achievement of those goals continues to elude

us.

It is our fervent hope, however, that the

International Meeting due to take place in Mauritius

next January to comprehensively review the Barbados

Programme of Action will provide an opportunity for

the international community to demonstrate the

political will and commit sufficient resources to allow

our small island developing nations to overcome the

unique challenges we face.

The series of hurricanes that wrought massive

devastation in some island nations of the Caribbean

and in the United States is a stark reminder of the

extreme challenges faced by small island developing

States and of their vulnerability to disasters. Our

Pacific island nations, including my own country,

know from our bitter experience of cyclones that

regularly batter our region about the disheartening

effect of such disasters in setting back, in a matter of

hours, the hard-earned development achievements of

many years.

The concerns and the vulnerability of our nations

are therefore quite real. While we accept the primary

responsibility for achieving the goals of the

Programme of Action, the reality is that the support of

the international community is indispensable to its

success. We therefore call on the United Nations

system and the international community to provide the

necessary support to complement ongoing and future

programmes, as well as for the implementation and

monitoring of the Mauritius outcomes for the

sustainable development of small island developing

States.

Likewise, the importance of multilateral

institutions such as the Global Environment Facility

(GEF) in this process cannot be overemphasized. We

therefore urge GEF to apply its rules of access and to

simplify its disbursement procedures in order to take

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into account the special circumstances of small island

developing States.

Trade is a vital component of sustainable

development, especially for small island developing

States. We therefore continue to urge that the

vulnerabilities of small States be taken fully into

account in the World Trade Organization negotiations,

particularly with regard to special and differential

treatment for small economies.

The review of the Millennium Development

Goals next year will provide an opportunity for the

international community to take stock of progress and

to identify remedial strategies and commitments for the

further realization of those Goals. Samoa remains

committed to the achievement of the Millennium

Development Goals.

The election of the second Deputy Prosecutor of

the International Criminal Court just two weeks ago

completes the process of the full institutionalization of

the Court. Samoa warmly welcomes the broad

complement of judges and officers of the Court and

adds its voice in urging other United Nations Members

to accede to the Rome Statute for the establishment of

the Court. Given its role in upholding international

humanitarian standards and in protecting human rights,

the Court deserves the support of the international

community to give it the full universality it requires.

We thank the Secretary-General and the previous

President of the Assembly for their very commendable

work in advancing the revitalization and reform of the

Organization.

To this end, Samoa fully supports the work of the

High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change,

and looks forward to its report at the end of the year.

We believe that the outcome of United Nations

reform should include the restoration of the primacy of

the role of the General Assembly and the attainment of

a more effective and efficient Secretariat.

In particular, we support the enlargement of the

Security Council and strongly recommend the

inclusion of Japan and Germany as permanent

members.

Finally, I offer Mr. Ping my delegation’s full

support in the discharge of his numerous

responsibilities, and I wish him well in his presidency.