Samoa, 2010

Our world continues

to change in profound ways. Technological advances

have accelerated globalization, bringing diverse

challenges and new agendas. The magnitude of today’s

threats requires holistic solutions with a multilateral

approach. No one country, however powerful, can meet

them on its own. Nations of the world need to work

together to forge a coordinated approach. It is a shared

responsibility, and the problems will be solved

successfully only through effective collaboration.

To meet the challenges, a vibrant institution that

is up to the task and responds to the imperatives of our

time is required. Sixty-five years ago, the world

created the United Nations as the legitimate authority

for our collective peace and security. International

cooperation and solidarity formed the bedrock of its

existence. To this day, the United Nations provides the

only viable framework and legitimate authority for

acting globally to address issues that transcend national

borders.

As a world institution, the United Nations needs

to pay attention to its ability to offer itself as a safe

place, not just for its traditional stakeholders — the

Member States — but also for international

organizations, the business community and civil

society. Partnerships with those sectors of society are

an important vehicle through which the United Nations

helps the development of individual countries, and they

allow our Organization to achieve, in large measure,

the key objectives of its mission.

Our Organization is not without shortcomings,

and that is why we must constantly redefine its role

and adapt it to respond to the needs of the world that it

exists to serve. That is why, with regard to Security

Council reform, Samoa has not wavered over the years

from its principled support for an expanded Council in

both the permanent and non-permanent memberships.

The economic and political liberalization has changed

the contemporary geopolitical realities and landscape,

and the therefore enlargement of the Security Council

in both categories is essential for true multilateralism

and for the Council’s integrity and credibility.

Equally vital is the ongoing reform to give

prominence to the General Assembly as the truly

deliberative and representative body in the global

decision-making process, giving voice and

representation to all Member States, irrespective of a

country’s wealth and might. That was the basis for

Samoa becoming a Member of this world body over

30 years ago.

The threat of climate change is grave, having dire

implications for global peace and security. It threatens

to intensify existing drivers of conflict in a way that

could roll back development across many countries.

The causes of climate change and those responsible for

them, the multifaceted threats it poses and the solutions

to mitigate and adapt against its negative impacts are

well documented and duly validated by science and

real life experiences.

A new climate change instrument is currently

under negotiation. Progress has been painfully slow,

which contradicts the gravity and urgency of the

problem. Sadly, vested national interests are taking

precedence over concern for a global and just solution.

Intransigent positions are being advanced to force

concessions and to frustrate progress. For a privileged

few, their fortunate geographies and resource

endowments may persuade them to feel that climate

change is not an urgent priority and that they can

afford to wait out the negotiation of a legally binding

climate change agreement for as long as it takes.

There is no such luxury for island nations, which

paradoxically are at the front line of the destructive

impacts of climate change but are least responsible for

its causes and often least able to respond and adapt.

Indeed, for some island nations, climate change

threatens their very existence and survival as sovereign

States.

With the stakes so high, climate change is

unquestionably an immediate and urgent priority for

the world. It would be a big mistake for any country to

think otherwise. Similarly, it would be unhelpful to

view climate change simply as an environmental issue.

Climate change is cross-cutting and endangers

economic and social development, with serious

implications for the peace and security of our

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communities, whether its impact is national or

transborder.

Any new climate change treaty, no matter how

ambitious, comprehensive and binding, will be

ineffectual without full membership and the

participation of all United Nations Member States,

especially those with the obligation to participate.

Inaction should not be blamed on the absence of

solutions to reverse the impacts of climate change but

rather on the unwillingness of some countries to be part

of a unified global solution.

The much publicized fast-track funding

announced in Copenhagen to meet the adaptation needs

of the most vulnerable countries has become a best-

kept secret. Information on how much of the pledges

have been honoured and disbursed, and to whom, has

been scarce. When available, the information is vague

and seems bereft of coordination. Yet the fast-track

resources were commitments made at the highest

political level, in recognition at Copenhagen of the

pressing need for an interim measure to help the most

vulnerable countries avert further harmful effects of

climate change, pending the conclusion of a negotiated

agreement.

The uncertainty as to the legal form, content and

completion date of a new treaty makes it a moral

imperative for the promised fast-track resources to be

made available without delay and with clear, simplified

guidelines to ensure that the intended recipients do

indeed secure assistance.

Between now and the conference in Cancún,

States parties should move beyond rhetoric and commit

to reaching an agreement, as a minimum, on those

building blocks of the Bali Action Plan where

negotiations have reached a level of maturity and

convergence on agreed compromises. We cannot

continue to defer making the hard decisions. We need

to reclaim the credibility of the process. Every day of

indecisiveness disproportionately increases the risks to

vulnerable countries that are experiencing more

frequent and severe climate change impacts.

We cannot afford to leave Cancún empty-handed.

Concrete results must be achieved, not only to give our

people confidence that there are substantive responses

to protect against climate change, but at the same time

to strengthen our belief that our United Nations can

deliver a legally binding agreement.

Our global security is at risk. Terrorism

transcends international borders in its attack on

universal values. Like other international threats,

terrorism is an area of mutual concern that demands a

collective response. Terrorist acts committed under

whatever pretext are deeply deplorable and should be

strongly condemned. Those who find self-glorification

in the atrocious crimes that they commit should not

expect any sympathy or be provided safe havens to

hide.

The non-proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction and the risk of their acquisition by

terrorists, criminals and others should continue to be a

top priority of the United Nations. Nuclear terrorism is

one of the most challenging threats to international

peace and security. A world without nuclear weapons is

a safer, more secure and prosperous place to live.

We have heard from this podium of the renewed

efforts of the major nuclear-weapons Powers to restart

the reduction of their nuclear arsenals. That is

encouraging, but we believe that the only absolute

guarantee against the use and threat of use of nuclear

weapons is through their total elimination. In that

connection, we are comforted by the announcement of

the United States Government earlier in the year that it

was moving towards ratification of the Pacific region’s

nuclear-free-zone treaty.

The peacekeeping work of the United Nations

contributes, in large measure, to the stability of

countries and regions where it has a presence. It is one

of the Organization’s growing and most visible

mandates and has the full support of my Government.

Samoa’s policewomen and policemen are serving side

by side with officers of other contributing countries in

peacekeeping missions in Timor-Leste, the Sudan and

Darfur. In our Pacific region, we continue to honour

our commitment to the Regional Assistance Mission to

Solomon Islands, under the aegis of the Pacific Islands

Forum, through our police contingents.

Samoa welcomes the recent initiative, brokered

by the United States, for direct negotiations between

the leaders of Israel and Palestine to advance the two-

State solution, with the nations of Israel and Palestine

living alongside each other in peace and security. We

remain hopeful that with the genuine support and

understanding of other leaders in the region, this will

not be another missed opportunity.

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This Wednesday marks the first anniversary of

the tsunami that devastated my country, resulting in a

heavy loss of life, injury and destruction of property.

Life will never be the same for the survivors and those

who lost loved ones. However, a sense of normalcy has

returned and stability has been re-established.

With the generous support of our development

partners, the reconstruction phase is progressing well

and the families and villages affected have been

resettled on higher ground inland, away from the coast.

The necessary infrastructure and utilities for the new

settlements are well on their way towards completion.

The progress achieved would not have been possible

without the kindness and understanding of Samoa’s

development partners and the international community.

Of significant importance to Samoa in its efforts

to reinvigorate the economy following the dual impacts

of the tsunami devastation and the financial crisis is the

recent Assembly resolution (resolution 64/295)

granting Samoa three more years, to 2014, to put in

place a transition strategy to guarantee the

sustainability of its economic performance after its

graduation from least developed country (LDC) status

in that year. Samoa’s post-tsunami experience and the

passage of the consensus LDC resolution are important

demonstrations of the close and warm relations that my

country enjoys with United Nations Members.

At the bilateral and personal level, my

Government has already acknowledged the timely and

tremendous support of all who contributed during the

emergency and in the recovery and rebuilding phases

in the aftermath of the tsunami. The United Nations

membership was similarly thanked when our LDC

resolution was adopted. Nevertheless, on behalf of the

people and Government of Samoa, I would like here in

the General Assembly to again convey our sincere

appreciation to all our development partners, including

Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the People’s Republic

of China, the European Union, the United States of

America, our Pacific neighbours, the United Nations

and its related and specialized agencies, and others too

many to mention for their generosity and kindness to

Samoa. We are very grateful.