Tuvalu, 2002

Proud as we are

that our small island nation of Tuvalu is a member of

this great family of nations, first we must give thanks

to God Almighty for his love and for allowing us all to

participate in this general debate. Let me also extend

my delegation's sincere appreciation to the

Government of our host country, the United States of

America, for its warm hospitality and support.

Tuvalu warmly congratulates you, Sir, on your

election to the high office and commends highly the

outgoing President for his leadership, especially during

a very challenging year for the Organization. Tuvalu

also wishes to reaffirm its strong confidence in the

Secretary-General. In addition, we warmly congratulate

Switzerland on its entry into the United Nations, and

we welcome membership of East Timor later on in this

session.

Tuvalu sincerely joins, both in spirit and hearts,

in the remembrance of the great loss, particularly of

innocent human lives, following the terrorist attacks on

American soil last year. We pray for the victims'

families and for full recovery in restoring their lives.

Within our own Organization, we are proud that of this

turmoil the United Nations has come out ever stronger

with the resolve to combat international terrorism.

In Tuvalu and many island countries in the

Pacific, we know our own unique vulnerability is also

fertile ground to forces of terror that threaten the

security and survival of the islands. It is in this regard

that Tuvalu is committed to the Pacific Islands Forum

Declarations on regional security, highlighted in the

Forum Communiqué, which is circulated as a United

Nations paper. In the same spirit, last year Tuvalu

pledged its commitment to the United Nations anti-

terrorism resolutions, and we still do. But we also need

both technical and financial assistance from the

international community to enable us to fulfil our

international obligations.

Joining and being part of the United Nations is

never easy, particularly for a small and poorly

resourced island country such as Tuvalu. Asserting our

place here competes with the many other priorities of

nation-building. However, our presence here is proof of

our belief all along since our independence that,

through the United Nations principle of equal

participation, our voice on our security and

development concerns will be advocated and better

heard.

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Although new, Tuvalu supports the reforms being

undertaken in the Organization to streamline and

ensure efficiency. In particular, it supports initiatives

that have been developed on reforms in the Security

Council and in the work of the Secretariat, and it is our

strong view that they warrant proper support. It is also

our view that equitable representation more reflective

of the diversity in the United Nations membership,

both in the staffing of United Nations Secretariat and in

its various working committees, needs to be properly

considered.

As a peace-loving nation, Tuvalu believes that the

paramount mission of the United Nations must remain

the maintenance of peace and security for all nations of

the world, as clearly articulated in the preamble to the

United Nations Charter. However, a long outstanding

issue that also warrants serious consideration is the

question of the Republic of China on Taiwan. This

country has a population of 23 million people, a well-

defined territory and an established democratic system

of Government, and is a responsible international actor

in world trade and relations. It is, therefore, our strong

opinion that the right to self-determination of the

people of the Republic of China and to join the United

Nations should be urgently addressed. The United

Nations cannot be said to be universal, nor can global

peace be assured, until the Republic of China issue is

properly resolved.

As we progress in the new century, however, we

are increasingly challenged by the many changes that

are taking place. Never before has the human race

faced such complex challenges. We are in a world

where the concept of globalization is in the media

every day. Yet while we share a world where trade,

communications and travel appear to have made us a

single global community, large parts of the world

continue to suffer from poverty, marginalization and

environmental decline. We are far from being a

cohesive global community. Unfortunately, Tuvalu and

many small island developing States are in a

particularly weak position to participate fully and take

advantage of the opportunities of globalization. There

is a genuine need for special assistance to enhance our

capacity in this regard.

On the issue of conflict prevention, Tuvalu, like

other vulnerable small island nations, is particularly

weary of conflicts and wars. It is our humble view that,

all too often, countries seem compelled to resort to

military and violent action in order to resolve conflicts

rather than seek to understand the root causes of these

conflicts. We strongly feel this approach needs careful

reconsideration. The build-up of arms and massive

expenditure on so-called defence completely

overshadow all efforts to resolve the underlying causes

of poverty, unrest and instability. For us to survive as

an international community we must reverse this trend.

We must also learn to listen to each other.

In this respect, Tuvalu firmly believes that we

must place greater faith in the United Nations as the

forum for meaningfully addressing poverty, conflicts

and instability and the effects of environmental

degradation. It is here, in the common house of the

human family, where countries should come, put down

their arms, listen to each other and resolve their

differences together. We believe that this is the only

way forward to ensuring long-lasting world peace,

security and sustainable development.

Tuvalu agrees with the importance of sustainable

development and subscribes to the goals espoused in

the Millennium Declaration, particularly those on

poverty eradication. It also welcomes the holding of

the United Nations international conferences,

including, those on the rights of the child, financing for

development and the review of the implementation of

Agenda 21 through the World Summit on Sustainable

Development. In addition, Tuvalu also appreciates

commitments made recently to replenish the Global

Environment Facility (GEF), so vitally important to

many countries, especially to Small Island Developing

States.

However, while Tuvalu appreciates the

considerations for small island developing States in the

various processes, we appeal for more concrete

recognition, particularly by the donor community, of

our special case so that we can cope with the

challenges that we face, particularly with regards to

capacity-building through quality education and health,

access to fresh water and affordable energy,

infrastructures and sanitation. Without additional and

adequate resources, partnership initiatives arising from

those processes will have no real meaning, especially

for those groups that are most in need, such as women,

children and people in rural and outer island areas.

It need not be repeated, but for Tuvalu,

development aid is indispensable to development. For

us, official development assistance (ODA) is the

development budget. The maintenance of vital services

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to our people through innovative partnerships, such as

the Tuvalu Trust Fund, for example, would not have

been possible without ODA. I would like at this

juncture to acknowledge with great sincerity Tuvalu's

appreciation of all its development partners,

particularly our traditional donors, old and new, such as

Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan,

the European Union and the Republic of China on

Taiwan.

For our part, having progressed as a sovereign

nation with relative peace and stability over the past

twenty-four years, Tuvalu is strongly committed to the

United Nations principle of good governance. The

recently elected Government of Tuvalu is fully

committed to the principles of good governance,

democracy and respect for the rule of law. It is also

committed to accountability and transparency, in

harmony with Christian values and traditional and

cultural norms. As in the past, we are also committed

to the prudent management of finances and to further

work on reforms to improve our systems.

Tuvalu is surrounded by the huge Pacific Ocean

and is well aware, both of its rights to its vast marine

resources and also of its responsibility to ensure the

proper and sustainable management of the potentials of

the ocean. We therefore fully associate ourselves with

the Pacific Islands Forum's Regional Ocean Policy

recently adopted by our leaders.

Finally, peace, security and long-term livelihood

for the world will have no meaning to us in Tuvalu in

the absence of serious actions to address the adverse

and devastating effects of global warming. At no more

than three meters above sea level, Tuvalu is

particularly exposed to those effects. Indeed our people

are already migrating to escape. We are already

suffering from the consequences of what world

authorities on climate change have consistently been

warning us. Only two weeks ago, a period when the

weather was normal and calm and the tide was low,

unusually big waves suddenly crashed ashore and

flooded most parts of the capital island.

In the event that the situation is not reversed,

where does the international community think the

Tuvalu people can hide from the onslaught of sea-level

rise? Taking us in as environmental refugees is not

what Tuvalu is after in the long run. We want the

islands of Tuvalu and our nation to remain permanently

and not to be submerged as a result of the greed and

uncontrolled consumption of industrialized countries.

We want our children to grow up the way we grew up

in our own islands and in our own culture.

We once again appeal to the industrialized

countries, particularly those who have not done so, to

urgently ratify and to fully implement the Kyoto

Protocol and to provide concrete support in all our

adaptation efforts to cope with the effects of climate

change and sea-level rise. Tuvalu, having little or

nothing to do with the causes, cannot be left on its own

to pay the price. We must all work together. May God

bless you all, and God bless the United Nations.