Vanuatu, 1999

On behalf of the people and the

Government of the Republic of Vanuatu, I wish to join

previous speakers in congratulating you, Mr. President, on

your election to this high and important post. Your

unanimous election as President of the fifty-fourth session

of General Assembly shows the esteem in which the

international community holds both you, personally, and

your country, Namibia. The Republic of Vanuatu’s

delegation is confident that you will guide the session to a

successful conclusion.

May I take this opportunity, through you, to express

my delegation’s sincere appreciation on your predecessor,

His Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti of Uruguay, for his

outstanding stewardship in facilitating the work of the fifty-

third session.

I wish to commend our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, for his wise leadership and dedication to the reform

and restructuring of our Organization. Through you,

Mr. President, we would like to assure him of our support.

Four years ago, we gathered here to celebrate the

fiftieth anniversary of our Organization — in particular, to

renew our commitment to the fundamental principles which

created it in 1945.

We have also made strong a commitment to further

strengthen our collaborative and genuine efforts in ensuring

that this Organization continues to promote global peace,

justice, healthy environment, human rights, law and order,

and support the process of sustainable development of its

Member nations — in particular, the least developed

countries (LDCs) such as those in the Pacific region,

including the Republic of Vanuatu.

The current international political and economic

situation has grown ever more complex and demanding on

our very limited and scarce resources as well as on the

support available from our development partners.

We are deeply concerned by the continuing escalation

of international crimes of all sorts — drug trafficking,

money laundering, human rights violations, terrorism,

organized crime and other similar activities which have the

potential of placing the sovereignty and territorial

integrity of small island States at great risk. The

international community must be seen to genuinely

collaborate in combating these criminal phenomena if the

new philosophy of globalization is to positively progress

and if we are to advance into the new millennium with

fresh and renewed hope to build a better future for our

children.

We do not believe that the world is doing us justice

and the fundamental principles of peace and economic

prosperity as enshrined in the Charter if we do not

observe our joint call for disarmament of nuclear weapons

and other weapons of mass destruction. International

security cannot be guaranteed if we fail to accord priority

attention and resources to education, protection of the

environment and good Heath of humankind and its

survival into the next millennium.

As a small island developing State where the ocean

provides one of the most important parts of our food

chain, we would like to join others in voicing our main

concern regarding the management of our oceans and

seas. Our participation at the Second London Oceans

Workshop last December demonstrated this. We would

therefore join other nations in calling for a collective

affirmation by all respective Member States at this session

of the General Assembly for a resolution to establish a

consultative process to improve coordination and

management of programmes that are associated with the

protection of the oceans and the seas which are very dear

to our very survival. This year my Government acceded

to and ratified three International Maritime Organization

Conventions which again reflects our concern for the

protection of our oceans and seas.

The momentum of the fiftieth anniversary of our

Organization, and the lessons we have learned from past

mistakes and our renewed commitment must guide us in

our pursuit for a better world where, through this

Organization, a renewed sense of mutual trust and

genuine dialogue can he resurrected to ease the political

tensions and economic crisis in all the regions and

sub-regions of the planet.

For our part of the world, these new developments

constitute a real threat to the already vulnerable

environment of our small island economies and our

population. Confronted with these challenges, many

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countries in the Pacific Region, including Vanuatu, do not

have much choice at the end of the century but to embark

on difficult programmes of reform, both within their

respective Governments and societies.

Last year, The Honourable Donald Kalpokas Masike

Vanua, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, informed the Assembly

that Vanuatu had initiated a Comprehensive Reform

Programme with the support of both multilateral and

bilateral donor agencies and countries. As we are still in the

implementation stage of our reform, it is our genuine hope

that it will not only be beneficial to our people but also

responsive to their needs, in particular those of the 80 per

cent who live in the rural areas on subsistence farming.

Therefore Vanuatu would continue to need the special

support being accorded to it as a least developed country.

The role of Mr. Gurirab’s predecessor and of the

Secretary-General in subsequently facilitating a constructive

dialogue and comprehensive appreciation of the economic

hardships of Vanuatu must be commended, and it is our

hope that this will continue as we enter the new

millennium.

In this regard, the Government and the people of

Vanuatu warmly welcome the recent decision of the

Economic and Social Council, at its recent meeting in

Geneva this year, to defer consideration of Vanuatu’s

graduation from least developed country status, pending full

assessment of the usefulness of the vulnerability index and

ecological fragility as criteria for least developed country

designation.

In this connection, I am pleased to inform the

Assembly that with the assistance of the United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), my

Government will be carrying out a review of our situation

in Vanuatu which we hope will assist the Committee for

Development Planning in its endeavour to come up with

criteria that will hopefully be accepted and adopted to

determine the status of most least developed countries. We

would like to register our most sincere appreciation and

recognition to each and every country and group of

countries for their continuous support.

One of the commitments we all made during the

fiftieth anniversary celebrations in 1995 was that our

Organization ought to be reformed and restructured in a

manner that reflects reality and the problems we are

currently experiencing, so that it could be effective in

addressing the issues and needs of its Member States, both

individually and as a group. On this note, we want to

associate ourselves with earlier statements in reference to

reform and restructuring, in particular on the issue of

geographical location. Here we are referring specifically

to our close neighbours, Australia and New Zealand,

which are considered as part of the Asia-Pacific region.

From our perspective — shared, we have no doubt,

by others — the United Nations must include in its

reform agenda a full assessment and recognition of the

inherent particularities of small island States like the

Republic of Vanuatu and the impact of the international

economic crisis, in particular that of globalization, on

their economic performance and on the sustainability of

their political stability.

The pursuit and promotion of a free and responsible

press, the protection of individual rights and gender

equality, as noted in Mr. Gurirab’s opening remarks, are

matters which are receiving more attention under the

reform programme. These are real challenges to Vanuatu

today, but they are challenges which we are confident we

will successfully address over time, with the necessary

support of the international community.

The right of self-determination must also continue to

occupy our agenda. As the United Nations International

Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism ends next year,

it is my Government’s hope that all administering Powers

of the countries concerned will take appropriate steps, in

cooperation with the territories, to work out some time-

frame for those countries to exercise their inalienable

right self-determination, self-government or independence.

The United Nations, as mandated by its Charter, must be

seen to encourage and support dialogue at the appropriate

political levels in the regions and countries where human

suffering and social disorder continue as a direct result of

conflicts of opinion on the issue of self-determination.

In the Pacific region, while we warmly welcomed

the signing last year of the Nouméa Accord between the

French Government and the major political parties in New

Caledonia, we urge all parties concerned to uphold their

commitment in relation to the rights and wishes of the

indigenous population of New Caledonia. We welcome

the decision by the French Government to allow

representatives from the South Pacific Forum and

representatives of the United Nations Special Political and

Decolonization Committee to visit the Territory in August

of this year, as outlined in resolution 53/65. We believe

this new agreement and the latest developments will help

to foster a stronger sense of commitment in all parties to

work together to support an irreversible trend for the

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future political status of New Caledonia — that is, its

self-determination.

Still in our region, while the East Timorese people

have finally realized their right to self-determination, my

Government notes with grave concern the deteriorating

situation in East Timor following the results of the ballot at

the end of August in which many human rights violations

have been noted and many innocent people have lost their

lives. However, my Government is pleased to note the

initiatives taken by the Government of Indonesia to allow

the deployment of a Security Council peacekeeping force in

the troubled area and to assist in restoring normalcy and

allowing the democratic process to take its course.

As I said earlier on, the world and our Organization

will be going through very challenging times as we prepare

to turn the page of this century and start a new one. The

credibility of the United Nations in the next millennium

will be measured in terms of its effectiveness in responding

to the real situations prevailing in its Member States,

especially in small island States. The recent admission of

our Pacific Island neighbours, namely the Republic of

Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga,

to this body is a manifestation of this, and we hope that

their admission not only increases the membership of the

United Nations but also that they will bring with them new

ideas to contribute to this important Organization. As small

island States, we feel that our problems will be addressed

adequately and be heard in an international Organization

like the United Nations, and we join others in welcoming

them to our family of nations.

To conclude, let me say that it is therefore vital that

we all support and supplement the process of reform

spearheaded by our Secretary-General, which is aimed not

only at streamlining our Organization but also at

strengthening it. As we approach the dawn of the new

millennium, with its unforeseen challenges, cooperation will

no doubt be required between all Members in order that we

may discuss and debate our common issues in this very

venue.