STATEMENT BY
H. E. MR. RESIO S. MOSES
SECRETARY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
IN THE GENERAL DEBATE
OF
THE FORTY-NINTH SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
New York, 29 September 1994
Check Against Delivery
Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates:
I am honored to address member states once again at the Forty-Ninth
Session of the United Nations General Assembly. First, I would
like to congratulate you Mr. President on your election to the
Presidency of this world body. Your experience makes you an excellent
choice to provide the leadership that will enable this body to
meet the serious challenges that we face. I take this opportunity
on behalf of my Government to thank the outgoing President of
the 48th Session of the General Assembly His Excellency Mr. Samuel
Insanally for the tremendous contribution he has made over the
course of a productive and historic year. wish also to thank
the distinguished Secretary-General, H.E. Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
for his strong and effective work, which has been so instrumental
in the success of this organization.
Mr. President, we note with great sympathy the terrible volcanic
eruption that recently occurred in Papua New Guinea. We express
the hope that this organization and its members will take all
possible measures to help alleviate the suffering and destruction
caused by this disaster.
Mr. President, we join the other members of this Assembly
in warmly welcoming the new South Africa to this Assembly. The
struggle to eliminate apartheid was long, arduous, and painful.
The people and government of the Federated States of Micronesia
share the joy of the government and people of South Africa in
having achieved this noble objective.
My government welcomes the historic steps toward peace in
the Middle East and expresses its support for the ongoing bilateral
negotiations between the parties in the region. In light of these
positive developments in the peace process, the Forty-Ninth Session
of the United Nations General Assembly should reflect this new
reality in the course of this session and provide an environment
which will promote further dialogue between the parties.
Mr. President, we gather at a time in world history where
new grounds of cooperation are woven into ever greater dimensions
of solidarity. This is quite fortunate, because we also face
even bigger and more urgent challenges to the future of our shared
planet. From the point of view of a Small Island Developing State,
we come to this Assembly with immediate concerns on such issues
as climate change, sustainable development, nuclear waste, and
natural disasters.
Linked with all these concerns is another issue of equal and
immediate concern to all, human rights. The road from Vienna
where the world community met only a few hundred miles from the
"ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, and spoke of improvements
in the field of human rights has been marked with new sign posts
leading us in the right general direction, namely the establishment
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the election of Ambassador Jose Ayala Lasso to that important
post. However, the scenery along this path is not much different
from that of years before. Today, the atrocities and violations
of human rights which continue in Bosnia even seem overshadowed
by newer outbreaks of human rights violations such as in Rwanda,
Haiti and other parts of the world. This Assembly must continue
to devote its attention and resources to the field of human rights.
Mr. President, several weeks ago at Brisbane, Australia, the
Heads of Governments of 15 Pacific countries including the Federated
States of Micronesia held the annual meeting of the South Pacific
Forum. As is their practice each year, the Heads discussed matters
of common concern within our Region, and expressed consensus
views in a Communiqué which has already been presented
and included in the records of this Assembly. The Federated States
of Micronesia fully subscribes to the views expressed in the
Forum Communiqué, and in fact will be guided by it in
many of our actions taken here during the coming months.
The South Pacific Forum also decided at its recent meeting
in Brisbane to seek observer status at the United Nations during
this Forty-Ninth Session. In attaining observer status with the
United Nations, the South Pacific Forum will address the increasing
importance placed on the role of regional organizations and the
contributions which they can make towards the objectives of the
United Nations. We believe that the Forum as observer, can increase
the effectiveness of our region's work on such critical issues
as climate change, conservation of biodiversity and effective
implementation of the outcomes of the Global Conference on Sustainable
Development of Small Island developing States.
One of the long-standing major concerns of the Federated States
of Micronesia which is shared by Forum Members, is over the testing
of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction within
our Region. We have been much relieved at the continued moratorium
on nuclear testing by France and the United States, but we remain
deeply concerned by possible consequences flowing from China's
unfortunate insistence on proceeding with its testing program.
We will not breathe easy until a moratorium on all testing is
made permanent, and to that end we hope for rapid progress toward
conclusion of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Despite that we have outspokenly expressed our concerns in
numerous international venues during recent years, the Pacific
Region's vastness and seeming emptiness still makes it an attractive
location for environmentally dangerous activities. Too often,
when we have attempted, individually and collectively as island
countries, to halt movements through our waters of toxic, radioactive
and otherwise hazardous materials, our voices have not been heard.
As if the dangers of such transport were not bad enough, today
we confront an even more repugnant prospect, that of our Region
becoming a permanent dumping ground for the world's nuclear wastes.
wish to emphasize here that the Federated States of Micronesia
is and will remain unalterably opposed to that use of our region
by countries who are not willing to store their wastes within
their own borders. As a part of our dedication to finding more
effective means of preventing these outrages, the Federated States
of Micronesia has the honor to chair the ongoing negotiations
within our Forum group toward a regional treaty banning transboundary
movement of all hazardous wastes.
Through these and other appropriate actions, we are determined
to see that the Pacific Region is treated by the rest of the
world with the same degree of concern for the long- term health
and welfare of our citizens and our environment that is applied
regarding their own.
Mr. President, we welcome the Secretary-General's new Report
on Agenda for Development. My government fully supports the call
for a reevaluation of the role of the United Nations in development.
As the United Nations approaches its Fiftieth Anniversary, its
global agenda must be redefined to be more comprehensive and
focused than it has been. The present lack of coordination between
the Bretton Woods institutions and the United Nations must be
corrected to synchronize the setting of global policy on development.
The end of the Cold War has presented the United Nations with
a long-overdue opportunity to turn its attention to development.
Yet, the cost associated with newly expanded peace-keeping operations
around the globe is diverting scarce resources at a time when
the role of the United Nations in development is increasingly
prominent to many states in the post-Cold War era. This is a
trend that the United Nations must examine very carefully in
order to find the proper balance among all its responsibilities
under the Charter.
Mr. President, the recently concluded International Conference
on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo is a testimony
to the global problems associated with our rapid population growth.
The United Nations and the International Community faces a massive
sense of urgency and obligation to radically reform and redirect
its role and resources to address population growth and sustainable
resource use. The world's population is growing faster than ever
before with an estimated number of 95 million people added each
year. This unprecedented growth in human population will have
profound effect on our physical environment. The Action Plan
for population and sustainable development has clear implications
for climate change. I wish to draw a distinction that although
the rate of population growth in the industrialized countries
is slower, these countries still add a disproportionate cost
to the environment because residents in industrialized countries
add about four times as much carbon to the atmosphere each year
as do their counterparts in the developing countries. The Federated
States of Micronesia strongly supports the Program of Action
on Population Control and Development endorsed at the Cairo Conference
and is earnestly looking forward to meeting the goals and objectives
contained therein.
As an archipelagic state, my government welcomes the significant
breakthrough and the universal acceptance of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of Sea and its imminent entry into force
on 16 November 1994. This has been a culmination of long and
arduous negotiations between developed and developing countries
for over a decade in shaping what I would term a near perfect
management and conservation regime for the high seas and the
deep seabed which is the "common heritage of mankind".
The Federated States of Micronesia is a party to the Convention
and I am happy to inform this august Assembly that my country
was among the many countries which have signed Part XI of the
agreement on the deep seabed mining after it was opened for signature
here in New York in July 1994. We look forward to close cooperation
with the international community in the sound management and
conservation of the high seas as well as our individual territorial waters.
As a developing island nation whose economy is dependent upon
these resources, the Federated States of Micronesia is committed
to promotion of responsible fishing practices - not only within
our Exclusive Economic Zone and the zones of our neighbors in
the region, but in the contiguous high seas areas adjacent to
the zones. Mr. President, the Federated States of Micronesia
has actively participated in all of the substantive sessions
of the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and
Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. In the Federated States of Micronesia,
we are fortunate that our island state is located in those latitudes
of the Pacific Ocean in which 50 percent of the world's highest
grade tuna resources are caught. While we appreciate having this
resource, we remain ever mindful of the fact that the continued
viability of our economy depends upon the rational utilization
of the marine resources present within our territorial waters
and beyond. This principle of rational utilization of resources
forms the foundation for the concept of sustainable development.
It is not only the coastal states like my own, which must
be dedicated to rational utilization and responsible fishing
practices. Distant water fishing nations must also recognize
and protect the fragile balance of nature that exists in the
oceans of the world to ensure the sustainability of the resources.
During the last session of the Conference on Straddling Fish
Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, my government's delegation
joined the fifteen other member States of the Forum Fisheries
Agency in supporting a binding legal document as the form of
outcome for the Conference. Even so, the Federated States of
Micronesia does not support any outcome which would compromise
the sovereign rights of coastal states over the living marine
resources occurring within their own EEZs. We do not support
any derogation from the provisions of UNCLOS that recognize the
sovereign rights of coastal states.
Mr. President, I would now like to direct my comments to the
recently concluded Global Conference on the Sustainable Development
of Small Island Developing States in Barbados which has been
a great success in many ways. For the first time in the history
of the United Nations, we have been able to put forward an agenda
for world attention concerning the sustainable development of
Small Island Developing States. The Program of Action that emerged
from the Global Conference is the first post-Rio effort to amplify
the principles of Agenda 21 in a specific context pointing toward
tangible measures for implementation. While this is a milestone,
it will remain as little more than a planning document without
the genuine commitment of the developed countries. We welcome
the recent Report of the Secretary General on actions taken by
the Organization and Bodies of the United Nations system to implement
the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small
Island Developing States. We cannot help a certain impatience
to see actions taken that are accompanied by necessary funding,
but nevertheless, my government applauds steps being taken to
ensure that the outcomes of the Barbados Conference are effectively
integrated into the work program of the Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD). Strong partnership in this regard should not
be seen on a developed versus developing country line but rather
as a shared goal and investment for the benefit of the entire
family of nations. A notable example of such shared effort, which
we welcome wholeheartedly is the upcoming initiative by the United
States to work with all countries toward the revitalization of
our essential coral reefs, which are currently deteriorating
all over the world at an alarming rate.
Mr. President, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is
one of the sources of funding from which Small Island Developing
States could access financial assistance for the implementation
of the Program of Action and other related environmental endeavors.
The Programme of Action which emanated out of the Barbados Conference
specifically requested that since, global environmental problems
particularly with respect to climate change, biological diversity
and international waters are of great significance and concern
to Small Island Developing States, the restructured GEF should
be seen as an important channel of assistance in these areas
through the provision of new and additional resources. At the
meeting of our Heads of State of the South Pacific Forum which
recently concluded in Brisbane Australia, the Forum welcomed
the restructuring and replenishment of the GEF and its intention
to assist in the implementation of the outcomes of the Barbados
Conference.
We therefore encourage all member states during this 49th
Session of the General Assembly to give meaning to the concept
of sustainable development by supporting the overall outcome
of the Barbados Conference including all the enabling resolutions
which will give the specialized UN agencies and organizations
the mandate to start implementing the substance of the Program
of Action.
Mr. President, in the Framework Convention on the Climate
Change Convention, we appeal for a more positive approach by
the international community to look seriously at further commitments
towards the reduction of Green House Gases (GHG) as called for
by the proposed protocol to the CI i mate Change Convention distributed
this week to the parties by the Alliance of Small Island States.
Recent scientific reports have confirmed with certainty that
global warming is occurring. More importantly, it is also now
clear that greater cutbacks in emissions by the industrialized
countries than were originally envisioned will be essential if
there is to be any hope of avoiding the disastrous consequences
to much of the world that cynics were scoffing at only a few
years ago. We welcomed with hope the coming into effect of the
Climate Change Convention this past March, and call upon all
members of the United Nations to be present as parties when the
Conference of the parties convenes in Berlin.
In keeping with its concern for the protection and sustainable
use of the environment, the Federated States of Micronesia acceded
in June to the Convention on Biological Diversity and is looking
forward to the first Conference of the Parties this November
in the Bahamas. In this connection, Mr. President, my Government
wishes to add its support to the call made at the last Session
of the Intergovernmental Committee in Nairobi that immediate
work on a Protocol on Biosafety should begin. The question of
ownership and access to ex-situ genetic resources presently not
covered by the Convention must also be addressed as a matter
of priority.
The concept of giving the environment and development equal
priority is widely accepted now, but remains in many ways difficult
to implement. It will remain so, for many years to come, even
though all our best thinking is to be devoted to it. Sadly, even
as we speak, as a result of past and current practices the quality
and stocks of our planet's natural resources are deteriorating
at an accelerated pace. If we are to succeed in confronting this
challenge, the integrated efforts of the entire international
community must call upon the assets that all countries, large
and small, developed and developing, can bring to bear. For example,
sustainable living, which has been the way of island peoples
for centuries, involves practices and techniques that are quite
relevant to sustainable development in much of today's world.
The canoes sailing across our crystal blue lagoons bring to mind
a host of traditions of our people which involve clean use of
the environment and highly effective resource management practices.
We must approach sustainable development in a way that respects
and builds on the age-old concept of sustainable living, and
which takes full account of the wisdom that can be gleaned from
indigenous cultures worldwide.
Mr. President, in other words, my country believes that not
only is it important to have a common vision to combat climate
change and promote sustainable development, but it is now definitely
incumbent upon our family of nations to seriously rethink our
roles and how we can all play a vital part in restoring our over-stressed
environment. Speaking as a front line country in terms of vulnerability,
we cannot retract into positions of treating the global environmental
issues based only on what we think we are conveniently capable
of without giving due consideration to the urgency and magnitude
of the issue. It requires much more additional resources and
commitment to address this man made liability especially on the
part of the developed countries.
Our views on these issues are clear and simple: We are convinced
that all our efforts are mounting up to a long term investment
for the survival and viability of our planet's ecosystem - the
common heritage of mankind. Mr. President, in assessing what
has transpired so far in all the related activities towards this
common objective, I cannot but to say how fascinated I am with
the enormous effort that has gone into these processes. The activities
range from the negotiations on the Climate Change Convention,
Biodiversity Convention, Desertification Convention, United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, Straddling Fish Stocks and
Highly Migratory Fish Stocks Meeting, Barbados Conference, Cairo
Conference on Population and Development, Commission on Sustainable
Development, and the Global Environmental Facility. I cannot
but believe that positive progress will emanate from this massive
human energy and commitment and that our future as a race will
be secured with this common vision.
After all Mr. President, we are not only inhabitants on this
plant, but custodians of resources for future generations. I
hope that the greed of mankind will not in the end triumph over
the responsibility inherent in ourselves to leave for future
generations an environment which is as habitable as we have been
endowed with today. There will come a day when it will be realized
that utilizing our natural resources in a sustainable way may
be the greatest gift which our present civilization can contribute.
Thank you.
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