YouSaid · the spoken record

Ludwig Scotty,

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26

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2005-09-24

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2007-09-24

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2

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un-general-debate

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1. “On my island country of Nauru, also a land of the free, we have placed our belief in God’s will first. Therefore, to every human being on our planet Earth, I beseech each and every one of us to dedicate ourselves to hold true to our God’s will.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

2. “Nauru is of the view that the comprehensive reform of the Security Council will not be complete without Japan, India, Brazil and Germany as permanent members. In closing, I wish to remind this Assembly of the Secretary-General’s recent observation of the United Nations, whereupon he stated: “The true measure of success for the United Nations is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most.” (A/61/PV.31) As we move forward our discussions on the many challenging and complex issues before us, let us do so with the best of intentions, and more importantly, let us make good our promise to deliver. Finally, while I stand in this great country of the United States of America, the land of the free, I cannot help but remember that its people have put their trust in God.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

3. “Technology, skills and knowledge are required to guide us in our response to the present challenge. Furthermore, civil society and non- governmental organizations must cooperate with each other in acquiring and building the capacity we need to address this problem. The world situation demands a renewed, revitalized and more responsive United Nations now more than ever. We need to see the strengthening of this multilateral institution through the revitalization of the General Assembly and comprehensive reform of the Security Council through intergovernmental negotiations. All of that must move forward with a common vision for a more coherent United Nations system capable of delivering as one, sparing no efforts to continue strengthening the three pillars of peace and security, development and human rights.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

4. “Nauru takes the view that the international community, particularly those countries with the capacity that comes with their status as developed nations, has a responsibility to provide financial, humanitarian and other assistance to small island developing States that stand to suffer the most dire consequences of global climate change. Of course, we must acknowledge and express gratitude for those aid policies that have been proposed and established, but more is needed to avert a potential disaster, especially to the vulnerable small island nations. Therefore, we ask that ongoing efforts be continued and urge Member States to consider increasing their financial support, including easier access to the Adaptation Fund. However, capital investments alone are not sufficient.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

5. “Taiwan is a very important investor and trading partner for my country and others in my region even for those that do not recognize it formally. My delegation calls on the Office of the Secretary-General to uphold the integrity of this pre- eminent Organization and conform to the United Nations Charter and the rules of procedure of the Security Council. It must immediately accept and submit to the Security Council Taiwan’s application for membership. Peoples of the world look to the United Nations and to their leaders to identify and act on major global challenges that confront the world today. Earlier this week, we concluded a High-Level Event on Climate Change. Our discussions encompassed a variety of views and proposals that we all hope will lead to global resolve to achieve significant changes.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

6. “Let me be absolutely clear: Taiwan has no intention of representing the People’s Republic of China. Taiwan is a free and peace-loving sovereign State, and its democratically elected Government is the sole legitimate Government of their island State. Apart from the legal and moral rights of Taiwan to be part of the United Nations, there is another dimension that needs to be taken into account. Taiwan is one of the largest economies in the world, including being one of the larger trading partners of other Members of the United Nations. It is also one of the top twenty sources of world foreign investment and is well positioned to assist many of the members of this body in their development, which it has already demonstrated.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

7. “Owing to poor legal advice, the Office of the Secretary-General failed to forward Taiwan’s application for membership to the Security Council, citing General Assembly resolution 2758 (XXVI) for its failure. Even though many Member States continue to hide behind resolution 2758 (XXVI), it should be realized that this resolution does not declare that Taiwan is a part of the People’s Republic of China, nor does it preclude Taiwan from future membership of this body. It certainly does not support the so-called one China principle. Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have been governed separately, with neither side exercising any control or jurisdiction over the other.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

8. “This Organization prides itself on being inclusive and on being a champion to everyone; yet my delegation is extremely disappointed that, despite the efforts of Nauru and other allies of this cause, the United Nations continues to ignore the expressed wish of Taiwan and its 23 million people to become a member of this Organization. On the 19 July this year, an application for membership to the United Nations was delivered to the Office of the Secretary-General, signed by the democratically elected President of Taiwan, His Excellency Chen Shui-bian. Unfortunately, the United Nations Charter and the rules of procedure of the Security Council were then contravened.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

9. “The agreed official development assistance (ODA) target of 0.7 per cent of a gross national product is far from being achieved. This highlights the opportunity for the world to do much more to both alleviate poverty and remove the constraints that frustrate the progress of many developing countries. Like other highly indebted countries, mine is doubly burdened by a massive debt left to us by previous Governments. After careful assessment of Nauru’s development potential for the next thirty years, we have come to the sad conclusion that Nauru will only be able to service a very small portion of that debt. We will need to seek the forgiveness of those countries and institutions to which we owe most of the money.”

   2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

10. “Even with the best practices in management and governance, our economies’ sustainable development is impeded by high transportation costs and diseconomies of scale. In Nauru, freight adds at least 15 to 20 per cent to the cost of all imports. Likewise, affordable and sustainable alternative energy forms are a high priority for my country and region because, with the ever increasing cost of fossil fuel, we are having to pay a high premium for something that contributes both to global warming and to our potential demise as Pacific islands. Professor Jeffrey Sachs has rightly said that, while we all need to work together to solve world poverty, the opportunity is there for the developed countries with their resources and technology to do something about ending it once and for all.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

11. “Our region is struggling in many areas of the MDGs, and it is fair to say, as the Secretary-General’s report notes, that persistent capacity constraints are a key obstacle to the implementation of sustainable development in the Pacific region this includes Nauru. Therefore, I take this opportunity to express my people’s warmest appreciation to our development partners, led by Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union and others, for their support in this and other areas, without which we would have completely collapsed as a nation and as a people. However, I hope the Assembly can appreciate that our region, although vast, suffers both from isolation and the relatively small size of its countries and populations.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

12. “The Secretary-General’s report and the Pacific Plan updates show progress in some key areas and identify important initiatives for follow-up action. However, it is also quite clear that we and the United Nations need to do much more. That fact is glaringly obvious in the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which warns of a narrowing window of opportunity available for slowing down global warming and climate change. This is an issue that reveals some of the inequities in the current world development paradigm: the small island countries contribute very little to the problem but are likely to be the worst affected. The need to do more also stares us in the face from recent reports on the progress, or lack thereof, in achieving MDGs.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

13. “So we ask the General Assembly and the Secretariat to ensure that offices befitting the ideals and the reputation of the United Nations are opened in our countries. We want to see the United Nations on the ground in Nauru and throughout the Pacific region, providing a helping hand in our pursuit of sustainable development. There can be no doubt that our Pacific region is doing its best to implement the commitments made under the Mauritius Strategy and other international agreements regarding small island developing States. The relevant report of the Secretary-General (A/62/279) makes that very clear, showing that under its Pacific Plan, the Pacific region has agreed to and is vigorously pursuing its own sustainable development priorities, which reflect and acknowledge our international commitments under the Strategy.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

14. “We have therefore been severely disappointed by the lack of progress in establishing acceptable offices in our countries since the announcement. The delaying of that initiative, and the assumptions on the part of the United Nations concerning the capabilities of our small island States to recruit staff for such offices, are also short-sighted. Moreover, the Organization’s definition of “partnership” for the initiative places a significant burden on our national Governments. It fails to respond to our national priorities and our lack of resources, and therefore weakens the cohesion between the Organization and our countries. Despite the lack of visible progress, we are of the view that the project can be salvaged with its original intentions and goals intact if there is a will and a sincere desire to respond to our needs.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

15. “In June 2006, it was announced that a coalition comprising the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund would open a total of eight new offices in Pacific island countries, including my own country, Nauru. We welcomed that historic announcement, the progress that it marked towards harmonization with the United Nations and the assistance and support that the new offices would provide in developing national capacity and meeting the MDGs. As Member States that pay our dues, deploy peacekeepers and discharge our responsibilities in the international community, we deserve offices that enhance the relevance of the United Nations and the implementation of its policies.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

16. “We appreciate the fact that the United Nations is strongly aware of the development challenges in the Pacific region and that it is also cognizant that assistance has not translated into uniform human development gains in many places, with the result that the Pacific is in danger of missing many targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In that respect, my delegation welcomes and supports the President’s intention to hold a leaders’ meeting on the MDGs during the present session. During the general debate at the sixty-first session (see A/61/PV.16), we noted in this historic Hall that the offices and agencies of the United Nations had no permanent presence in many of the small island developing States of the Pacific.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

17. “Our past record of poor governance and the need to rebuild Nauru were the main reasons that our national sustainable development strategy was initiated by our Government and given one of its fundamental goals: the establishment and operation of a transparent and accountable Government. My Government is slowly but diligently working to improve Nauru. Over our three-year term, we will continue to do so, on a platform of both economic and political reform, together with good governance. We believe that we are improving our situation, and the August election results tell us that we have our people’s confidence. But it is a slow and painful recovery, and we appreciate all the help that we can get.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

18. “Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General, my delegation takes this opportunity to assure him of Nauru’s firm support and full cooperation in his leadership of the United Nations. I am deeply honoured to be addressing this body for the third consecutive year, this time as the recently returned leader of our small island State of Nauru. As members are no doubt aware, when I first took up office, three years ago, my country was on the brink of collapse. While Nauru was once a small donor country with a high income, our wealth was squandered in a single generation through gross mismanagement and corruption on the part of previous Governments.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

19. “I would like to express my sincere congratulations to Mr. Srgjan Kerim on his election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. My delegation also wishes to commend his predecessor, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her leadership of the General Assembly at its sixty-first session, particularly in addressing the difficult issues that continue to prevent revitalization of the General Assembly and reform of the Security Council. My delegation offers its full cooperation and support towards the President’s commitment to continuing with the Organization’s overall reform agenda and addressing the many challenges ahead. As this is the first General Assembly session to be convened since the appointment of His Excellency Mr.”

    2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)

20. “I am very hopeful that Member States will recognize and accept the appeal by the good people of Taiwan at the sixtieth session of the General Assembly. God bless the Republic of Nauru and God bless the United Nations and the peoples of the world. We shall proceed with God’s will first.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)

21. “The developed world has an obligation to share its resources with the developing world by ensuring it meets its own target of official development assistance expenditure of 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product, and to achieve it promptly, if the developing world is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals within 10 years. The decision not to consider the question of the people of Taiwan is a gross dereliction of duty by this Assembly. There are 23 million people on Taiwan who are being denied the right to be recognized and protected by this Organization. The United Nations has a role in assisting and facilitating constructive dialogue to ensure a future of peace for the people of Taiwan and the rest of that region. Peace and security in the Taiwan Strait is peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)

22. “We hope that the United Nations itself will have a leading role in assisting the rebuilding of Nauru and in achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. We reiterate our call for a United Nations presence in Nauru for this purpose. Nauru also calls upon the developed world to match its rhetoric with action when it comes to meeting the development needs of the developing world, through development financing and/or debt relief. It is simply not good enough to be targeting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 without making available the resources to fund that effort.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)

23. “The development agenda for developing countries, particularly those with fragile and vulnerable economies, must be designed by those on whose lives that agenda will have an impact and not by external parties that have a different agenda. We believe that the thorough consultative process within which the national development strategy is being designed is in itself an exercise in democracy. The views expressed by government and non- government agencies and by community, faith and other leaders, is testament to the strength of democracy in Nauru. To turn a blind eye to this process by driving a development agenda not envisioned by the people is not only dangerous to the development needs of the people it should serve, but a threat to democracy itself.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)

24. “We therefore speak with some experience when we note with encouragement the decision by the United Nations to implement management and structural reforms to improve, amongst other things, transparency and accountability for the greater good of Member countries and the peoples we represent. Nauru itself is undertaking significant economic and political reforms as it recommences the nation- building process. These include the design of a national development strategy, the public consultative phase of which has just been concluded; it will be presented to the donor community in November this year. We hope that the international community can participate, not by driving the development agenda for the people of Nauru, but by accepting the vision of our people as that to be implemented by Nauru with the support of its development partners.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)

25. “We therefore applaud the effort to strengthen the work of the United Nations through management reform. This should improve the delivery of the global services that this Organization is expected to provide. Equally important is the need to reform the Security Council, to recognize that international developments since the establishment of that body many decades ago now demand a more democratic representation of the global family in an expanded Security Council. The earlier these reforms are implemented, the earlier the work of the United 4 05-51226 Nations can be further improved, with commensurate benefit to the people whose interests we all serve. Nauru is in the unenviable position of having lost its earlier status as a donor country, with much of its wealth lost through mismanagement and, in particular, corrupt leadership.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)

26. “The outcome document adopted at the High-level Plenary Meeting (resolution 60/1) serves as a map by which we navigate in seeking to improve the lives of the many peoples of the world; it may be imperfect, but it is our task as leaders to provide a vision of a better world and to lead our peoples towards the achievement of that vision. The outcome document spells out this vision, and we should use it much as one uses a map when navigating the destiny of our respective nations. In this respect, Nauru looks to the United Nations as the global leader in reaching this vision of a better world: a world in which human rights are collectively recognized and defended, terrorism in any form is eliminated, peace and security is promoted and maintained, and poverty is eradicated.”

    2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)