Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama celebrates Fiji Day
10/10/2022
The new regional office of Asia Foundation in Fiji will expand assistance to the Pacific region
12/10/2022Published On: 11/10/2022
Mr President, Excellencies,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Member States of the Pacific Islands Forum with presence here at the United Nations.
This is the third time our Forum members have addressed an Emergency Special Session of this distinguished Assembly regarding the ongoing illegal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. We spoke out to condemn the invasion.
We spoke out in defence of civilian lives and humanitarian access.
Today we are here to again speak in defence of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and integrity in light of the Russian Federation’s attempt to illegally annex four regions of eastern Ukraine – namely Donetsk Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Mr President,
The many islands and countries of our Blue Pacific Continent are diverse, with their own unique histories, cultures and perspectives. However, there is much which unites us – including values of justice, fairness and shared prosperity. Underpinning this unity is a shared belief in the value of the multilateral system enshrined in the UN Charter and its principles.
The Russian Federation’s attempted illegal annexation of parts of Ukrainian territory is a clear violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law.
The Charter cannot simply be worn like a prestigious cloak only to be discarded when perceived geopolitical interests are at stake. Every instance of such behaviour risks wearing it thin, dirtying it and potentially even destroying it.
Like our very air, water and land, the Charter must be treasured if it is to in turn provide sustenance to our global family. The many states of the Blue Pacific Continent understand this intimately.
We also understand the terrible human and environmental costs of nuclear weapons in light of our region’s history regarding nuclear testing. It is unacceptable that the use of nuclear weapons is openly threatened by a nuclear weapons state, especially against a non-nuclear weapons state. We therefore strongly condemn Russia’s latest threats to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and possibly others.
We also strongly support international efforts to safeguard Ukrainian nuclear facilities against damage, intentional or otherwise.
Mr President,
As a permanent member of the Security Council, the Russian Federation has an even greater responsibility to uphold the Charter and the principles of sovereignty, dignity and peaceful resolution of disputes which it enshrines.
Our Pacific Islands Forum family thus calls for the Russian Federation to cease its attempted illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory, to de-escalate the current situation and to withdraw to behind its internationally recognized borders in order for a peaceful resolution to the conflict to be achieved.
Such a resolution will not be found through coercion, violence, torture, bullets and bombs. It will come through diplomacy, justice and respect for the values, rules and norms which sustain our global community and which animate these hallowed halls.
From climate change to COVID recovery, hunger and intractable conflicts– there is simply too much at stake for this needless, illegal war to continue to undermine our shared work.
Mr President, I would now like to make a few remarks in my national capacity Nearly 52 years to this day, the United Nations Security Council recognized Fiji’s sovereignty and granted its seat in the General Assembly as an independent member state.
In accepting our seat in this Assembly, we too accepted our share of our collective determination to uphold the United Nations Charter. This is a Charter we did not have a hand in crafting because we were not a sovereign nation when it was crafted. However, the Russian Federation (then USSR) was.
Today, as Fiji celebrates 52 years of our sovereignty, we demand that Russia respect the sovereignty of Ukraine. Fijian Prime Minister Hon. Bainimarama in his address to the UN has condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine. This war; the attempt at annexation; the threat to use nuclear weapons; the threat to nuclear facilities – the flagrant violations of international law constitutes the most spectacular disregard for our United Nations Charter by a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council we have witnessed in our independent history.
We urge the UN Secretary-General to use all the tools available through his good offices to help bring this war to an end. He has our full support.
This is not a time for wars and conquest – this is a time for peace. This is not a time for killing and destruction; this is a time for development. This is not a time for inaction by the UN Security Council; it is time for precisely the opposite – a time for urgent action.
We need the Security Council to work to restore trust in our Charter. We need the Security Council to restore faith in the promise of the United Nations. The exercise of the veto by the Russian Federation that has triggered this Emergency Special Session does exactly the opposite.
The costs of this inhumane war are borne fore mostly by Ukrainians. To them Fiji extends its solidarity; its compassion and its prayers.
The costs of this inhumane war are also borne by the poorest and most vulnerable across shores far away from Ukraine. Our poorest households pay a price for this war every day when they buy bread, or light up gas for their stoves – requiring Government intervention to help alleviate rising costs. The inhumanity of this war is felt so directly by so many millions across the World. This is true nowhere more than in the Global South.
The World needs all its resources and all its diplomacy to focus on the gathering storms of a financial crisis, a climate-environmental crisis and potentially a full-blown economic crisis that can threaten peace and stability. The War on Ukraine must end to give the World a fighting chance.
Vinaka vakalevu – I thank you.
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Member States of the Pacific Islands Forum with presence here at the United Nations.
This is the third time our Forum members have addressed an Emergency Special Session of this distinguished Assembly regarding the ongoing illegal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. We spoke out to condemn the invasion.
We spoke out in defence of civilian lives and humanitarian access.
Today we are here to again speak in defence of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and integrity in light of the Russian Federation’s attempt to illegally annex four regions of eastern Ukraine – namely Donetsk Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Mr President,
The many islands and countries of our Blue Pacific Continent are diverse, with their own unique histories, cultures and perspectives. However, there is much which unites us – including values of justice, fairness and shared prosperity. Underpinning this unity is a shared belief in the value of the multilateral system enshrined in the UN Charter and its principles.
The Russian Federation’s attempted illegal annexation of parts of Ukrainian territory is a clear violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law.
The Charter cannot simply be worn like a prestigious cloak only to be discarded when perceived geopolitical interests are at stake. Every instance of such behaviour risks wearing it thin, dirtying it and potentially even destroying it.
Like our very air, water and land, the Charter must be treasured if it is to in turn provide sustenance to our global family. The many states of the Blue Pacific Continent understand this intimately.
We also understand the terrible human and environmental costs of nuclear weapons in light of our region’s history regarding nuclear testing. It is unacceptable that the use of nuclear weapons is openly threatened by a nuclear weapons state, especially against a non-nuclear weapons state. We therefore strongly condemn Russia’s latest threats to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and possibly others.
We also strongly support international efforts to safeguard Ukrainian nuclear facilities against damage, intentional or otherwise.
Mr President,
As a permanent member of the Security Council, the Russian Federation has an even greater responsibility to uphold the Charter and the principles of sovereignty, dignity and peaceful resolution of disputes which it enshrines.
Our Pacific Islands Forum family thus calls for the Russian Federation to cease its attempted illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory, to de-escalate the current situation and to withdraw to behind its internationally recognized borders in order for a peaceful resolution to the conflict to be achieved.
Such a resolution will not be found through coercion, violence, torture, bullets and bombs. It will come through diplomacy, justice and respect for the values, rules and norms which sustain our global community and which animate these hallowed halls.
From climate change to COVID recovery, hunger and intractable conflicts– there is simply too much at stake for this needless, illegal war to continue to undermine our shared work.
Mr President, I would now like to make a few remarks in my national capacity Nearly 52 years to this day, the United Nations Security Council recognized Fiji’s sovereignty and granted its seat in the General Assembly as an independent member state.
In accepting our seat in this Assembly, we too accepted our share of our collective determination to uphold the United Nations Charter. This is a Charter we did not have a hand in crafting because we were not a sovereign nation when it was crafted. However, the Russian Federation (then USSR) was.
Today, as Fiji celebrates 52 years of our sovereignty, we demand that Russia respect the sovereignty of Ukraine. Fijian Prime Minister Hon. Bainimarama in his address to the UN has condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine. This war; the attempt at annexation; the threat to use nuclear weapons; the threat to nuclear facilities – the flagrant violations of international law constitutes the most spectacular disregard for our United Nations Charter by a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council we have witnessed in our independent history.
We urge the UN Secretary-General to use all the tools available through his good offices to help bring this war to an end. He has our full support.
This is not a time for wars and conquest – this is a time for peace. This is not a time for killing and destruction; this is a time for development. This is not a time for inaction by the UN Security Council; it is time for precisely the opposite – a time for urgent action.
We need the Security Council to work to restore trust in our Charter. We need the Security Council to restore faith in the promise of the United Nations. The exercise of the veto by the Russian Federation that has triggered this Emergency Special Session does exactly the opposite.
The costs of this inhumane war are borne fore mostly by Ukrainians. To them Fiji extends its solidarity; its compassion and its prayers.
The costs of this inhumane war are also borne by the poorest and most vulnerable across shores far away from Ukraine. Our poorest households pay a price for this war every day when they buy bread, or light up gas for their stoves – requiring Government intervention to help alleviate rising costs. The inhumanity of this war is felt so directly by so many millions across the World. This is true nowhere more than in the Global South.
The World needs all its resources and all its diplomacy to focus on the gathering storms of a financial crisis, a climate-environmental crisis and potentially a full-blown economic crisis that can threaten peace and stability. The War on Ukraine must end to give the World a fighting chance.
Vinaka vakalevu – I thank you.
