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Mr President,
I welcome the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the Pacific Island Forum Member States represented in New York, namely Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and my own country New Zealand.
At the outset, I would like to stress the Member States of the Pacific Islands Forum fully recognize the importance of UNSCR 1540 and take their obligations seriously. There are considerable capacity and resource challenges in our region, particularly for smaller States, in meeting the resolution’s obligations both in terms of reporting and implementation. In this respect we particularly welcome the comments made by South Africa and Indonesia this morning that the Council should take both capacity and proliferation risks into account when working with Member States.
From our perspective, cooperation between the Council, international and regional organisations, and Member States can be extremely helpful in addressing the challenges we face in our region. We would like to offer several brief comments on how to optimise that cooperation:
1) When planning outreach through regional groupings, particularly to the small States in our region, the Council needs to be realistic about the capacity and competing obligations of those States. This means that, where possible, the Security Council should try and combine the approaches of the three relevant Committees, so that there is a coordinated dialogue between the Council and the regional organization over reporting and implementation obligations. We understand fully that the scope of the three resolutions is different, but we do think that there are synergies and efficiencies possible in combined outreach from the Security Council. A streamlined approach will be far more effective in building successful engagement.
2) It is important to recognize that small States have extremely limited resources, and are not in a position to absorb multiple technical assistance approaches. To be specific, in our own region, we feel that more than one or two such projects a year would be difficult. Given the limitations imposed by the capacity restraints of small member States, the Council should be prepared to prioritise its requirements. We note that joint planning is currently underway between the CTED and the UNODC to hold a workshop in our region on legislative drafting mid-year. We note that the 1540 expert group is also interested in a regional workshop, and hope the committee can consider a single coordinated event.
3) One size does not fit all. Workshops need to be targeted to the specific needs of the region and should be developed in close cooperation with the regional members well in advance of the event. Consultation and a realistic lead time should help development of a project of the greatest possible relevance to a region. Assistance also needs to be able to take into account the specific requirements of individual States.
4) Technical assistance needs to be a whole package. Workshops are very helpful but are only part of the solution. There needs to be a continued focus on capacity building through the implementation stage. It is important to set up ongoing and more tailored technical support in follow-up to workshops. This will require ongoing investment and support from the international community. We welcome the Department of Disarmament Affairs comments this morning which echo this point.
Speaking briefly in my national capacity, I would like to assure the Council of New Zealand’s strong commitment to providing assistance in our region. New Zealand is engaged in ongoing bilateral assistance projects with partners in the Pacific region to assist with reporting and implementation of resolutions 1267, 1373 and 1540. We also hosted a regional meeting in May last year aimed at building mutual understanding between the Council and the Pacific region on these issues and we believe the foundations were laid then for a new style of engagement.
In closing we in the Pacific greatly appreciate the 1540 Committee’s efforts to engage with the region. We have the will to play our part and look forward to the international community’s ongoing interest and assistance.
Thank you Mr President.
