Our debate today takes place just two weeks after the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction was opened for signature in Ottawa. Over 120 countries have already signed this instrument, including New Zealand. We …
I have the honour to take the floor, as coordinator, to introduce agenda item 39, on “Oceans and the law of the sea”. The Secretary-General’s report (A/52/487) notes that there are now 120 parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that the establishment of the institutions c…
This has been a special year for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). At the time of its fortieth anniversary we had the opportunity to look back on the Agency’s very considerable achievements since 1957 and look forward to the future. In New Zealand’s view, the IAEA has established itself…
May I begin by congratulating the President on his election to preside over the General Assembly at its fifty-second session. We are in good hands as we begin our work during what the Secretary-General has called “the reform Assembly.”
I know, too, that my Foreign Minister, on whose behalf I am spe…
This brief statement is delivered on behalf of Canada and Australia, as well as of New Zealand.
In the coming weeks we will carefully study the proposals which have been put before us this morning. Our considered views will be presented by our respective ministers at the fifty-second session of the…
Agenda item 24 is a consolidation of issues relating to oceans and the law of the sea, including fisheries. I have the honour to introduce the three reports and three draft resolutions we have before us.
Under agenda item 24 (a), document A/51/645 contains a very welcome and comprehensive report on…
The scale of the problem caused by landmines is well documented, including in the Secretary-General’s report (A/51/540). More than 110 million landmines have been laid in more than 60 countries. Only some 100,000 are removed annually, while at the same time millions of new ones are still being laid.…
I would like to associate New Zealand with the expressions of sympathy extended to the Government and the people of Honduras. Our thoughts are with them at this time of need.
As members know, New Zealand was intimately involved with the work of the Open-ended High-level Working Group on the Strengt…
My delegation has supported the adoption of a draft resolution under this item for many years, and we are grateful to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for his report on the activities of the Agency. It provides a good overview of the important issues currently on…
New Zealanders have worked for three decades for a permanent end to nuclear testing. We have sponsored resolutions every year in the General Assembly calling for a universal and effectively verifiable comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty (CTBT). In the past three sessions that call has been unanimo…
Let me start out, Sir, by conveying to you my congratulations: congratulations, first, on your initiative to put this item on the agenda of the Security Council; and secondly, congratulations on your assumption of the presidency. It is a great honour and privilege for me to sit here at this table wi…
New Zealand has been shocked at the recent events in Israel and Lebanon, and the New Zealand people have been outraged at the death and destruction visited upon innocent civilians in both countries.
This cycle of violence must stop. Each attack by either side becomes the justification for a further…
I congratulate you, Madam President, on assuming the presidency of the Council for this month of February. In fact, I believe that special congratulations are in order, because, if I recall rightly, this is the third time I have seen you as President of the Council. And of course it is a very rare d…
My congratulations go to you, Mr. President, and also to Ambassador Al-Khussaiby, the President of the Council last month.
It will come as no surprise to anybody in this room that my delegation endorses 100 per cent the proposals put forward this morning by Ambassador Cárdenas, on behalf of a large…
New Zealand wants to work to eliminate anti-personnel land-mines entirely from the world’s armouries. That goal was stated from this rostrum by the New Zealand Foreign Minister during his statement in the general debate. I want to reiterate it today.
Consistent with that position, New Zealand atten…
New Zealand supported the resolution we have just adopted under agenda item 73. We did so because of our concerns about the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. We share the concern that other States parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) expressed at t…
New Zealand fully endorses the statement made earlier, on behalf of the 16 members of the South Pacific Forum, by Papua New Guinea, the present Chair of the Forum.
The new Agreement elaborates the conservation and management rules of the Convention aimed at ensuring the long-term sustainability of …
New Zealand is pleased to have the opportunity to participate once again in the debate on the report of the Security Council.
As the report in document A/50/2 makes clear — and the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic gave us some very good examples a few moments ago — the year under cons…
Malta has put a new matter, this agenda item, before the General Assembly. We believe Malta has raised a very important issue: how should the United Nations machinery for dealing with international environmental issues be handled? It is particularly important in this fiftieth anniversary year, since…
New Zealand is strongly in favour of reform of the Security Council, but, as we have said many times in the Working Group, simply changing the composition of the Council misses the point. The most important reform that must be made relates to the political culture of that body.
My comments on the e…
