Climate Change and Small Island States' Vulnerability
In 1990, Van Lierop became the first chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States, a position which he held until 1994; he emphasised the importance of the fight against climate change, to which Small Island Developing States are particularly vulnerable.
This has remained Vanuatu's emphasis to this day. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September 2008, ni-Vanuatu President Kalkot Mataskelekele stated:
- "I join my fellow colleagues from the Pacific region in our call to the international community for more concerted action in addressing climate change as a security issue. Unless the present trend of global warming is reversed through sincere and concerted international action through the UN framework, some of our Pacific colleague nations will be submerged. If such a tragedy does happen, then the UN and its members would have failed in their first and most basic duty to a member nation and its innocent people."
Vanuatu in the 2000s did not, however, entirely cease to promote the cause of decolonisation. In September 2004, Foreign Affairs Minister Barak Sopé, addressing the General Assembly, asked that West Papua be added once more to the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, and stated:
- "In recent times the history of the Organization has been characterised by indecision that have (sic) blemished the record of the United Nations, and I speak to (sic) the longstanding issue of self-determination, and in particular the case of West Papua cognizant of the Charter espousing the principles that continue to guide the Organization's efforts in the principle of self-determination. The truth surrounding the so-called Act of Free Choice must be exposed to the Melanesian sisters and brothers of West Papua, and the rest of the international community; the saddest of all is the UN General Assembly Resolution 2504 on West Papua in 1969. How can the UN continue to ignore the cries of over three million people demanding justice?"
Read more about this topic: Vanuatu And The United Nations
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