Boost to small island developing states

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption by consensus of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 43/189 on Specific Measures In Favour Of Island Developing Countries.

There is, of course, no comparison between this resolution and resolution 43/53 on the Protection Of Global Climate For Present And Future Generations Of Mankind, which was also adopted without a vote on December 6, 1988.

The resolution on the Specific Measures In Favour Of Island Developing Countries is not associated directly with Malta because it was negotiated by the alternate representative of Malta to the United Nations General Assembly Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on behalf of the Group of 77, that is the group of developing countries.

While the resolution on global climate was a completely new resolution formulated as a result of the initiative of David Attard and ably negotiated by Alexander Borg Olivier, the resolution on island developing countries was formulated with the assistance of the UN Conference on Trade and Development and submitted to Malta's Permanent Mission in New York by Malta's Mission to the UN in Geneva.

Malta had hosted an Unctad meeting of the Group of Experts on Island Developing Countries in Valletta on May 24-25, 1988 and this meeting is welcomed in the third operative paragraph of the resolution. Operative paragraph 4 of the resolution also takes note of the report of the Valletta meeting and the report of the Secretary General of the UN.

The Second Committee of the United Nations had considered similar resolutions every other year on the specific problems and special needs of island developing countries. During the years in between, the Second Committee considered the problems and needs of land-locked countries. The previous resolution was 41/163 adopted on December 5, 1986.

The difference in 1988 was that the language of the draft resolution was completely different from previous resolutions on the same subject because it was based on the language of the report of the Valletta meeting. It was also very ambitious and had a lot more substance than resolution 41/163 of 1986.

After difficult negotiations in the so-called "informal-informal" meetings of the Group of 77, Malta's alternate representative had to negotiate and defend the resolution in the informal meetings of the negotiations of the Second Committee proper.

Some of the large and powerful developing countries objected to some of the provisions of the draft resolution because they contended that some island developing countries were already performing better than some of them. The representatives of countries like India, Brazil and Argentina, to mention just a few, were concerned that some of the scarce resources might be channelled to island developing countries at their expense. Most of these negotiations were conducted in the very late hours of the day, and occasionally past midnight, as this item was frequently placed at the end of the day's agenda of the G77.

After the Group of 77 finally agreed on the amended text of the draft resolution, it was time for the resolution to be negotiated with the representatives of the developed countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Community, as it was then known.

The only representative of the developed countries who lent a sympathetic ear was that of New Zealand. One of the main arguments of the developed countries was that they did not want to discriminate between different categories of developing countries.

Some of the representatives of the developed countries were also a little suspicious because of the language used, and the amount of substance introduced in the third preambular paragraph, and the sixth and 11th operative paragraphs, among others. These were by far more detailed than resolution 41/163 of two years earlier and some representatives were not convinced that they wanted to create any precedents. At the UN it is not easy to change a comma without explaining why it is being done!

In the end, the resolution was adopted after a number of amendments. The adoption in late December reflects how difficult, lengthy and time consuming the negotiations were. The meeting of experts and donors contemplated in operative paragraph 11 was convened in the following year. Malta's alternate representative was offered to act as rapporteur but the offer was declined by the Head of Mission because the members of the staff were very busy. As a result, Dame Ann Hercus of New Zealand decided to act as both chairman and rapporteur herself.

It was as a result of Resolution 43/189 that concrete steps began to be taken in favour of small island developing states. As a result of such resolution, Lino Briguglio was engaged to draw up an index of vulnerability. And it was as a result of that substantive resolution that so much progress was recorded over the years, including the formation of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Small States Forum and Network of the World Bank.

While Malta's initiative on climate change broke new ground with an important issue being placed on the agenda of the United Nations, an important contribution was also given through the Second Committee which led to tangible assistance to island developing countries.

Some of the efforts made during the negotiations by Malta's alternate representative on behalf of the Group of 77 and, in particular, on behalf of the island developing countries, were not made for the sake of Malta itself, because our country was already in a good state of development.

It is remarkable that in a space of 20 years from those two efforts by Maltese diplomacy Malta has come to the stage of requesting to be graduated from a status of a developing country to one of a developed nation. This should be to the satisfaction of all.

Mr Farrugia negotiated the resolution on island developing countries in 1988 on behalf of Malta.