EMERGENCY SPECIAL SESSION – RUSSIAN FEDERATION’S ATTEMPTED ILLEGAL ANNEXATION OF PARTS OF UKRAINIAN TERRITORY DELIVERED BY THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS DR SATYENDRA PRASAD ON BEHALF OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM CHAIR – PRIME MINISTER VOREQE BAINIMARAMA

Mr President, Excellencies,Mr President,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. Vinaka vakalevu – I thank you.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. 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. 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. The costs of this inhumane war are borne fore mostly by Ukrainians. To them Fiji extends its solidarity; its compassion and its prayers. We spoke out in defence of civilian lives and humanitarian access. 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.Mr President,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. 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.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. 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. 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. 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. 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.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.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.

Source