“Small states like ours do not seek strategic competition — we seek shared solutions,” declared President Mathew Antonio Patrick Herminie of Seychelles, as he called for a rejection of normalized and protracted conflicts as well as selective application of international law.
Because “this principle is vital to maritime security”, which when jeopardized, not only devastates vulnerable island economies but also impacts navigational freedom, “small and vulnerable States should never bear the collateral economic costs of conflicts in which they have no part”, he said.
Decrying the disastrous effects of transnational organized crime, drug trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing on his county’s security and economy, he urged integrated and enhanced intelligence sharing among the international community.
Added to this must be expanded maritime surveillance and pragmatic law enforcement support because “it is unreasonable to expect nations safeguarding vast oceanic domains with modest budgets to meet standards set by heavily resourced States without providing them the tools to do so,” he stressed.
On climate change, which daily attacks his country’s foundations, threatens its infrastructure and livelihoods, “the science is undisputed. The targets are clear. What remains missing is political will and execution.”
He called on the world’s dominant emitters to show greater ambition in this regard as well as all nations to act responsibly and welcomed the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the climate phenomenon: mitigation, technology transfer and loss-and-damage funding are legal obligations, not charity acts.
Imploring Member States to ratify the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, he affirmed: “Our survival is inextricably linked to the health of the ocean. Protecting our marine environment is an economic necessity.”
He further called for affordable, accessible and long-term financing, including the full implementation of the multidimensional vulnerability index, to address the debt sustainability concerns of small island States — a “matter of national survival”.
