Czech Republic, 2002

Let me start by

saying how pleased I am to see a representative of my

own country presiding over this session of the General

Assembly. It is the first time that the Czech Republic

has had the honour of chairing this supreme body of

the United Nations. I am grateful to all who made this

possible by supporting our aspirations. I wish you, Mr.

President, every success in the performance of this

important function, a function which was raised to such

a high standard by your predecessor, Han Seung-soo of

the Republic of Korea.

Representing the Government which assumed its

function this July, I would like to confirm the

continuity of Czech foreign policy, with its emphasis

on the Euro-Atlantic dimension but also with a truly

global reach and a strong involvement in multilateral

cooperation. I should also mention that the Government

of the Czech Republic has made its active participation

in the fight against terrorism and against the

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction one of its

top priorities.

A year ago at this time, the whole world was

shocked by the horrific terrorist attacks on the United

States of America on 11 September. The appalling

dimensions of those attacks revealed the nature of the

new threats that the international community is

currently facing. Our response must be firm. We must

move from the policy of containment to the policy of

active struggle against international terrorism. At the

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same time, we need to discuss issues that may be the

source of, or a fertile ground for, violent acts of a

similar nature.

This November, Prague will host the summit of

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the

Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. The Czech

Republic will support NATO's enlargement to include

additional countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

At the same time, we are aware of the importance of

NATO and European Union relations with the Russian

Federation, Ukraine and the Mediterranean countries.

We also anticipate that the Prague summit will mark an

important milestone in the history of the alliance in

connection with its transformation to meet such current

security challenges as international terrorism and other

asymmetric threats. We are convinced that these steps

will contribute to strengthening the stability and

security of the world as a whole.

The Czech Republic is paying great attention to

the problem of Iraq. We advocate the unconditional

implementation of the relevant Security Council

resolutions, including those concerning the renewal of

arms inspections, disarmament, the release of detained

Kuwaiti citizens and the return of confiscated Kuwaiti

property. The current regime in Iraq, because of its

efforts to develop and produce weapons of mass

destruction and its failure to comply with the will of

the international community, represents an enormous

risk not only for the security and stability of the Middle

East region, but for the international community as a

whole. I can assure the Assembly that the Czech

Republic supports the peaceful resolution of disputes in

international relations.

However, our nation has its tragic experience

with never-ending concessions to aggressive regimes.

We must not forget that peace must sometimes be

defended by force. The Czech Republic considers the

letter by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iraq to the

Secretary-General as a reaction to the firm stand of,

and the pressure by, the international community. This

pressure on the Iraqi regime must continue until all

Security Council requirements are met in full.

The Czech Republic is also closely following the

developments in the Middle East. Let me recall that our

preference in this regard has always been for a peaceful

and just settlement of the problem in line with Security

Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 1403

(2002). The only meaningful option is to continue

negotiations with the objective of stabilizing the

current situation as a step towards achieving complete

and lasting peace in this region. The Czech Republic

shares the vision of peaceful co-existence between

Israel and an independent and democratic Palestinian

State, based on mutual trust and arrangements covering

all security concerns. In this regard, we welcome the

promising results of the Quartet meeting held earlier

this week.

With regard to peace and security, we recently

witnessed some encouraging progress in the resolution

of armed conflicts in Africa, namely, in Angola, Sierra

Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, as well as in other areas, including the Balkans

and Afghanistan. We welcome and support the positive

changes. For example, the Czech Republic is devoting

long-term attention to relations with the States of

South-Eastern Europe and to the stabilization efforts of

the international community in the western Balkans.

This year, the Czech Republic became a participant in

the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, which we

regard as an important instrument for the economic

renewal and reconstruction of the region.

As for Afghanistan, we consider peace, stability

and democratization a key factor, both for the further

peaceful development of the entire region, as well as

for the wider international context of the fight against

terrorism. The international community has to increase

its efforts to stabilize the security situation and support

the economic renewal of Afghanistan, including the

breaking of its economy's dependence on the

cultivation of opium.

Important components of the United Nations

agenda include the areas of disarmament, arms control

and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The Czech Republic supports the process of the gradual

reduction and destruction of nuclear arms within the

framework of the ongoing process of the

implementation and achievement of the universality of

the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons and the coming into force of the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Similarly, the

Czech Republic is working to achieve both the

universality and rigorous implementation of the

Chemical Weapons Convention, including the

destruction of existing arsenals, and the strengthening

of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. We

also wish to see a renewal in the activities of the

Conference on Disarmament and the commencement of

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substantive talks on a fissile materials cut-off treaty.

We invite member States of the Conference to take a

decision concerning the enlargement of its

membership.

The Czech Republic supports steps to strengthen

the authority and effectiveness of the United Nations.

This includes the reform and enlargement of the

Security Council, the revitalization of the General

Assembly, adapting peacekeeping operations in line

with the Brahimi report, efforts to transform the culture

of reaction to a culture of prevention and making

changes in the Economic and Social Council and its

subsidiary bodies, among other things, as a response to

the challenges posed by goals of the Millennium

Declaration and recent major United Nations

conferences.

One of the major challenges currently facing the

international community is to ensure that all countries

have fair access to the benefits of globalization. Issues

such as development assistance and cooperation, debt

relief for highly indebted developing countries and

non-discriminatory participation in a multilateral trade

system, together with what we call good governance,

are key both for further economic progress in many

parts of the world and for preserving favourable living

conditions for future generations.

In that context, the Czech Republic welcomes the

successful conclusion of the Monterrey Conference on

Financing for Development, held earlier this year, and

of the World Summit on Sustainable Development,

held in Johannesburg just a few weeks ago. The

Summit reinforced the determination of the

international community to pursue the goal of

sustainable development and, most importantly,

stressed implementation, time-bound goals and specific

commitments, responsibility and accountability. Let us

now make sure that the core message of Johannesburg

is not forgotten. Let us hope that the Summit is

followed by concrete actions at the global, regional,

national and local levels, including through initiatives

such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

The Czech Republic attaches great significance to

the strengthening of international law and respect for

human rights. We are determined to seek an early

conclusion of a general United Nations convention on

international terrorism. We also welcome the

establishment of the International Criminal Court. I

believe that the Czech Republic will join the large

group of parties to the Rome Statute in the near future.

The Czech Republic is conscious of the

contribution of the United Nations to promoting respect

for, and protection of, human rights. We call for a

consistent approach to fulfilling the obligations entered

into, in particular in relation to the advancement of

women and the protection of the rights of the child,

including in situations of armed conflict. We advocate

the prevention and gradual elimination of all forms of

racism and discrimination, including that against

members of ethnic or religious minorities, persons with

disabilities and older persons and a ban on torture and

the death penalty. We are paying very close attention to

the draft optional protocol to the Convention against

Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading

Treatment or Punishment. The Czech Republic will

actively promote the adoption of the draft protocol by

this session of the General Assembly.

This session of the General Assembly will be

remembered, inter alia, for the admission of two new

members, Switzerland and East Timor. I welcome

Switzerland most cordially to the United Nations

family, and I look forward to welcoming East Timor.

Their entry into the Organization represents a further

step towards completing the universality of the

membership of the United Nations, the achievement of

which the Czech Republic unanimously supports and

which represents further proof of the vitality of our

Organization.

I could stop here. But before I finish, allow me to

take advantage of this occasion to raise two issues.

First, I would like to reaffirm the continued interest of

the Czech Republic in supporting the activities of the

United Nations Information Centre in Prague, which

last year was housed in new premises — the so-called

Prague United Nations House — also seating

representative bodies of other organizations of the

United Nations system. And finally, on behalf of the

people of the Czech Republic, I wish to warmly thank

all who generously provided humanitarian and other

types of assistance to my country after it had been

struck by devastating floods last August. At that

critical time, we saw an enormous wave of

international solidarity, and the floods thus contributed

to a coming together among ourselves, our neighbours

and the rest of the world.

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