Czech Republic, 2006

Let me start by

congratulating you on your election, Madam President,

and by wishing you every success in the coming

months of hard work. The outgoing president of the

General Assembly, Mr. Eliasson, left an impressive

track record of progress on a number of reform issues.

It is my expectation that you will continue to meet the

high standards set by him.

Behind many of the changes here at the United

Nations over the past decade we have noted the light

and decent hand of one distinguished person, Mr. Kofi

Annan. As he prepares to leave his position at the helm

of the Secretariat, I would like to take this opportunity

to thank him most cordially for all he has done. He has

made it very difficult and challenging for his successor

to do the job with the same vigour, skill and

dedication.

To choose the right successor to the Secretary-

General will definitely not be an easy task, but I do not

want to leave the Hall without stating clearly the

preferences of my country. No one from my own

regional group has thus far occupied this important

post. We think that time has come to seriously consider

such an option. Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia is

an excellent candidate who qualifies perfectly well for

the position of Secretary-General. She can count on our

full support.

Let me also welcome a new Member of the

United Nations, the Republic of Montenegro, whose

presence here brings us closer to the goal of a truly

universal United Nations.

The President of Finland spoke on behalf of the

European Union (EU) a few days ago. The Czech

Republic fully associates itself with that statement. The

EU has made an enormous effort to contribute to the

preparations for this session, and my country was an

integral and active part of that process. I shall therefore

limit myself to sharing with the Assembly just a few

ideas and comments on issues that are at the forefront

of our interests.

I strongly believe that all of us want the world to

be a safer place. That is the bottom line. Yet, the

absence of safety and security seems to be almost

omnipresent. There is a lack of support for billions of

people suffering from hunger and disease in developing

countries. There is a lack of protection for many people

exposed to various environmental risks and natural

hazards. There is a widening debate regarding energy

security. There is lack of freedom and dignity for many

women and men living under oppression. There is a

lack of peace, and a sense of vulnerability vis-à-vis all

kinds of armed conflict.

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On top of all that there is the ominous threat of

terrorism — often fed by Islamist extremists — which

is creating fear and striking targets around the world,

including their very own countries. All that makes it

imperative for us to continue to adapt our security

systems; otherwise we will not be able to face that

threat. And we need to be efficient.

To make the world a better and safer place is a

complex challenge. It involves individual States as

well as various international organizations. But, at the

global level, the role of the United Nations in

responding to that challenge is irreplaceable. The

Millennium Summit of 2000 and the 2005 World

Summit contributed enormously to shaping our agenda

to that effect by, inter alia, balancing security,

development and human rights concerns. We know

what should be done. But we often fail to deliver

because our collective will is not strong enough to

support the implementation of designed measures and

actions. We often know the diagnosis. We know the

right remedy. And, yet, we are unable to apply it.

Two weeks ago, we commemorated the fifth

anniversary of the horrible terrorist attacks against not

only the United States but, dare I say, against our

shared values. The world after 9/11 is not what it was,

and the United Nations has had to adapt accordingly.

On the eve of that chilling anniversary, we succeeded

in adopting the landmark United Nations Global

Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288),

building on previous efforts by both the Security

Council and the General Assembly. I hope that the

Strategy will provide more than guidance, and that it

will become a real tool that provides real help for those

who fight the scourge of terrorism in the field.

There is general agreement that the international

community and the United Nations should do much

more for States and territories recovering from conflict

and disorder. We now have the United Nations

Peacebuilding Commission. There is a spirit of hope

that the Commission will lead the efforts in generating

both the political will and the means to assist countries

in post-conflict environments while promoting the rule

of law and democratic values and preventing those

countries from slipping back into conflict. The Czech

Republic stands ready to assume its duties as a member

of the Commission beginning in January 2007.

Peacebuilding has to maintain strong ties with

peacekeeping. Indeed, we are facing a surge in demand

for that service provided by the United Nations, with

Lebanon as the most recent example. But even if the

number of Blue Helmets were to be multiplied, there

would still be room for meaningful engagement with

regional organizations in assisting the United Nations

to maintain peace and security. I welcome recent

debates on the role of those organizations, which

already shoulder a fair part of the burden in

Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Democratic Republic of

the Congo and the Sudan. From our trans-Atlantic

perspective, I particularly applaud the intensifying

cooperation among the United Nations, the EU and

NATO. I am proud to say that my country plays an

active part in that regard. We have a strong presence in

the Kosovo Force and the International Security

Assistance Force in Afghanistan. We are prepared to

explore other forms of support where we are not

directly involved.

It was very unfortunate that last year’s Summit

was not able to find common language on disarmament

and non-proliferation. The uncontrolled spread of the

illicit trafficking in conventional weapons, their use

against civilian populations and the deadly existence of

landmines all serve to continue to fuel conflict, human

suffering and insecurity around the world. My country

supports all efforts — as well as several

programmes — aimed at bringing the arms trade and

the use of arms under strong controls. But there is an

even greater threat: the possible proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction.

We welcome the fact that the Security Council is

increasingly engaged in those matters. Council

resolution 1540 (2004) was a major step forward. It

was recently followed up by strong messages addressed

to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iran.

Both those countries should fully comply with the

nuclear non-proliferation regimes and abandon any

ambitions going beyond the peaceful use of nuclear

power.

There is no freedom or security where masses of

people are plagued by poverty, hunger and unhealthy

living conditions. The Government of the Czech

Republic therefore attaches great importance to

development cooperation and to achieving the

Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Following the

economic transformation of the 1990s, we have

steadily increased our development aid every year. For

example, in 2005 Czech development assistance

increased by 16 per cent in real terms — reaching a

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level of 0.11 per cent of our gross national income.

That likely makes us the leading country providing

development assistance among new EU members. Our

humanitarian aid grew even more sharply and we are

determined to continue that trend. My country also

supports other measures that could provide additional

assistance — a fair solution to the debt problem for

poor countries, limiting agricultural subsidies and

creating more open conditions for trade. In that, we

associate ourselves with the goal of a global

partnership for development.

Development assistance is more effective in an

environment of stable and predictable conditions, the

rule of law, democratic structures, a successful fight

against corruption and respect for human rights — not

to mention that those qualities attract donors as they

are inherently worth supporting and cultivating. The

attention paid to those issues by the United Nations has

grown significantly over the last decade, resulting,

inter alia, in the establishment of the United Nations

Democracy Fund last year. My country was one of the

first contributors to the Fund. We are thus on the right

track, and I feel that we should go even further along

that road.

It was also decided at the United Nations Summit

last year — as part of the overall United Nations

reform — to transform and upgrade the Commission on

Human Rights, which became the Human Rights

Council. We have to work hard with others in Geneva,

to make it a beam of hope for millions of people living

under oppression and deprived of their rights in

different parts of the world.

However, the transformation of the United

Nations human rights machinery will be a failure,

unless the new body is stronger and more effective

than the old one, unless it succeeds in enhancing its

special procedures and country-oriented activities,

unless it finds the ways and means to respond where it

is needed, and unless it secures full international

cooperation in enforcing elementary standards of

fundamental human rights.

Regimes that behave contrary to all democratic

principles, use their power against their own citizens,

imprison their opponents arbitrarily and violate

elementary standards of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights must be confronted with an efficient

system. It is one of the sad ironies of our time that

Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in

Myanmar, 15 years after being awarded the Nobel

Peace Prize.

We cannot remain silent when members of

peaceful democratic opposition in Cuba, who are

calling for national dialogue and reconciliation, are

still jailed and harassed as alleged enemies of the State.

We also have to raise our voice of solidarity when a

presidential candidate of democratic forces in the

recent presidential elections in Belarus, Aleksandr

Kozulin, is sentenced to a term in prison for alleged

incitement to disorder.

Over several years, “reform” was one of the most

frequent and often misused words in our United

Nations vocabulary. But, even skeptics must admit that

the United Nations in 2006 is profoundly different

from the United Nations 10 year ago. While some

reform projects were put aside, a number of others

were carried out. Some projects — most notably the

long overdue reform of the Security Council —

continue, however, to wait for the green light.

This year’s highlight is management reform and

the reform of the United Nations development

machinery in the interest of system-wide coherence. If

we succeed in those areas, the United Nations could

become stronger, leaner, less bureaucratic and more

operational. Let us hope, that the changes will be

backed by the adoption of a new and fairer scale of

assessments, by adequate budget and payment

discipline, and last but not least, by progress in

implementing the Capital Master Plan.

In conclusion, let me assure you, Madam

President, that my country is ready to fulfil, in a timely

and orderly manner, all its obligations as a Member of

the United Nations, including our increased share of

the overall budget and our contributions to the

peacekeeping operations. We acknowledge and honour

our share of responsibility. More than that — we

continue to increase our volume of humanitarian aid

and to engage ourselves in assisting peace and security

in a number of areas around the world. I believe that

qualifies my country as a strong candidate for an

elected seat on the United Nations Security Council for

the term 2008-2009.