Croatia, 1999

Let me first extend sincere

congratulations to you, Sir, as the new President of the

General Assembly. I am confident that your rich

diplomatic experience and the reputation you enjoy will

play an important role in leading the Assembly’s work.

I would also like to give credit to Mr. Didier Opertti

of Uruguay for the great skill and persistence he showed

in presiding over the work of the fifty-third session of the

General Assembly.

May I also welcome the three new Member States of

our Organization, Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga. The United

Nations is richer for their membership.

We are only one year away from the Millennium

Assembly, an event whose symbolism should inspire us

to strive harder to achieve all the goals of the

Organization. In looking forward to the challenges of the

future, our countries also realize that the world continues

to hold many dangers. It has been rightly said that

globalization has two faces. While accounting for an

increasingly complex web of linkages across the full

spectrum of human endeavour, it has also led to increased

alienation and, in some cases, disparity. Quite clearly, the

United Nations is at the forefront of efforts to address and

reconcile these complex processes. The struggle to raise

and improve the quality of life of the hundreds of

millions who continue to suffer the anguish of poverty,

the protection of our precious environment, the

strengthening of democracy and the protection of human

rights, responding effectively to natural disasters, further

13

progress in disarmament and dealing properly with security

crises as they arise all continue to occupy us.

Having mentioned the issue of security, allow me to

observe that the situation in South-Eastern Europe has come

full circle with the return of the epicentre of the crisis to

the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kosovo, where it

started more than a decade ago. The military intervention

of the international community, supported by all the

countries of the region, including Croatia, must now be

followed up with an appropriate political response. Just as

we joined the international community in condemning

violations of human rights, it is clear that energies must

now be concentrated on building a lasting and just peace.

With regard to the security issue of Prevlaka, as with

other matters resulting from the aggression and territorial

pretensions of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, bilateral

negotiations have been unsuccessful. The simple reason is

that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia does not wish to

accept Croatia's internationally recognized borders. Only

when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia accepts Prevlaka

as a purely security-related issue instead of considering it

a territorial dispute, and refrains from abusing this issue in

internal Serbian-Montenegrin relations, will a solution be at

hand. The opening of border crossings with the Republic of

Montenegro has, by allowing for the freedom of movement

of people and goods, significantly contributed to regional

stability and helped the democratic transformation of

Montenegro.

Croatia has proposed the establishment of a bilateral

security regime as a follow-up to the present one

administered by the United Nations Mission of Observers

in Prevlaka (UNMOP). Whether as a result of successful

bilateral negotiations with the Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia, of a Security Council resolution or even of

unilateral action consistent with the rights and duties of

Croatia under international law, the UNMOP mandate

should be terminated soon. Further prolongation of the

mandate will only serve those who wish to stall

negotiations indefinitely, which is contrary to good-

neighbourly relations and the interests of stability in the

wider region.

The key legal issue arising from the disintegration of

the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

remains that of succession. As long as this matter is

unresolved, the prospects for lasting normalization in the

region will be hampered for all the successor States.

Responsibility for this state of affairs lies squarely with the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which keeps rejecting the

conclusions of the United Nations/European Union

Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, as well as the

relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the

General Assembly. Only if rooted in this existing body of

international law and authority can the question of

succession be resolved. Pending a full resolution of this

issue, the normal economic processes that might

otherwise promote stability and cooperation cannot have

a positive effect, either on the region or on bilateral

relations.

Over the past year, Croatia has persevered in its

determination to enlarge and enrich the content and scope

of its special bilateral relations with Bosnia and

Herzegovina. I am particularly pleased to be able to

inform the Assembly that we have recently resolved one

of the hitherto open questions in our relations with Bosnia

and Herzegovina: an agreement has been signed settling

the issue of our common border.

Croatia will continue both to support the

implementation of the Dayton agreements regarding

Bosnia and Herzegovina and to maintain its commitment

to ensuring the rights of the Croats, as the least numerous

of its three constituent peoples.

Following a slow initial response, there has been a

proliferation of both national and multinational initiatives

throughout the second half of the 1990s aimed at ensuring

long-term stability in South-Eastern Europe. The new

Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe builds upon the

sound foundation provided by the prospect of the

inclusion of the States of the region in the Euro-Atlantic

integration processes. However, its success will depend

upon an individual evaluation of the progress being made

by the respective States, an evaluation which should be

based upon simple, clear and transparent criteria.

My country has welcomed the Pact as an important

development involving all the relevant international actors

and seeking a comprehensive solution. In the view of

Croatia, the strengths of the Pact — provided that it is

implemented to the letter — are, first, its

comprehensiveness and, secondly, its vision of integrating

the participating States into the Euro-Atlantic structures.

In this way, we hope that it will marshal the hitherto

dispersed energies of the international community. Croatia

lends its full support to the process related to the Pact and

reiterates its determination to continue to take an active

role in its implementation.

14

The joint success of the United Nations and the

Croatian Government in peacefully reintegrating the

previously occupied part of eastern Croatia early last year

has been followed by the gradual return of displaced

persons to their homes, not only in that region, but also to

other areas of Croatia. It is a complex process involving the

return of Croats to their homes in the previously occupied

areas, and the return of Croatian Serbs to their homes from

other countries and from eastern Croatia to other parts of

the country.

While the difficult economic circumstances,

particularly in the areas of return, are certainly not helping

the process, they are affecting all citizens equally. In spite

of these objective circumstances, the national Programme

for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons,

Refugees and Exiled Persons is being successfully

implemented and has resulted in the return of 65,000

Croatian Serbs.

Croatia maintains intensive relations with the

International war crimes Tribunal for the former

Yugoslavia. It has taken numerous steps, from providing

documentation and access to alleged crime sites to assisting

in the voluntary surrender of indicted persons to the

Tribunal. Whenever a legal dispute has arisen, Croatia has

sought ways of resolving it through proceedings within the

Tribunal Chamber itself. However, while it has lent its full

support and cooperation to the Tribunal, Croatia is not fully

satisfied with the results to date. Indictments issued so far

do not adequately reflect the true nature and scope of the

war crimes committed by different sides in the conflict. The

unusual delay in bringing persons in custody before the

court — in some cases more than two years, despite the

initial assurances of speedy trials — has not strengthened

the Tribunal's credibility.

No one has been charged for the crimes committed

against Bosnian Croats — despite assurances given as long

ago as the Dayton negotiations — and no one has been

sentenced for crimes committed during the aggression

against Croatia, despite ample evidence and 14,000 deaths.

Allow me to repeat what I have said on previous

occasions in this forum. The Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia continues to harbour the notorious war criminal

Mile Martic and the perpetrators of the most heinous war

crimes committed in Vukovar — Mrksic, Sljivancanin and

Radic. Its stance overtly defies the will of the Security

Council, the international community and justice in general.

It also poses a big obstacle to the reconciliation process.

We have witnessed tremendous advances during the

twentieth century. However, many challenges remain,

particularly if we are to eradicate poverty, protect our

environment, and promote and achieve sustained social

development and economic growth.

The recent important deliberations and work of the

Economic and Social Council have confirmed that the

Council is an important forum for addressing the manifold

issues arising from globalization. Croatia believes that

implementation of the negotiated outcomes in the broad

subject areas of sustainable development is the key to

promoting the global agenda of leaving a healthy planet

Earth for future generations to enjoy. The system of

international conferences, now undergoing their five-year

reviews, and the United Nations system as a whole, have

a leading role to play in this regard. It is with all these

factors in mind that Croatia has chosen the Economic and

Social Council as the first principal body to which to

present its candidature.

Our hopes and goals for the future notwithstanding,

the world is still encumbered with the legacies of the

twentieth century. The scourge of war and all that violent

conflicts bring with them are still a clear and ever-present

concern. The United Nations must be ready to cope with

these challenges. This inevitably requires reform of the

Organization. There is, of course, a broad consensus

about the need for reform, but as always, the devil is in

the details. The United Nations needs to have mechanisms

at its disposal to address the issues arising from the new

international order in a timely and efficient manner. The

reforms within the competency of the Secretary-General

are moving ahead. The Member States should now grasp

the symbolism of the new millennium in order to

conclude the reform process.

The reform of the Security Council remains stalled.

The primary task of the Council, the maintenance of

international peace and security, makes its representation

and transparency, and hence its reform, highly important.

Questions related to mine clearance and to the

destruction of anti-personnel and other types of mines are

a matter of special concern to Croatia. In spite of the fact

that much work is being done to alleviate this problem,

hundreds of thousands of mines still lie scattered over

6,000 square kilometres of Croatia's territory. Having

ratified the Ottawa Convention last year, Croatia was

pleased to host a regional conference on anti-personnel

mines in Zagreb in July this year and thus share its

15

experience and expertise directed at ridding the world of

these terrible weapons.

The United Nations is best known for its peacekeeping

role around the world. Croatia, which has hosted five

separate peacekeeping operations on its territory, has in

recent weeks taken on the role of a contributor of

peacekeepers. As we have announced in the past, through

its participation in the United Nations mission in Sierra

Leone Croatia will now be able to repay in kind the good

deeds previously bestowed on it. The Croatian Government

is honoured by this responsibility and is confident that its

soldiers will be exemplary members of the United Nations

force. Additionally, we welcome the evolutionary

developments in the area of peacekeeping, from the use of

civilian police and preventive forces to the “White

Helmets” proposal.

The promotion and protection of human rights requires

constant vigilance and effort by all responsible

Governments. The Croatian Government, through its

National Committee for Human Rights Education, in

cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and experts from the

Council of Europe, is preparing a national programme on

human rights education targeting schoolchildren at the

primary and secondary levels.

Croatia continues to follow closely the progress being

made towards establishing an International Criminal Court.

The establishment of an efficient, permanent International

Criminal Court will be a milestone in the march towards

the universal protection of human rights and the rule of

law. Croatia has signed the Statute of the Court and looks

forward to other States doing so, too, so that this great

achievement of the international community can commence

its operation as soon as possible.

The present session of the General Assembly will be

vital in preparing for the coming Millennium Assembly. It

is important that this Assembly be well prepared so that it

is an event of substance rather than of ceremonial character.

Croatia hopes that it will be a real crossroads and that it

will succeed in providing guidelines for a better and more

tolerant world in the coming millennium.

Allow me to conclude by noting that Croatia is

looking forward to the work of the fifty-fourth session,

hopeful that it will bring further progress in addressing the

challenges and grasping the opportunities of our times.