Slovakia, 2006

I would like to

express my deepest appreciation and most sincere

gratitude to the Secretary-General, His Excellency

Mr. Kofi Annan, for the invaluable work and tireless

dedication with which he led this Organization into the

twenty-first century. The Secretary-General has led the

United Nations well and he will be remembered with

praise for it. May I use this opportunity also to state

our full support to his successor, who will have to deal

with the difficult challenges the United Nations is

going to face.

Before proceeding to my remarks, I would like to

point out that Slovakia fully subscribes to the statement

delivered earlier by the President of Finland on behalf

of the European Union.

It gives me great pleasure to address the General

Assembly today, even more so as it is the first time I

am speaking from this rostrum as the Prime Minister of

Slovakia. My Government — formed only three

months ago — is committed to a foreign policy that

emphasizes effective multilateralism and promotes

democracy, international peace and security, greater

respect for human rights — including the rights of

persons belonging to national and other minorities —

rule of law, social equity and environmental protection.

We are focused on building a social state where

economic growth goes along with the growth of the

standard of living of the people.

All of us know that the United Nations is once

again at a crossroads, as we face the historic test of

multilateralism. The humanitarian disaster in Sudan,

recent conflict in Lebanon, continuing dispute over the

Iranian nuclear programme, violence in East Timor,

increasing military activity in Afghanistan and

Somalia, along with the negative developments in other

conflict regions, remind us that we live in a world of

evolving threats and challenges.

Modern threats could not have been anticipated

when the United Nations was founded in 1945. In fact,

the United Nations is challenged, as never before, to

deal with ethnic and other inter-State conflicts, weak

and failed States, genocide and ethnic cleansing,

complex humanitarian disasters and poverty, along

with threats of nuclear terrorism, transnational

organized crime, infectious diseases and environmental

degradation. The major challenges of today cannot be

managed by sovereign States acting alone. Hence, the

key challenge for all of us is to learn how to

collectively manage the complex issues of the world of

today and how to ensure the relevance of the United

Nations and its leadership in the process.

Slovakia, as a smaller country, is a strong

believer in multilateralism. Our present experience as

an elected member of the Security Council fully proves

that only through effective multilateral action can the

world community successfully address modern threats

and resolve current conflicts. But — and I underline

that “but” — as long as the international community,

acting through the United Nations, is unable to take

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decisive action to protect populations from genocide,

war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against

humanity, as in the case of Rwanda or Darfur, as long

as the United Nations ignores regressive developments

and violations of human rights in some parts of the

world, as long as it is unable to fight terrorism more

effectively and intervene in situations that do not yet

pose a threat to international peace and security but

have the potential to swiftly reach that stage, respect

for the United Nations will decline in the eyes of our

citizens.

Slovakia is, therefore, a strong supporter of

United Nations reform. We must continue building on

what has been achieved so far, including the

establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission,

adoption of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and

progress in management reform. We need to focus on

reducing tensions between developed and developing

countries and on building consensus regarding the

future direction of reforms. It is unrealistic to expect

that all States will share and promote a single version

of United Nations reform. But we have to overcome

the zero-sum mentality and continue with the reform

debate, with a view to achieving mutual concessions

and compromises on specific issues.

We particularly welcome the creation of the

Human Rights Council as a step towards realizing the

idea of three equal councils embodying three equal

pillars of the United Nations. But we ought to be

cautious and avoid slipping back into the old habits

that made its predecessor so dysfunctional.

Revitalization of the General Assembly,

enhancement of the role of the Economic and Social

Council and reform of the Security Council remain

unfinished business. The reform of the Council should,

first and foremost, address the issue of increasing its

capacity to act preventively and to take decisive action

early enough to prevent conflicts. The Security Council

must become more representative, more effective and

more transparent.

For its part, Slovakia is ready to engage

constructively in meaningful negotiations to achieve

those goals. Slovakia, as the co-chair of the ad hoc

committee on mandate review in the Security Council,

is working hard together with our partners to achieve

tangible results in the near future. We hope that visible

progress of the process within the Security Council can

inspire other United Nations bodies.

Slovakia is concerned about the current situation

in the Middle East, in particular in Lebanon and the

Palestinian territories. We firmly believe that there is

no military solution to the Middle East conflict. The

only way to achieve a comprehensive and lasting

settlement is through peaceful negotiations and full

implementation of all relevant Security Council

resolutions, as well as the principles defined by the

Quartet. Also, only through negotiations and further

diplomatic efforts can we fulfil the vision of two

democratic States, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-

side in peace and security. New efforts must be

undertaken to revive the peace process based on full

respect for principles defined by the Quartet in the

adopted road map.

Another source of our deep concern is the

alarming security and humanitarian situation in Darfur,

which continues to deteriorate in spite of numerous

efforts of the Security Council, the African Union, the

United Nations Secretary-General and the international

community at large. We are talking here about a

humanitarian disaster of large scale; we, therefore,

urgently need to intensify our efforts and break the

long-lasting cycle of violence.

In particular, we need to make sure that the

Government of National Unity of Sudan finally gives

its consent to the planned transition to a United

Nations-led operation in Darfur. The concept of

“responsibility to protect” adopted at last year’s World

Summit applies to all Member States and to all

Governments. When peaceful means prove inadequate

and national authorities are failing to protect their own

citizens, the international community has the

responsibility to act collectively through the Security

Council to prevent another Rwanda or Srebrenica.

As a matter of priority, Slovakia has been closely

following developments in the Western Balkans. Our

involvement there is based on the principles of

transparency and impartiality. Our priority is to

strengthen the stability of the region and to support the

processes of democratization and integration.

As for the issue of the future of Kosovo, we

continue to believe that it is important to seek a

settlement through direct talks and dialogue and

compromise, from both Belgrade and Pristina. Only a

solution that reflects the concerns of all parties

involved and provides for the rights of members of all

communities, notably the Kosovo Serbs, can ensure

19 06-53005

lasting security and stability in the region. The Kosovo

issue is truly a sui generis case.

We are also deeply concerned about the nuclear

programme of Iran and the proliferation risk it presents

to international peace and security. We urge the Iranian

authorities to respond positively to the proposed

package of incentives and to suspend its uranium

enrichment activities. For our part, we are ready to

continue the dialogue with Iran in a constructive and

open fashion. However, Iran, like any other Member of

the United Nations, must comply with Security Council

resolutions and with all relevant decisions of the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and must

fully cooperate with them.

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

and related delivery systems technology continues to

threaten global security. This is a serious challenge,

and we must face it with all responsibility. It requires

joint multilateral efforts and a common and effective

response. In May of this year, Secretary-General Kofi

Annan told the Conference on Disarmament that the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

(NPT) regime, faces “a twin crisis, of compliance and

of confidence”. With regret, we have to acknowledge

that he was absolutely right.

We should work together to overcome deadly

links like that between armament and proliferation and

to create a progress-friendly atmosphere. We need to

restore confidence through compliance with all

relevant obligations and commitments. As the

Chairman of the Security Council Committee

established pursuant to Council resolution 1540 (2004),

Slovakia tries to facilitate the process of the full

implementation of all measures to prevent the

formation of a nexus between the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. We hope

that agreement on the Committee’s programme of work

will be reached as soon as possible.

We also preside over the Conference on

Disarmament, and we are working to intensify efforts

to reverse the process of repeated failure during the

recent period and undertake constructive dialogue,

which would bring about long-expected results. Our

aim is to help revitalize the Conference and give new

breath to that single multilateral disarmament-

negotiating forum of the international community.

In conclusion, I would like to draw attention to an

issue which is increasingly important in shaping

international programmes for development assistance,

the promotion of democracy, security cooperation and

post-conflict peacebuilding. I am referring to security-

sector reform. Slovakia seeks to stimulate a broad

discussion on the role of security-sector reform in the

United Nations context, with a view to increasing

understanding of the topic and suggesting possible

options for the development of a comprehensive and

coherent approach. Our wish is to give an impetus to

developing a comprehensive policy framework that

would guide United Nations security-sector reform

programmes and projects in a coherent, consistent and

sustainable way.

As Mr. Jan Eliasson stressed in his remarkable

speech at the conclusion of the sixtieth session of the

General Assembly (see A/60/PV.100), the test of

whether we have re-established the United Nations and

international cooperation as the best way to manage

our global affairs did not occur in the past year, but it

will occur in the years ahead.

My wish is that all of us will pass the test and

create a United Nations that can live up to the

expectations and aspirations of our peoples.