Slovakia, 2007

Allow me, Sir, to congratulate you on your election as President

of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I

believe that, under your presidency, this Organization

will make further progress in its reforms, enabling it to

respond promptly to the challenges faced by the

international community.

From the outset, I would like to thank your

predecessor, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her

efforts in performing the challenging tasks on the

agenda of the sixty-first session of the General

Assembly.

The Slovak Republic fully aligns itself with the

statement delivered by the representative of Portugal

on behalf of the European Union. In addition, I wish to

make a contribution to the general debate on behalf of

the Slovak Republic.

In spite of notable progress in some areas, the

Slovak Republic is not satisfied with the current pace

and scope of the United Nations reform process. We

think it necessary to make the work of newly created

structures and institutions more dynamic and to prepare

the United Nations to ensure the targeted prevention

and solution of concrete problems and conflicts.

We appreciate the establishment of the

Peacebuilding Commission. We hope that it will

become a pivotal tool in post-conflict stabilization. It

should give the international community a vehicle for

solving issues that extends the scope of crisis

management.

Slovakia also encourages efforts towards overall

reform in the system of human rights protection. We

have welcomed the commencement of work by the

Human Rights Council and recognize its primary

responsibility for promoting universal respect for the

protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Within the ongoing process of institutional changes, we

expect the Council to effectively enforce its mandate

pursuant to resolution 60/251. The Slovak Republic

endorses the concept of protecting and promoting

human rights at the national and international levels. In

that context, we are prepared to assume our share of

responsibility. We will be honoured to receive the

support of other United Nations Member States for the

candidacy of the Slovak Republic to the Human Rights

Council for 2008-2011 in the election scheduled for

spring 2008.

The Slovak Republic appreciates the measures

designed to reform the Secretariat. We support the

modernization of the Secretariat’s management system

so that it can flexibly respond to current needs and

challenges, and the strengthening of its accountability

for the implementation of its tasks. As a country

participating in several United Nations-led

peacekeeping missions, we have also expressed our

support for the restructuring of the Department of

Peacekeeping Operations.

United Nations reform cannot be complete

without also reforming the structure and working

methods of the Security Council. Slovakia has been

actively engaged in this reform effort during the term

as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

The membership of that United Nations body should

reflect the changed geopolitical reality. The number of

both permanent and non-permanent Council members

should increase and the Global South countries should

acquire more seats. Germany and Japan have our

explicit support in their ambition to become new

permanent members of the Council. As a small country,

we also support those proposals for the non-permanent

membership category that would restrict countries from

so-called “flip-flopping” between categories.

Nor may the General Assembly evade the reform

effort. It is necessary to strengthen its role and

authority by focusing the Assembly’s attention on real

and acute problems of the current world. The Assembly

should also create mechanisms that would allow for the

monitoring of the implementation of its decisions and

at the same time provide for the elimination of

outdated measures that overburden its work.

Thought should also be given to the

representativeness of the bodies established by the

General Assembly. Slovakia, as a member of the Group

of Eastern European States, appreciates the election of

Mr. Srgjan Kerim as President of the Assembly at its

sixty-second session. At the same time, it should be

emphasized that the Eastern European Group is the

most dynamically growing regional group in the

General Assembly, yet its representation in managerial

positions in the Secretariat and in United Nations

bodies does not reflect that situation. A prime example

of the situation is the fact that this year not one of the

Assembly's Vice-Presidents is from the regional group

of which the Slovak Republic is a member.

Besides the efforts aimed at reforming the United

Nations, the Slovak Republic wishes to pay special

attention to the issue of security sector reform during

the sixty-second session. We believe that insufficient

reform or lack of reform in the security sector is often

a source or catalyst of conflicts, or even causes post-

conflict countries to lapse back to a conflict state. It

should also be borne in mind that a well-governed

security sector should, above all, ensure human

security, which represents the foundation for the

stability, good governance and, ultimately,

development of a country.

We are expecting a comprehensive report by the

Secretary-General on security sector reform, which

should become the basis of a more in-depth discussion

on this issue within the United Nations. Therefore,

Slovakia has decided to initiate a thematic discussion

on security sector reform during the sixty-second

session.

The Slovak Republic also expects the sixty-

second session to revitalize the discussion on

disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction. Slovakia has had an opportunity to

contribute to these efforts through its chairmanship of

the Security Council Committee established pursuant

to resolution 1540 (2004). In this context, in February

2007 Slovakia also initiated an open debate in the

Security Council on non-proliferation of weapons of

mass destruction.

The destructive potential of weapons of mass

destruction increases along with the growing threat of

international terrorism. We therefore also wish to pay

special attention to this threat to international peace

and security. The United Nations Global Counter-

Terrorism Strategy adopted by the General Assembly

last year (resolution 60/288) provided for wide-ranging

international cooperation in this field.

The Slovak Republic pays due attention to the

economic and social aspects of the United Nations,

where we wish to engage even more actively. In 2003,

we submitted our candidacy for membership in the

Economic and Social Council for the years 2010 to

2012. We will be pleased to receive support from other

Member States for our candidacy.

As a new development aid donor, we want to

facilitate more effective cooperation with both

beneficiary and donor countries, integrate the work of

international agencies and make more efficient use of

the existing United Nations capacities in this area. We

wish to pay special attention to the development of

post-conflict regions, which currently receive the

largest portion of development aid. We believe that

there will be room in the Economic and Social Council

for Slovakia to utilize its experience in the field of

security sector reform in the joint work with other

bodies of the United Nations system.

Over the past two years, Slovakia has worked for

the first time as a member of the Security Council.

When adopting our decisions on the sensitive problems

of the modern world, we took into consideration the

peculiarities of individual cases, yet at the same time,

we sought to promote the value system of a member of

the European and trans-Atlantic community. Slovakia

will continue to work within the United Nations in this

same spirit, even after the completion of its current

term in the Security Council. We also wish to make

good use of the experience we have gained in our work

in other United Nations bodies.

The Slovak Republic is frustrated that no solution

to the Kosovo issue has yet been found. In our opinion,

Kosovo must not thwart the unification of European

nations nor set a negative precedent in terms of

international law.

It is with hope that we view the adoption of

Security Council resolution 1769 (2007), granting a

mandate for the deployment of a joint African Union-

United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur. This

unprecedented decision has moved the cooperation

between the United Nations and regional organizations

to a new level.

With regard to the Middle East issue, Slovakia

endorses a peaceful, fair and permanent solution to the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The talks should result in

the establishment of a viable Palestinian State that will

coexist with Israel in an atmosphere of perpetual peace

and security. In this context, we appreciate the

resumption of dialogue between Israel and Palestine

and the measures taken in this respect by the Quartet.

It has been seven years since our Millennium

session, when we discussed our vision for the future of

life on our planet. It has been neither seven rich nor

seven poor years. The United Nations has made some

progress. On the other hand, it has failed to cope with

many challenges. We must do better together to make

the future score fall more in favour of the United

Nations.