Slovakia, 2014

At the outset, allow me to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President of

the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session and to

wish you every success in your important duties.

Let me begin with a quote by Edward Wilson:

“The great challenge of the twenty-first century

is to raise people everywhere to a decent standard

of living, while preserving as much of the rest of

life as possible.”

To preserve life and the sustainability of the planet

for every human is not pure theory. It is a practical

question for our future and for that of our children.

The Millennium Development Goals, the post-2015

framework and the challenge of climate change must

form much more than the theoretical basis for our

discussions. Those goals must identify, address, offer

a solution to and solve problems that in one or two

generations may bring the human race to the brink of

its own existence.

Seventy years ago, when the Second World War

caused tens of millions of deaths, consuming all of

the principles of humanity, the patriots and democrats

in my country, Slovakia, took up arms and put their

lives at risk to fight against evil and for liberty and

democratic values. They fought together with many

other nations to establish the foundation for new global

cooperation, given shape a year later with the adoption

of the Charter of the United Nations. The horrors of

the Second World War, the failure of the international

community to maintain world peace, the direct threat

on the part of larger countries to use force against

smaller ones and the absence of an international order

and rules that are be universally accepted and respected

were a painful lesson for us all.

Cooperation among nations has come a long way in

the past seven decades. The United Nations has played

an important role on that road, but we have not gathered

here to celebrate a false sense of success. We have to

go much further than simply to identify challenges. It

would be a lost opportunity if political correctness and

diplomatic language were to limit us from openly and

freely naming and discussing the problems that plague

our world and the continents, countries and citizens that

we represent. We must not betray the commitments that

we all made to the principles of democracy, peace and

security for every single citizen of our planet. We must

look into the mirror to see what we are doing, how we do

it, what we are doing or have done wrong and what we

can do better. We believed that the number of conflicts

would gradually decrease as our civilization matured

and developed. However, today, we are confronted

with the opposite reality. Instability is increasingly

becoming the new status quo. Instability, poverty and

hatred are the fertilizers and catalysts of terrorism, and

terrorism is a threat to which no one is immune.

A year ago, we Europeans could hardly imagine

that, after investing so much effort in achieving peace

and stability in our continent, a new armed conflict

would arise in our neighbourhood. Conflict is dangerous

both in its nature and in its consequences. Twenty

years ago, Ukraine abandoned its nuclear programme

in exchange for the security and territorial integrity

guarantees granted by the United States, the United

Kingdom, China, France and the Russian Federation.

Today, instead of marking a major anniversary of

achievement in the area of security and stability on the

European continent, we are witnessing armed conflict

and political instability. Instead of building a world

without weapons of mass destruction, we encourage

those countries that seek security under the lethal

nuclear umbrella.

Slovakia strongly denounces violations of the

territorial integrity of any State. That is a trademark

of our foreign policy. It is a pillar for the stability of

the geopolitical architecture. We support that principle,

and Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea are

not an exception. We are nevertheless convinced that

dialogue and diplomatic efforts, with the participation

of Russia, will lead to sustainable peace in Ukraine.

We must respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and

the sovereign right of its people to decide their fate in a

free and independent manner. The United Nations plays

a crucial role in that matter. What Ukraine needs today

is to restore peace and stability, implement reforms

and be reassured of the strength of the guarantees for

the inviolability of its territory. Slovakia is ready to

participate in that process.

Diplomatic language is full of allegories, but

even the nicest language cannot hide the naked truth

when people are being killed. Acts of barbarism and

cruelty have become a freely available article. They are

broadcast live to our homes. They make us insensitive

to violence far away. At the same time, they create the

feeling of having being born into an unsafe world, in

which people ask: where is the effective protective

umbrella of the United Nations?

A year ago, we could not imagine the sudden rise

of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),

which has become a global threat in a short time. It has

overshadowed the long-term effort of the international

community in Iraq. The ideology and acts of ISIL

represent an unprecedented level of brutality and the

twisted use of the media for their self-promotion. It

represents the dangerous ideology of forcing violent

changes to State borders. It embodies ethnic and

religious cleansing, which will not stop at the borders

of Iraq, Syria or the neighbouring countries, but has the

ambition to spread beyond the region of the Middle East.

The entire global community has the responsibility to

act in order to end the suffering of the innocent victims

of violence and to protect children and women. Today,

we must to stand united in Iraq and prevent ISIL from

taking root in the territory it has occupied and from

consolidating its military and economic power.

Autocratic and totalitarian ideologies always bring

suffering, the restriction of rights, internal conflict,

injustice and death. We are all too familiar with

their ultimate price and catastrophic consequences.

Among the many tasks facing the United Nations

are the prevention of such ideologies from becoming

successful, the protection of human rights, the adoption

of every possible preventive measures to prevent

conflict and the establishment of sustainable peace.

Slovakia, with its own first-hand experience of

transitioning from a totalitarian regime to democracy,

supports efforts to create the conditions necessary for

sustainable peace. We promote security sector reform

as one of the key factors for success in the peaceful

development in regions emerging from conflict, as

well as for States going through a regime change to

democracy. Stable security institutions such as the police

and military can better fulfil their duties to safeguard

human rights and protect their citizens, especially

society’s most vulnerable members, including women

and girls.

The Slovak Republic actively fulfils its commitments

to Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission

in Afghanistan is led by a diplomat from Slovakia. We

remain convinced that in the aftermath of the recent

presidential election, the new Afghan leadership will

be able to create the conditions needed to achieve

national and social unity and to continue supporting

international assistance. I am pleased to note that the

two former presidential candidates have reached an

agreement, and we believe that that will contribute to

Afghanistan’s stability. Slovakia is ready to continue

to do its part in assisting the Afghan people in that

endeavour.

Disarmament is key to eliminating potential

sources of tension and conflict. Last year’s signing of

the Arms Trade Treaty was an important step towards

establishing common legal standards for regulating

and monitoring international trade in conventional

weapons. The Slovak Republic was among the first 50

countries to ratify the Treaty, and we are hopeful that

its implementation will contribute to eliminating the

dangers of the illegal arms trade and thus strengthen

global security.

Last but not least, peace, security and stability

are preconditions for development. The rule of law,

democratic governance and human rights are essential

for every single citizen. But we must address, respond

to and solve the global issues that may be as deadly

for humankind as a nuclear war — the changes that

are occurring on our planet. Globalization has created

borderless opportunities for entrepreneurship, but it has

also created new challenges that we must deal with if we

are to make life on Earth sustainable — climate change,

inequalities in development and in the distribution of

goods and services, poverty and unequal access to

health and education.

Slovakia is and will remain a responsible member of

the global community. We participate in the discussion

on financing sustainable development, offering our own

experience of economic transition. Global challenges

require global action and national responsibility. We

are ready to do our share.

The peoples of the world have vested in the United

Nations an exclusive and global responsibility: to

respond to violations of peace, ensusre respect for

international law, protect human rights and deal with

threats to humanity. Let us all make sure that it is able

to continue to carry out those responsibilities. For

decades, the Organization has been the forum where we

can name those responsible for the murder of their own

citizens on a massive scale, the leaders who worship a

cult of hatred and intolerance, and those who favour

arms over agreements and international law. But in the

cases where we have failed, our failure has caused the

suffering and death of innocent people.

We, the United Nations, should not give up on

the ideal of being the conscience of the world. Our

Organization should be the authority with the ability

to define, prevent and solve conflicts and problems.

Together we must convince people around the world

that we are safeguarding the international norms and

principles that the United Nations is built on. If we fail

to accomplish that within the United Nations itself,

we will not be able to guarantee to humankind that

totalitarianism, injustice, impunity and amorality will

not prevail.