Slovenia, 1995

It is a great pleasure to see

Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral presiding over the important

proceedings of the fiftieth session of the General Assembly.

We are confident that under his guidance this session will

be a great success.

The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations gives

us a reason and an opportunity to reflect on the state of

the United Nations and on the question of its ability to

adjust to a changing world. This is especially necessary

in our times. We have witnessed in the short span of the

last few years a variety of changes which have affirmed

the global nature of all the basic issues facing mankind.

An array of United Nations conferences and summits

has strengthened our common awareness of the global

nature of environmental and development issues,

including those related to social development. The world-

wide tendency towards democracy and the freedom of the

individual has strengthened the world-wide cause of

human rights. The notion of our common security is

being redefined and globalized. It now contains not only

military and political, but also economic, social and

environmental components.

This session of the General Assembly began less

than two weeks after the conclusion of the Fourth World

Conference on Women. That conference amply

demonstrated the depth and the global nature of the

changes that are at hand. The equality of women and the

realization of the human rights of women are now among

the priority issues on the international agenda.

The United Nations has highlighted the sensitivity of

the organized international community to the crucial

issues facing the world and the Organization’s ability to

provide a framework for articulating the main objectives

and commitments. It has also demonstrated the ability to

formulate principal policy objectives. On the other hand,

however, the United Nations has yet to prove its ability to

organize effective international cooperation for the

realization of voluntary, agreed objectives and

commitments. This is a more difficult task, and much is left

to be desired in our fulfilment of it.

Furthermore, it is in this context that the question of

reform of the United Nations system arises. Reforms are

needed to respond to profound changes in international

relations and should be much more far-reaching and

carefully focused than is currently the case. So, for

example, reforms in the economic and social domains

should duly take into account the transformation of the

world economy and the ever growing importance of market

forces, private-initiative entrepreneurship and free trade. In

these circumstances there is no place for the creation of

unnecessary supra-State structures. What is needed,

however, is carefully targeted operational cooperation for

development and high-level dialogue capable of assisting

Member States to formulate the most effective economic

and social policies.

The functional commissions of the Economic and

Social Council should become places where decision

makers both from Governments and from non-governmental

sectors meet and devise specific strategies. New schemes of

cooperation among governmental and non-governmental

sectors are needed, not least to develop appropriate models

for financing the relevant priorities in the fields of

environment and social development.

Careful thinking and responsible action are necessary

for the strengthening of international peace and security.

Each of the diverse priorities in this domain will require

serious efforts if satisfactory solutions are to be possible.

However, there are also fears that the will to reach them

has not yet been mobilized.

Another priority area of United Nations action for the

strengthening of international peace and security concerns

the necessary reform of the principal United Nations body

in this field, the Security Council. An awareness of the

need to strengthen the representative character and the

effectiveness of the Security Council through expansion of

its membership is now generally shared. Slovenia is among

those Members of the United Nations which support the

idea of appropriate expansion of the number of both

permanent and non-permanent seats on the Security

Council. This is the majority view now. Furthermore, we

believe that in order to reflect adequately the political and

economic realities of our time it is important that Germany

and Japan should become permanent members of the

Security Council.

In the framework of the proposed reform, we should

ask ourselves what the future role of the United Nations

ought to be. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the

disappearance of the communist bloc, there is a new

situation in the world. The process is basically positive,

but in the first years after the big change there are still

many questions to be answered. The world must find new

stability, a new balance. The danger of regional conflicts

and wars has increased. The international community did

not find adequate responses to specific situations, such as

those in Somalia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But we cannot simply say that international

institutions, including the United Nations, were inefficient

in dealing with these situations. The humanitarian

endeavour and contribution were significant. Many

remarkable efforts were put into solutions — efforts by

individuals and by institutions. But it remains clear that

the world must find answers to the new challenges.

The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very

good example. It is an important case in itself, but it is

also a very important precedent to be considered in the

future. The response of the world to the situation in the

former Yugoslavia was slow. Preventive diplomacy failed

in this case, as in many other crises, as a result of the

normal behaviour of the majority of politicians, who

usually give priority to domestic situations and problems.

But in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina there is

another very important dimension of the problem: a

solution or the absence of a solution will influence the

future.

How will the post-cold-war world develop? Will

there be efficient international coordination, mainly within

the United Nations, to take care of such problems and

crises? Or shall we go back to the old division of the

world and of Europe: the division, in interest spheres,

among classic Powers — the traditional interest spheres

of the most important countries?

It is obvious that in the case of Bosnia and

Herzegovina there was some mix of the two approaches.

There was an international effort in the framework of the

United Nations, and there were differences among some

power States with different opinions about the situation.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is where the First World War

started, when the old European Powers tried to expand

their interest zones. The former Yugoslavia was at the

2

crossroads of many interests and is where so many horrors

and killings took place during the Second World War. And

there are some signs that the international community has

not yet completely overcome such historical divisions and

influences.

On the other hand, we cannot say that this historical

approach prevailed in tackling the situation in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. There was also strong international action in

the name of the universal order and universal values, in the

name of the protection of human rights, in the name of the

protection of the rights of all nations. It is very encouraging

that we recently witnessed really serious activity, a very

serious peace plan. Diplomatic activity combined with the

necessary military action has for the first time provided a

realistic chance to stop the war and the killing in Bosnia

and Herzegovina and to establish a durable peace and the

prospect of stability in the region.

If these activities succeed, they will be an extremely

important model for the future, for further development of

international coordination in the framework of the United

Nations. If the international community is able to solve

such an extremely difficult case as that of Bosnia and

Herzegovina we shall all be encouraged to direct new

energy and efforts towards establishing global instruments

and activities to prevent and to solve future crises. The

international community will strengthen its institutions in

support of universal values and rights.

If it fails in this case the situation will be just the

opposite. The road will be open to anarchy, chaos and

regional wars, to the rule of the stronger, to the old

practices of spheres of interest, and the world will not find

a way out of the post-cold-war situation. Instability will

increase, and the chances of regional and global wars will

be greater.

So we are at a very important moment in history and

in the functioning of the United Nations. If the fiftieth

anniversary of the United Nations is celebrated with success

in finally solving the crisis in the former Yugoslavia, this

will be the best reward for everybody who, over the past 50

years, has sacrificed his time, his energy or even his life for

the establishment of a world of freedom, stability and

international cooperation.

Of course, there are many problems to be solved in

the future. The United Nations will have to develop

efficient instruments of preventive diplomacy and means of

handling crises if they occur anyway and of defining the

criteria as to when and how to intervene. As is very evident

from the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is not always

easy to achieve a unanimous definition of “the bad guys”

in the world order or to agree upon action against them.

But there are human rights criteria, and there are

universal values that were developed in the world over

the centuries, and especially during recent decades. These

have to be respected and implemented.

Luckily, Slovenia was out of the Yugoslav crisis at

a very early stage and established its independence four

years ago. Now we have a very prosperous State with

good democratic performance and very good economic

development. Slovenia is considered one of the best

countries, if not the best country, in transition to the

market and democratic system. We are also prepared to

make our contribution to building the international

institutions and the coordination that will lead to greater

stability in the world. We see our future as being in

international institutions like the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) and the European Union. We look

upon such bodies not only as economic or defence

institutions but also as institutions that should ensure

greater stability in the world, greater democracy and the

development of universal principles of individual and

collective human rights.

But we can see that the way is not easy. Even in our

own neighbourhood we face some remnants of the past.

This is just one further reason for our insistence on

respect by everybody, and not just by the smaller and the

weaker countries, for principle in international relations,

democracy and universal values. This is the only

guarantee of international peace and stability. Clearly, if

we start to correct the past and the present on the basis of

some historical tendencies of domination, there will be no

way of securing the future stability of the world. The

solution lies only in overcoming such practices and

attitudes and in establishing international cooperation,

peace and stability on the basis of respect for each other

and for universal human rights.