Slovenia, 2004

Through the founding

of the United Nations almost 60 years ago, humankind

raised its mutual cooperation to an entirely new level.

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Prior to that, humankind painfully came to realize,

through a catastrophe of unimaginable dimensions, the

inseparable link between its fate and the urgent need

for international cooperation.

Today the fate of humankind is even more

crucially linked than ever before. The boundaries

between the problems of “others” and “our” problems

are being increasingly erased. This applies to a wide

range of areas: from security and social welfare to the

economy and the environment. For this reason, world

problems demand solidarity and the additional

commitment of the international community to help

those in need and to ensure that everyone will share in

the fruits of technological progress. In this spirit,

Slovenia supports the report of the World Commission

on the Social Dimension of Globalization and its

emphasis on the urgent need to ensure the conditions

for a just and fair globalization.

The Millennium Goals represent a major

commitment to resolving problems of the modern

world. But the developmental goals for bridging the

gap between rich and poor are not being realized to a

satisfactory extent. Existing international mechanisms

and institutions are not ensuring that the trends of

increasing global imbalance can be turned around for

the better. We need change that will break through the

inertia of established systems of operation. And for this

we need new approaches: introducing innovative

sources of financing world development can be one

such approach. It is time for us to realize the urgent

need for change in world relations, and to summon the

necessary will to put these changes into effect and

thereby raise international cooperation to a new level.

The past year was again marked by international

terrorism, which claimed countless innocent lives. We

witnessed with pain the tragedies in Beslan, Moscow,

Madrid, Istanbul, Riyadh, Haifa and elsewhere.

International terrorism is erasing the boundary between

peace and war. The common fight against international

terrorism and its origins must remain one of the

priority tasks of individual Members and of the entire

United Nations. This also applies to preventing the

spread of weapons of mass destruction. The unanimous

Security Council resolution is a welcome step towards

effective cooperation in this area.

When we combat the universal evil of terrorism,

we should not do this at the expense of the existing

legal standards of human rights and international

humanitarian law. Any lowering of these standards will

be repaid to us in a reduction of the legitimacy of

international action — and consequently in a creation

of fertile ground for further attacks on human security.

We should also draw attention to the

responsibility of countries, in accordance with the

principles of good governance, to ensure for their

citizens the necessary conditions for a secure and

decent life.

In that context, we must express our concern at

the humanitarian situation in Darfur, and we welcome

the efforts of the United Nations and the international

community to seek a way out of the crisis.

The increasingly direct contacts among cultures

and civilizations bring new challenges and new

opportunities. Let us exploit them for mutual

enrichment and the formulation of a common

consciousness of humankind. We will be able to do that

only with the presumption of radical equality and the

tolerant acceptance of plurality in human values. The

boundaries of the plurality of those values are

delineated by fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The United Nations plays a central part in asserting

them internationally.

Slovenia welcomes the start of work by the new

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour,

and assures her of our full willingness to cooperate. At

the same time, we express our continued support of the

International Criminal Court, which represents an

important instrument for the exercise of the rule of law

and human rights.

Only a multilateral response to modern

challenges can be effective. Of all existing

organizations, the United Nations is without doubt the

most important and most appropriate for seeking such

responses. However, it is in need of institutional

reform, so that its structure — the structure of 60 years

ago — can now better reflect the realities of today’s

world. Solutions to the burning issues facing

humankind must be sought within the United Nations

system, otherwise solutions will be imposed outside it.

Frequently, that will undoubtedly be to the detriment of

human development.

Slovenia supports the efforts to revitalize the

General Assembly and acknowledges the achievements

of Julian Hunte, President of the General Assembly at

its fifty-eighth session, in that area. We eagerly await

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the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats,

Challenges and Change at the end of the year, and we

express our willingness to cooperate fully. We hope

that, on the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations,

we will see such changes, which will ensure for this

global Organization a central place and the greatest

possible effectiveness in performing its mission.

Increasingly, threats to international peace and

security are taking on new forms, which for a long time

now have not been limited to the danger of aggression

by one country against another. They cover a whole

range of internal tensions and conflicts within

countries, on the one hand, and transboundary threats

such as international terrorism, environmental

pollution and the asymmetrical effects of globalization,

on the other. In modern threats to international peace

and security, States are not the only players. For that

reason alone, States cannot on their own provide a

satisfactory response to them.

Intergovernmental cooperation needs to be

supplemented through the inclusion of various non-

governmental organizations and global civil society.

I would like also to highlight the responsibility

and potential of transnational corporations to

contribute to protecting the environment and to

eliminating the tensions caused by global competitive

models. Non-governmental organizations can

contribute to solutions through innovative approaches

and by going beyond the limitations of established

bureaucratic frameworks. They can help to create a

critical mass of awareness regarding the urgent need

for change and the elimination of global imbalances.

By incorporating the contribution of various segments

of global society into the work of the United Nations,

we will make it more sensitive to the actual problems

of people in various parts of the world.

In that context, we welcome the report of the

Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil

Society Relations, since it sets out a range of useful

proposals regarding the contribution of non-

governmental actors.

The complexity of modern threats to world peace

and security also require a strengthening of the

cooperation between various regional organizations

and the United Nations. In this respect, we welcome

the open debate in the Security Council on this subject.

Such cooperation is especially welcome in cases where

regional intervention can be more rapid and effective

in conflict prevention and in post-conflict peace-

building.

Next year Slovenia will assume the presidency of

the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe, and in that capacity as well we will strive for a

further intensification of the good cooperation between

the two organizations.

In that spirit, the European Union is assuming

increasing responsibility for stabilization and progress

in the countries of south-eastern Europe. In the past

year we have witnessed major progress on the part of

the countries in the region. However, in some areas we

also saw a resurgence of the dangers created by still-

unresolved inter-ethnic issues and a lack of socio-

economic prospects.

The goal of attaining democratic standards,

including in the areas of human rights and the

protection of minorities, must remain at the centre of

our efforts. At the same time, however, we have to note

that certain unresolved status questions hamper the

political and economic consolidation of the region. We

will thus have to devote greater attention to resolving

those questions.

Globalization is erasing geographical boundaries

and reducing the physical distances between people. At

the same time, however, it is increasing the differences

between rich and poor — between those who are

sharing in the positive effects of globalization and

those who are being pushed even further to the

margins. Frequently we forget that not even those who

derive the greatest benefit from globalization can

protect themselves from its negative effects. Not even

the richest and most technically advanced of us can

isolate ourselves from international terrorism or from

the effects of climate change and extreme poverty.

For that reason, our common commitment and

responsibility must be to ensure that all people benefit

from the positive effects of globalization, and that,

through our joint efforts, we ensure the protection of

the environment. We can achieve this only through the

broadest possible partnership and solidarity. There are

more than enough signals that it is now high time for

coordinated international action.