Croatia, 1996

At the outset, allow me to

extend my heartfelt congratulations to the President on his

election to the high office from which he will guide the

work of the fifty-first session of the General Assembly. I

am confident that his diplomatic experience and

commitment to the noble principles of the Charter will

impress upon this session new commitment, determination

and vigour. I would also like to express our gratitude to

his predecessor, Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal,

for the skilful manner in which he presided over the work

of the fiftieth session.

After having been the focus of the international

community’s attention for a long time, due to its being

exposed to aggression and to its being part of the most

serious regional crisis since the Second World War,

Croatia has now entered a new era of its history as a free,

sovereign and fully independent State. Croatia is now in

a position to deal with and resolve almost all its external

and internal affairs with its own resources, and through

close cooperation with the international community as an

equal partner.

It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to be able to

lead the Croatian delegation at the fifty-first session of the

General Assembly with the strong conviction that the time

of war is finally behind us and that in the region of south-

east Europe, Croatia is no longer a part of a larger crisis,

but rather an active and decisive agent of introducing the

final solution to the crisis and the emerging international

order. In this connection, our external and internal

policies are becoming increasingly peace-oriented and

development-focused.

So far Croatia has been successful in dealing with

the question of its statehood and the right of small nations

to full self-determination, as well as in defending these

rights within the framework of and through the United

Nations. We are enormously grateful to this noble

institution and its associated agencies, and especially to

those Member States whose sons and daughters are

exposed to risk, in some cases giving their lives, in a

noble endeavour to assist us in ending the horrific war of

aggression against our country and in the wider region.

Croatia has played host to one of the largest, most

expensive and complex peacekeeping operations in the

history of the United Nations. Croatia’s Government and

people, the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons

and refugees in particular, have on many occasions been

critical of the ineffectiveness and ambiguity of

peacekeeping mandates. Today, however, the war has

ended, and we are finally coming to terms with all of the

political, economic and procedural constraints which the

international community had to overcome in order to

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properly react to the aggression, the calamity of war and

the diplomatic uncertainty resulting from the breakup of the

communist federation of Yugoslavia and the security

vacuum resulting from the closure of the cold-war era.

Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina indeed paid a

high price for their struggle to ensure their survival,

alongside the progressive efforts of the international

community to develop a new concept of the United Nations

and other international mechanisms for the peaceful

resolution of conflicts. However, we believe that our

experience has given a very positive impetus to the intrinsic

need to reform the general concept of peacekeeping

operations, the work of the Security Council and the

changes in the regional, political and security systems in

Europe as well.

Even though the mandate of the joint peacekeeping

forces in Croatia has not yet ended — 5,000 peacekeepers

are still working in the Croatian Danubian area — I wish

to convey to the Assembly the optimism of my Government

for the successful completion of the mandate of the United

Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia,

Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) there. This

operation just may become the most successful

peacekeeping operation in recent history, and perhaps

rightfully so, given our own and international frustrations

with the unsuccessful attempt at peacekeeping and

peacemaking in the region so far.

The successful completion of the UNTAES operation

is becoming ever more likely given the recent signing of an

agreement on normalization of relations between the

Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

and the establishment of a new balance in the region, the

same balance that helped the international community forge

the Dayton Peace Agreement.

We are grateful to all Member States that supported

our appeals and calls in the General Assembly for universal

respect of international law — as reflected, for instance, in

General Assembly resolution 49/43, which created the

political conditions and legal framework for the peaceful

reintegration of Eastern Slavonia. We are also grateful to

Member States whose diplomats and soldiers are more

directly involved in the successful implementation of the

UNTAES mandate.

Thanks in part to General Assembly support for the

universal principles enshrined in the Charter and in part to

the intervention of United Nations peacekeeping forces, the

countries which emerged following the dissolution of the

former Yugoslavia are now increasingly heading towards

the objective of peacefully resolving mutual problems on

a bilateral basis and through regular multilateral contacts,

thereby lessening the need for international involvement

and mediation. Those problems include the succession to

the former State; regional security arrangements and arms

control; the search for missing persons; reciprocal

minority rights; and the reestablishment of bilateral

economic, cultural and other forms of cooperation. The

successful expansion of bilateral neighbourly relations

based on internationally accepted principles cannot be

replaced by the imposition of superfluous and ambitious

regional associations.

Taking account of this new reality, in which Croatia

and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are prepared to

resolve all their outstanding problems on a bilateral basis

as two equal and sovereign States, the need for the

continued presence of peacekeeping forces in Croatia has

come to an end.

Any further extension of the UNTAES mandate in

Croatia can only encourage delays in its implementation

and place at risk the most critical aspect of the mandate:

the return of 80,000 Croatian and non-Serb refugees and

displaced persons to the region. The continued lack of

tangible progress in this area could induce internal and

external instability; this is a matter which my Government

and the international community should seek to avoid at

all costs. For this reason, the clear stance of my

Government is that the peaceful integration of the region

under the present UNTAES mandate should be completed

on schedule.

With the signature of the normalization agreement

between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,

the small United Nations Mission of Observers in

Prevlaka, Croatia, will also become obsolete in the

foreseeable future. Croatia and the Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia have agreed that the issue of Prevlaka is to be

dealt with and fully resolved as a security matter, in

accordance with the United Nations Charter and the

policy of good-neighbourliness. Therefore, there shall be

no further raising of the question of territorial adjustments

between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

on the Prevlaka peninsula, the five-century-old boundary

line between Croatia and Montenegro. However, there is

a need to establish a security regime there through

peaceful negotiations with a view to the mutual benefit of

cross-border economic cooperation.

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On the basis of the new reality, Croatia’s foreign and

internal policy priorities will now aim at compatibility with

and timely integration into European regional organizations.

At the same time, we remain cognizant of our

responsibilities in respect of the peaceful and successful

stabilization of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, in

which Croats are one of the three constituent peoples. The

process of the internal stabilization of Bosnia and

Herzegovina will take years and, in this regard, Croatia is

fully open to cooperation and collaboration with the

international community. The community’s presence and

assistance there has been significantly less costly to it

thanks to Croatia’s resources and contributions. Following

the initial reconstruction assistance for Bosnia and

Herzegovina, an economically viable Croatian State can

make the greatest contribution to the viability of the

Bosnian Federation and to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a

whole.

Croatia is prepared to recognize the results of every

democratic political process between the three constituent

nations and the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and

will continue to give its full support to the successful

implementation of the Federation Agreements.

Croatia, fully supportive of a properly balanced

Federation as defined at Dayton — the 1—2—3 formula:

one State, two entities, three constituent peoples — seeks

not only to ensure the survival of the Bosnian Croats as a

constituent people in all respects, but also to avoid any

situation that could lead to a threatening instability in the

region as a whole. In that sense, any attempts to change the

constitutional definition of the Federation or to achieve the

same results through institutional or power-sharing

arrangements are unacceptable to the Republic of Croatia as

a party to the relevant Agreements. The same applies to any

attempts to change the present entities settlement through an

over-centralization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Any

territorial adjustment at the expense of Bosnia and

Herzegovina or its two entities shall be viewed as highly

detrimental to the stability of the region in general and

considered a threat to Croatia’s security.

As Croatia continues to move to reestablish its

European way of life, while at the same time bringing its

young democracy and its governance into conformity with

the new European democratic reality, constructive criticism

of its actions and attitudes will continue to be taken in good

faith. By now, we have accepted the fact that, owing to the

needs of the multilateral crisis-management process in the

region, the standards set for Croatia in many areas of

democratic development are much higher than for other

countries in transition. Croatia’s extraordinary openness

to the innumerable institutions that monitor developments

on our soil, especially in the field of human rights, attests

to the transparency of our policy and to our deep

commitment to democratic values, tolerance and

individual rights.

In renewing our expressions of gratitude to the

United Nations for its contribution to the successful

resolution of an act of aggression against a Member State,

we should like to express the readiness of our country,

which now has a wealth of experience in peace-mediation

efforts behind it, to contribute actively to similar United

Nations efforts outside our region. We should now like to

become active in the other regular activities of the United

Nations and regional mechanisms, to which we offer our

experience and experts, to further the common interests

and ideals of the Charter of the United Nations.

Croatia is actively following the reform process of

the United Nations system, and actively participates in

some aspects of reform. We fully recognize the need to

reorganize the system and adapt it to the changing

international system. New objectives are already clearly

defined in the socio-economic sphere, and the area of

human rights in particular. The United Nations is faced

with new realities and problems centred around its goal of

promoting the rights of the individual while preserving

the identity of groups and nations and respecting the

sovereignty of Member States.

We are following with particular interest the process

of resolving the financial crisis of the United Nations. As

a small State that has experienced exceptional financial

needs and shortfalls over the past five years, Croatia

supports efforts to find a more equitable scale of

assessment for Member States that are experiencing

extraordinary situations and whose capacity to pay has,

accordingly, changed significantly.

Croatia has already spoken in favour of reforming

and strengthening the United Nations system, and

especially the Security Council. Our position takes into

account new realities in which economic powers such as

Germany and Japan, but also individual regions and

States — and their views — must be more justly

represented. Therefore, Croatia firmly supports the

expansion of the Council to 25 members in both

categories of membership. Greater transparency in the

work of the Council is also essential, and should be

achieved through the adoption of new rules of procedure.

The Organization will also be strengthened by the present

25

discussions on changes in general procedures, that will,

inter alia, reduce and rationalize the costs of overlapping

activities of various United Nations institutions. We

especially support efforts to rationalize and restructure the

socio-economic sector of the United Nations so that it can

continue to achieve its rightly ambitious goals around the

world.

In its post-war foreign policy and economic activities,

Croatia will firstly associate with countries on its continent,

but will also strive towards diversification of its relations.

Croatia wishes actively to contribute to the promotion of

the common interests of small and, especially, new States.

We are pleased to note that apart from the trend

towards institutionalizing regional development and

functional cooperation, we are entering an era in which

States are increasing their level of cooperation, through

multilateral diplomacy, on basic development questions,

such as: the environment; developing the laws of the sea;

enforcing international humanitarian law; protecting human

and minority rights; protecting the rights of women and

children; promoting disarmament and non-proliferation;

and sharing knowledge and resources to help the

development of the Third World. We are, therefore,

passing over old ideologies, religious or regional

affiliation and loyalties. One area in which Croatia will be

especially active is the establishment of the international

criminal court. We will be one of the sponsors of a draft

resolution calling for the timely establishment of this

institution.

The world we live in is entering a stage of national

individualization but also of ever-closer functional

cooperation between States in creating a stable and

interdependent new order. Croatia, as a young State that

still harbours painfully fresh memories of its struggle for

its identity, freedom and right to economic development,

sincerely wishes to contribute to the establishment of this

new order by actively helping to find solutions to other

crisis points, development problems, and disproportions in

contemporary societies around the world.