Croatia, 2007

When I first took the floor

seven years ago to address the representatives of the

States of the world on behalf of the Republic of

Croatia, I started off with the words “time is running

out”. At the time, I did not even imagine that I would

have to repeat those very words seven years later, but

with a greater sense of urgency. However, current

circumstances, the problems facing us and our inability

or inadequate ability to deal with them compel me to

repeat, here and now: Time is running out.

When we attended the millennial session marking

the beginning of the new century and the new

millennium, we also formulated our millennial goals.

Quite appropriately, we identified our tasks and our

aspirations. However, what is not appropriate is the

fact that the implementation of the Millennial Goals is

not proceeding at the proper rate or in the proper

manner if we want them to be meaningful.

We are running late; hence my warning: Time is

running out. Among all global organizations, the

United Nations is that which has been most

sympathetic to the problems of developing countries

and where loud and justified requests have been voiced

to stop the stratification of the world into the haves and

the have-nots. I have also attended sessions and

conferences dealing with the issue, and I have

repeatedly drawn attention to underdevelopment as a

generator of global terrorism, along with inequality in

international relations and unresolved regional crises.

Nevertheless, underdevelopment and poverty still

weigh upon a substantial part of humankind, and the

preferred methods for fighting terrorism have so far

been shown to be less than efficient, and sometimes

even counterproductive. We are also running late in

that regard, and time is running out here, too.

We have wanted and still want this Organization,

our own Organization, to be fit for better and more

functional action in current conditions. In other words,

we want to reform the United Nations; we want to

transform the Organization from a reflection of a world

long gone into an instrument for safeguarding peace,

establishing stability and ensuring development in the

contemporary world and the world of future

generations.

By declaring its candidacy for a non-permanent

seat in the Security Council, Croatia wishes to affirm

its commitment to the global Organization and its

readiness to take part in its reform. I do not want to

misuse the time at my disposal to lobby for that

candidacy. Our deeds say more than our words, and our

deeds include a successful struggle for national

independence, despite an imposed war; the peaceful

completion of that struggle through cooperation with

the United Nations; a courageous confrontation of the

past and of the truth about that past; the establishment

of good relations with all our neighbours, including

those that waged war against us; the promotion of the

peaceful resolution of conflicts, always and

everywhere; current participation in 15 United Nations

peacekeeping missions, which puts Croatia at the very

top of those countries whose soldiers are today

maintaining peace under the blue flag. Let me

emphasize that they are participating only in those

missions that are under a United Nations mandate. In

short, we are putting forward our candidacy as a

mature European democratic country committed to the

goals of the United Nations, and there is nothing more

to be said about it.

As I have already said, we demonstrate our

commitment by supporting the reform of the world

Organization, but even in the realization of that noble

and certainly unavoidable goal we are running late.

Even among us, there are voices suggesting that we

renounce the United Nations. There is less and less

time for action. Even in that context, then, I must

reiterate: Time is running out.

In recent decades, this Hall has heard many

debates on the need to establish new political and

economic international relations. Such new relations

can be based only on equality. It is true that the high

and the mighty have a greater responsibility, but it is

also true that no one no one at all can or may

have greater rights, much less usurp such rights by

force, just as nobody’s rights can be denied by force.

That holds true for global and regional developments

alike. Unfortunately, force is still present in

international relations, and on the European continent

we are witnessing dangerous signs of a possible

renewal of the arms race. Such a trend should be

stopped and such conditions changed. There is not

much time. Once again, time is running out.

By complying with the requirements of often

uncontrolled development and not only in the most

developed countries and by giving in to the

aggressive needs of capital, guided exclusively by

interest and never by social factors, we have agreed to

condemn millions of people to death by starvation and

for lack of basic medical care, and hundreds of

millions to bare survival in poverty, with no prospects.

However, by destroying nature, we have also

jeopardized everyone’s survival. Climate change and

global warming are only two indicators, albeit the most

evident, of the situation to which I am referring. The

summit on climate change proved that we are all aware

of the danger we are facing. Those who underestimate

and even deny that real danger will simply have to face

the truth. We are already living that truth; fast,

coordinated and responsible action is called for. That

action must serve the interests of all, even if it may

momentarily run against the interests of some, because

time is running out dangerously.

We have not met yet again in the General

Assembly in order to describe our world and our

environment from our individual perspectives. Our

mandate is not mere diagnosis. Our mandate involves

healing, changing and improving. With a foreign policy

based on the value of the European Union, which it

will enter soon, and with its desire to develop good

relations with everyone willing to reciprocate, the

Republic of Croatia has shown by deeds that it is aware

of the fact that there is no time to be lost. It has also

shown the capacity to act and to get things going in a

positive direction, both in its own interest and in that of

others.

We have only one world. Its destiny is in our

hands. There is room for everyone in this world, but

this world can, may and must be only a world of

equals, of people enjoying not only equal rights but

also equal opportunities, knowing that nobody,

however big and strong, can live alone and only for his

own sake, and that together we can change our world.

Even more importantly, however, together we can save

and preserve it for future generations. But let us not

forget: time is running out.