Czech Republic, 1997

At the outset, may I

congratulate Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko on his election as

President of the fifty-second session of the General

Assembly and wish him much success in this important and

responsible function. I should also like to use this

opportunity to thank his predecessor, Ambassador Razali

Ismail, who, with his typical energetic approach,

contributed greatly to the success of the fifty-first session.

The recently concluded fifty-first session of the

General Assembly can certainly be described without

exaggeration as one of the key periods in the history of the

United Nations. The important reform proposals submitted

during its course will, if carried out, result in the most

fundamental change in the structure and activities of the

United Nations since its foundation. We strongly believe

that the Organization will emerge from the reform process

reinforced and that this process will increase the importance

of the United Nations as a global forum that focuses on the

serious problems facing our world today, open to all who

wish and are willing to take part.

We greatly appreciate the vigour and vision with

which the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has

committed himself to the reform efforts. We support the

measures he has already taken to make the work of the

United Nations Secretariat more effective as well as the

package of recommendations he submitted to the General

Assembly last July. Whether or not these concrete and

effective reform steps are really put into effect now

depends on the political will of the Member States. The

Czech Republic will make every effort to be most

cooperative in this respect.

We are glad that the reform efforts of the Secretary-

General have met with a favourable response on the part

of the Member States. His proposals have been supported

also by the 16 Heads of State and Government associated

in the Carlsson Group, of which Czech President Václav

Havel is also a member. As this Group stated in its

declaration of 10 August 1997 on the Secretary-General’s

reform proposals, the United Nations has a chance to take

a step forward, and this chance should not be missed.

As for restructuring the Security Council, the Czech

Republic prefers the expansion of both Council-member

categories while preserving the Council’s effectiveness

and flexibility. We continue to support an increase in the

number of permanent members to include Germany,

Japan and three other countries representing Africa, Asia

and Latin America. My country also advocates expansion

of the category of non-permanent seats, including one seat

for the Group of Eastern European States.

The reform of the Security Council should also

result in improving and simplifying the Council’s working

methods. My country has actively participated in

discussions of this question and has submitted a proposal

for a broader interpretation of Article 31 of the United

Nations Charter. We are pleased that our proposal has

been backed by a number of Member States and believe

it will become part of the working methods of the

reformed Security Council.

It is quite unthinkable to restructure the United

Nations without changing its present system of financing.

In order to make cost-sharing more equitable it is

necessary to change the existing scale of assessments. The

new system of contributions to the regular budget and to

peacekeeping operations should reflect the real economic

capacity of individual Member States. All Member States,

without exception, should also duly comply with their

financial obligations.

For my country, this year is a year of important

events. The invitation extended at the Madrid Summit to

three Central European countries, including the Czech

Republic, to open talks on accession to the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO), is a key and historic

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decision which we regard not as a first and last step, but,

rather, as the beginning of the process of NATO

enlargement. The Czech Republic is convinced that the

alliance will in the future invite some other democratic

countries. The signing of the Founding Act on Mutual

Relations, Cooperation and Security between the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Russian Federation

constitutes an important step towards the strengthening of

European security.

The Czech Republic has noted with satisfaction that

the effort of the European Union to further enhance the

integration process achieved concrete results at the

Intergovernmental Conference in Amsterdam. We

welcomed the European Commission’s positive assessment

of the Czech Republic as a candidate for European Union

membership. We believe that negotiations with the Czech

Republic and other candidates for membership can start in

the early months of 1998.

One of the basic prerequisites for a country’s stability

is harmonious relations with its neighbours. This is why we

attach great importance to the Czech-German declaration on

mutual relations and their future development, signed in

Prague in January of this year. By signing this document

the two sides confirmed their political will to further

intensify all-round bilateral cooperation as an expression of

their determination to work jointly on shaping a peaceful

future in Europe. In fact, this joint determination and

political will is already being transformed into concrete

steps in different areas.

We are very sensitive to the political problems of our

present world, and, within our capacities, participate in their

solution. One of the most complicated issues is undoubtedly

the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, and particularly in

Bosnia and Herzegovina. We support the peace process

based on the Dayton Peace Accords and on the London

Programme of Action, and consider them the best possible

solution to the protracted conflict. It is beyond dispute that

one key prerequisite for the success of the peace process is

the just punishment of all war crimes committed during the

conflict.

We also focus our attention on the situation in the

Middle East, the region currently being visited by President

Havel. The peace process is now in a difficult phase, but its

role is irreplaceable. We hope, however, that bilateral talks

between the State of Israel and its neighbours will lead to

greater stability in the region and eventually result in just

and lasting peace for all.

The Czech Republic follows with much concern the

security and humanitarian situation in certain African

countries, in particular in the Great Lakes region, but also

in Somalia and Sierra Leone. We fully support the efforts

of the United Nations and the Organization of African

Unity aimed at putting an end to unrest, wars and

suffering in Africa. Positive changes taking place in

Liberia, for example, fill us with optimism. We believe

that the work done by our own military observers in the

operations of the United Nations Observer Mission in

Liberia has also contributed to this progress.

My country wishes to continue to participate in

building a global security architecture. Within the United

Nations we want to work actively, mainly in the fields of

peacekeeping operations, arms control and disarmament.

Our military observers, doctors and other medical

personnel participate in a number of United Nations

peacekeeping operations. A Czech Army battalion has

been operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina under NATO

command within the multinational Stabilization Force, on

the basis of the Security Council mandate. It has been

performing its tasks well, and we are pleased that its

activities are being viewed positively.

The inclusion of the Czech Republic at the

beginning of this year in the Special Committee on

Peacekeeping Operations is both a sign of appreciation of

our activities in this field and a manifestation of our

commitment to participate further in peacekeeping

operations and to improve the level of our participation.

The Czech Republic has been actively participating

in the field of arms control and disarmament. As a non-

nuclear-weapon State, we are naturally interested in

attaining universality of the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its strict

observance, which, we expect, will lead to the further

reduction of nuclear proliferation and will advance the

long-term objective of nuclear disarmament. We attach

great importance to the sessions of the preparatory

committees, and expect that their positive suggestions

could set the tone of the Review Conference to be held in

the year 2000 towards reinforcing the Non-Proliferation

Treaty.

The Czech Republic has from the very beginning

voiced support for the idea of strengthening the

international safeguards system of the International

Atomic Energy Agency within the so-called 93 +2

Programme. It was within these efforts that the Czech

Republic only a few days ago officially informed the

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International Atomic Energy Agency’s secretariat of its

interest in concluding a supplementary protocol to the

safeguards agreement between the Czech Republic and the

Agency, as required by the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The majority of Member States of the United Nations

last year signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty, and I am pleased to state that my country was one

of the first to ratify it.

We welcome the establishment of the Organization for

the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. We expect it to

effectively control and carry out the verification process, in

which we are prepared to participate fully.

We are convinced that the Biological Weapons

Convention needs more effective control mechanisms. To

this end, Czech experts are actively participating in talks on

finalizing the verification protocol, which will considerably

strengthen this Convention.

In the field of conventional weapons, the Czech

Republic supports all measures contributing to greater

transparency, and has been systematically fulfilling all its

obligations concerning notification to the respective

registers. At this year’s Brussels Conference on anti-

personnel land mines, the Czech Republic joined the so-

called Ottawa process, and it is prepared to sign in Ottawa

early in December a convention on the complete ban of

such weapons.

It has been an honour for my country to chair two

important United Nations bodies this year. The Economic

and Social Council plays a very important role in promoting

international cooperation in the economic and social fields.

Its reform is therefore very important. The Czech Republic

has always stressed the need for better coordination,

effectiveness and simplification of the Council’s structure

and activities. We also believe that when chairing the

Council we have helped shape its new image. We noted

promising signs of this new image already during its

substantive session in July. One example was the high-level

segment with participation of ministers and senior

government officials, which proved the growing interest of

the Member States in discussions on specific subjects. An

informal political dialogue with representatives of United

Nations funds and agencies also proved the Council’s

ability to serve as a platform for useful and fruitful

exchanges of views. The reform and strengthening of the

Economic and Social Council should continue. In this

respect, we welcome all steps taken to implement resolution

50/227, and above all to further simplify the structure of

the Council’s subsidiary bodies.

In its priorities, the Czech Republic pays great

attention to the protection of human rights as one of the

necessary conditions for free development of human

society and democracy. We had the honour to chair the

Commission on Human Rights in the first year of our

membership in this important body. On the basis of this

experience, the Czech Republic has been urging the

elimination of factors negatively influencing the work of

the Commission, and has been seeking new approaches

and methods of dealing with individual cases of flagrant

violation of human rights.

Next year the international community will

commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We hope that

this event will be an occasion not merely for ceremonial

assemblies and declarations, but for presenting concrete

results of work in the field of human rights.

My country supports all efforts aimed at early

establishment of an International Criminal Court, which

would create a new system for punishing the most serious

crimes of human rights violations and violations of

international humanitarian law. The need for such an

institution is acute, and the Czech Republic fully supports

the convocation of a diplomatic conference in 1998 to

adopt and open to signature the convention on the

establishment of the court.

One of the burning scourges of our world today is

the growth of international organized crime and the

related problem of drug abuse. This global problem can

be solved effectively only through close international

cooperation. We believe that the special session of the

General Assembly in 1998 will stimulate the

strengthening of this cooperation.

Another threat hanging over the world is

international terrorism. This is a threat which can be

neutralized only by the tough and uncompromising

attitude of the international community and by effective

international cooperation. Every country sincerely

interested in security throughout the world must strictly

observe and comply with commitments arising from

relevant international instruments. The Czech Republic

supports every effort aimed at the elaboration of an

international convention for the suppression of terrorist

bombings. In this respect, my country has also actively

participated in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee set up

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to deal with this problem and believes that the current

session of experts will make further progress in the

finalization of the draft convention so that it may be

adopted and opened to signature as soon as possible.

One of the most dynamically developing spheres of

international and global cooperation is that of environment

and sustainable development. The United Nations has been

traditionally working hard in this field. The key,

irreplaceable role in this field is played by the United

Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United

Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. It seems

that UNEP is already on the way out of crisis, although not

all the problems are solved by any means. The recent

establishment of the high-level committee is undoubtedly a

step towards improvement of the governing structure of

UNEP and towards stabilization of its programme and

budget. In a short time we expect the strengthened UNEP

to start a new endeavour to fulfil its mandate.

The process of follow-up activities of the United

Nations Conference on Environment and Development was

given a new and strong impulse at the nineteenth special

session of the General Assembly. The results of this special

session were not unambiguously positive. On the one hand,

we welcome the wide support for the promotion of

sustainable development and for efforts of Governments

and international organizations, further strengthened by

complementary activities of non-governmental

organizations, national Governments, entrepreneurial circles

and other interest groups. On the other hand, however, the

session proved that not all of them are prepared to take

resolute steps towards achieving sustainable development.

The tasks facing the United Nations in the next period

are numerous and difficult. However, they have been

clearly outlined and can be fulfilled. It also depends on us,

Member States, whether and how we will cope with them.

It is the results of our joint efforts that will decide not only

the fate of the world Organization but also of the world

itself on the threshold of the next millennium.