Czech Republic, 2014

This year marks

the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First

World War. Yet in today’s world we are far from having

achieved global peace. It therefore remains a major task

for the international community to achieve it. But that

is not the only task that remains. In order to achieve

global peace we also have to tackle two other equally

important challenges, namely, to preserve global human

dignity, and global prosperity.

I would like to start with global security. Europe is

the continent that gave birth to the two most disastrous

conflicts in human history. We Europeans have

learned our lesson. A large part of our continent has

been spared violent conflicts for almost 70 years. My

country celebrates 25 years since our return to freedom

and democracy in 1989.

Yet even today a part of Europe is at war. The

territorial integrity of Ukraine, guaranteed by the

Charter of the United Nations and the Budapest

Memorandum of 1994, was violated by the Russian

annexation of Crimea and the activities of Russian-

backed paramilitary separatist forces in eastern

Ukraine. Despite the present armistice, we believe

that it is still the responsibility of the international

community to seek the de-escalation of a conflict that

has caused enormous suffering to the people of Ukraine

and the loss of innocent lives of Ukrainians and other

people, as demonstrated by the downing of Malaysia

Airlines Flight MH-17.

That is not all. We are alarmed at the continuing

aggravation of the security situation in northern Iraq.

We condemn the brutal acts of violence committed

by the so-called Islamic State against local ethnic

and religious minorities, as well as the murders of

two innocent journalists and a humanitarian activist.

Those acts constitute war crimes and crimes against

humanity. As we are currently seeing in Iraq, terrorism

has taken on a new dimension, and we must counter it

with the utmost determination. Therefore, we welcome

President Obama’s strategy as well as other important

international activities in that regard, including the

Security Council summit on foreign terrorist fighters

(see S/PV.7272).

With regard to Syria, we believe that the only way

to achieve a stable peace in that war-torn country and

to ensure much-needed safety and legitimate rights

for all Syrian people is through a negotiated political

settlement between the Syrian Government and the

democratic opposition. The Czech Republic, appalled

by the atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic

State, urges all sides of the conflict in Syria to cease

violence and to start cooperating with the new United

Nations Special Envoy in order to find a lasting solution.

Moreover, we must not omit the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict. We remain deeply concerned about the

humanitarian consequences of the conflict in the Gaza

Strip. We have made an effort to provide assistance to

the victims through humanitarian aid. However, first

and foremost, the Palestinian and Israeli leaders have

to make every effort, with the help of the international

community, to renew genuine and comprehensive

negotiations. That is the only way to reach a lasting

solution that would bring about peace, dignity, security

and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians.

But there is also something else: the global dignity

of human beings. In speaking of acts of violence — and

the list I have provided is far from being exhaustive — we

must keep looking for the causes behind those acts

and seek to eliminate them. We often see that such

acts result from despair and from a lack of the basic

needs necessary to ensure human dignity, needs

such as physical integrity, access to justice, political

participation and basic freedoms, and also food, water,

medical care, education, tolerable working conditions

and protection against discrimination on various

grounds. It is the responsibility of the international

community, represented by the United Nations, to

ensure that human dignity remains not only a declared

principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

but is also put into practice worldwide. I am proud that

my country can contribute to those efforts, building on

the humanist legacy of my great compatriots, the first

Czechoslovak President, Tomá. Garrigue Masaryk, and

the first President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel.

The first precondition for human dignity is the

possibility of enjoying life without threats to one’s

physical integrity and physical suffering. For that

reason the Czech Republic has vigorously supported

the concept of the responsibility to protect, with its

strong dimension of prevention and capacity-building.

Yet, when a conflict cannot be prevented for various

reasons, the United Nations is ultimately responsible,

through its peacekeeping role, for preventing the

further deterioration of the situation, loss of life and

human suffering. The Czech Republic has consistently

participated in various European Union (EU) missions

complementing United Nations peacekeeping efforts,

namely, in the EU Training Mission in Mali and in the

Multinational Force and Observers mission in Sinai. I

can assure members that we will remain involved in the

future.

National States and the international community

share responsibility for protecting people from atrocities.

However, if they fail, it is necessary to establish

accountability for serious violations of international

humanitarian law and human rights. The Czech

Republic continues firmly to support international

criminal justice and the International Criminal Court.

Our primary task is to combat impunity and to enforce

the protection of civilians and vulnerable groups in

armed conflicts.

It is a sad reality that in too many parts of the

world women are among the most vulnerable groups.

We continue to witness horrifying cases of violence

against women and girls, including sexual violence. We

call on all States to adopt urgent measures to prevent

such abhorrent incidents. When women are excluded

from society and prevented from enjoying basic

rights, participating in public life or simply exercising

a profession, it has a massive impact not only on the

country’s development but also on its overall stability.

We expect the relevant United Nations bodies to step up

their efforts to ensure a peaceful and dignified life for

all, including women.

In order to reinforce the prevention of various

types of conflicts, we fully support the Rights Up

Front initiative launched by the Secretary-General. We

understand that it is an appeal to the United Nations and

its bodies and to Member States to ensure respect for

human rights, good governance, fair and free elections

and genuine participation in decision-making without

discrimination. The Czech Republic, as a member

of the Human Rights Council, has for the second

time presented a consensual resolution on political

participation. In our view, giving everybody a chance

to enjoy their civil and political rights through such

participation is essential for building inclusive and

truly cohesive societies.

A life of peace and dignity is unthinkable without

the enjoyment of economic, social and environmental

rights. That can be achieved by fighting poverty, social

exclusion and all forms of discrimination and illiteracy.

I am convinced that the Czech Republic has a lot to

offer in that respect. We are among the countries with

the most equal distribution of wealth in the world. We

are also a country with one of the lowest risks of falling

into poverty in the world. We have managed to maintain

a socially cohesive society, and we believe that that is

one reason why our society is free of serious tensions

resulting in violent conflicts. We want to contribute our

experience to the efforts of the international community

in order to build fair and prosperous societies across the

planet.

The key to building a fair society is sustainable

development. To that end, we are committed to

working on a post-2015 development agenda that will

formulate sustainable development goals based on the

2000 Millennium Development Goals. The goals will

be global in nature, universally applicable and will

address persistent inequalities and new challenges

facing people and our planet. The promotion of good

governance, the rule of law, human rights and the

empowerment of women must remain among the

stand-alone priorities, but they are also cross-cutting

issues linking various agendas. In that context, we look

forward to the Secretary-General’s synthesis report

expected by the end of the year.

The Czech Republic expects that the sustainable

development goals will have a true impact on the

fashioning of a development policy that will correspond

to the needs of present generations and improve their

quality of life, but will not compromise the ability

of future generations to meet their own needs. All

countries, rich and poor, should therefore be committed

to creating an economically viable yet more socially

and environmentally sustainable future. We hope to be

able to take part in that effort through our membership

in the Economic and Social Council, to which we are

candidates for membership starting in 2016.

We are also actively involved in the EU and the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change, and we are ready to support all the proposals

and solutions that are considered most effective to

reach the new global climate agreement, hopefully to

be concluded in Paris in 2015.

I began by recalling the First World War and continued

by enumerating three major challenges — global peace,

global human dignity and global prosperity. They are

enormous challenges. The United Nations has done

impressive work in fostering peace, human dignity

and sustainable development. I am confident that next

year, when we celebrate the seventieth anniversary

of the Charter of the United Nations, we will have an

opportunity not only to reflect honestly on where we

could do better, but also to appreciate the progress that

we have made together.