Slovakia, 1997

Mr. President, at the

outset, I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-

second session. I also wish to thank your predecessor, Mr.

Razali Ismail, for his excellent work during the last session

of the General Assembly.

The ongoing session of the General Assembly is

crucial in terms of showing the capability of the United

Nations to react adequately to changes in the global scene

after the end of the cold war, mainly in connection with

problems humankind faces on the eve of the new

millennium. We all know that if the United Nations is to

meet the expectations and needs of the new era, it must go

through a process of reform. The Slovak Republic

welcomes the Secretary-General’s report (A/51/950) entitled

“Renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform”

and supports his endeavours to streamline the work of the

Organization in order to achieve greater unity of purpose,

strategic deployment of resources, coherence of efforts and

flexibility in response.

The suggestions included in the Secretary-General’s

report reveal a firm determination to transform the United

Nations into a centre which takes an active part in

governing international relations, in accordance with its

main principles enshrined in the Charter of the United

Nations. Though one of the basic goals of the reform is

to streamline the work of the Organization, along with

cost-saving, the latter should not be the final goal of the

reform, since this approach itself does not lead to the

strengthening of the United Nations system. Any reform

of the Organization which would lead to a weakening of

its position is not acceptable.

The financing of the United Nations is necessarily an

integral part of its reform, since continuation of the

current financial crisis has a grave impact on the

performance of the Organization. We believe the principle

of honouring legal obligations — in this case, the

payment of assessed contributions — should be a basis

for any solution to be adopted, although we understand

that a number of countries are in arrears to the

Organization because their rates of assessment do not

reflect their capacity to pay.

Slovakia belongs to a small group of countries —

so-called good contributors — having paid its regular

budget contributions in full and on time this year. With

regard to our peacekeeping- budget assessment, the

General Assembly decided to allocate Slovakia to group

C of Member States for the period 1993 to 1996. We continue to believe that there is no need to limit

this decision strictly to such a short period. Speaking in

terms of capacity to pay, Slovakia simply belongs to group

C of the Member States. For this reason, the General

Assembly should no longer postpone its decision on the

permanent allocation of Slovakia to group C of the Member

States for the financing of United Nations peacekeeping

operations. We expect that the General Assembly at its

fifty-second session will take a decision confirming the

permanent presence of Slovakia in this group. It was also

on the understanding of the difficult financial situation of

the United Nations that Slovakia, on the eve of the fifty-

second session of the General Assembly, paid in full its

arrears to the peacekeeping budget for the period 1993-

1996.

The maintenance of international peace and security

remains one of the main priorities of the United Nations

and peacekeeping operations are a key instrument available

in this regard. As experience in recent years has shown, the

ability to respond quickly with adequate mandate and

means is a prerequisite to the successful completion of

peacekeeping operations. The Slovak Republic fully

supports the Secretary-General’s efforts to build up the

United Nations standby arrangement system and to establish

a rapidly deployable mission headquarters team. We are

ready to participate actively in this system while

considering the allocation of appropriate means.

Post-conflict peace-building is of crucial importance

should a conflict resolution achieve lasting results. In recent

years, the reconstruction of a conflict-torn society has

involved a variety of actions. Many actors have been

engaged in this process while lacking integrated

coordination. Therefore, we welcome the decision of the

Secretary-General to make the Department of Political

Affairs the focal point for defining objectives, criteria and

operational guidelines in this regard, as well as his intention

to strengthen the role of a special representative of the

Secretary-General to be responsible for the implementation

of peace-building initiatives in the field. At the same time,

in our view, it is still necessary clearly to define the

competence, interaction and feedback between the

Department of Political Affairs and the special

representative of the Secretary-General.

The contribution of the Slovak Republic to the work

of the United Nations rests first of all upon the concrete

fulfilment of the primary purposes of the Organization, such

as the maintenance of international peace and security.

Slovakia has been currently contributing its troops and

military observers to the United Nations Transitional

Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western

Sirmium (UNTAES) in Eastern Slavonia and to the

United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA)

in Angola. It also takes active part in the work of the

Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, of which

it became a member in April this year, and thus

contributes to the improvement of the planning and

control system of United Nations peacekeeping

operations. On this occasion, I can state with full

responsibility that the Slovak Republic is interested in and

is ready to continue contributing to United Nations

peacekeeping operations.

Experience has proven that small and mid-size States

are capable of bearing their part of the responsibility for

stability and security in individual world regions. In this

connection, the Government of the Slovak Republic has

decided to present its candidature for a non-permanent

seat in the Security Council for the term 2000-2001. We

believe that the candidature of the Slovak Republic, which

is not currently a member and has no representative in

any of the principal United Nations organs, can win the

support of the Member States in order to increase the

representativeness and democratic nature of this body.

Along with the reform measures initiated and

undertaken by the Secretary-General within his

competence, a discussion of important issues that reside

within the jurisdiction of Member States is under way. A

number of stimulating as well as antagonistic opinions

reflecting the complexity of the process have been

formulated. The most evident example of this is the

question of Security Council reform. It is in all our

interests that the Security Council’s composition and

decision-making procedure reflect the significant changes

that have taken place on the international political scene

during the last three decades. The Security Council’s

reform should result in an enhancement of its legitimacy

and representativeness, while maintaining its ability to

react promptly.

In our view, a new geopolitical situation on the

global scene should be reflected in a new concept of the

Security Council. Apparently, a decisive part of the

general membership is not ready for such a step and

political circumstances have not sufficiently matured. At

the same time, the efforts aimed at restructuring the

Security Council within a predetermined timetable, even

in the absence of a general agreement, might be

counterproductive. Since Security Council reform is an

extremely important and sensitive issue for the further

existence of the Organization, Slovakia prefers a

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continued and thorough discussion in this regard without an

artificial acceleration of the whole process.

The change of priorities in international politics after

the end of the cold war, in particular the utmost necessity

to solve various socio-economic problems, seems to have

shifted arms control and disarmament issues out of sight.

Concerned about this negative trend, we feel that

disarmament should again be given priority in the United

Nations agenda.

Recently, the Slovak Republic, as a new member of

the Conference on Disarmament, was honoured to chair that

unique multilateral disarmament forum. We are convinced

that the Conference on Disarmament must play a further,

indispensable role in solving the most important issues of

international security, stability, peace, arms control and

disarmament.

Besides the opening of concrete negotiations on the

prohibition of the production of fissile materials for

weapons and other explosive devices, we find especially

important the question of a global and comprehensive ban

of anti-personnel landmines. We understand the efforts to

bring this issue to the Conference’s agenda and the Ottawa

process to be fully complementary. We highly appreciate

the agreement on the text of the Ottawa convention reached

recently in Oslo.

The Slovak Republic has been continuously engaged

in a number of activities that contribute to the alleviation of

the consequences of the use of anti-personnel landmines.

Reflecting the provisions of the Ottawa convention on the

prohibition of anti-personnel landmines, we would like to

offer our assistance in mine-clearance programmes by

putting at the United Nations disposal a mine-clearance unit

that would follow up on the very successful performance of

the Slovak Engineer Battalion in former Yugoslavia.

We welcomed with satisfaction the conclusions

reached at the first session of the Preparatory Committee

for the Sixth Review Conference of the Parties to the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

It is important that the technical and formal approach to the

work of the Preparatory Committee has been altered, thus

establishing favourable conditions for the success of the

Review Conference.

The Slovak Republic, which uses nuclear energy

solely for peaceful purposes, has supported all steps

designed to lead to the elimination of nuclear weapons.

As one of the 44 countries needed to ensure the

Convention’s entry into force, the Slovak Republic is

prepared to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty (CTBT) before the end of this year. I would also

like to state that Slovakia has been honoured to chair the

Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization.

This year’s entry into force of the Chemical

Weapons Convention can undoubtedly be considered the

most significant event in the field of disarmament. The

Slovak Republic has been striving to strengthen the

Convention through its active approach to the work of the

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

We are proud to state that some of the Organization’s

inspectors were trained in facilities provided by the

Slovak Republic. We are interested in continuing these

activities in order to help the Organization fulfil its

verification and preventive functions.

Support for economic and social progress is one of

the basic missions of the United Nations. We welcome

the creation of a new Department of Economic and Social

Affairs, and we believe that this will lead to its further

streamlining and efficient performance. The Organization

is a unique forum that can facilitate close cooperation and

partnership for development among Governments, civil

society, the private sector and regional and global

organizations.

The role of the Economic and Social Council, as set

forth 50 years ago in the United Nations Charter, needs

to be revised. In a time of changing social and economic-

development philosophy, it is necessary to strengthen the

policy-management and coordination roles of the

Economic and Social Council, as well as its position in

the macroeconomic-policy-coordination dialogue. The

reform of the subsidiary bodies of the Economic and

Social Council and the rationalization of their structure,

work and functions require, in our opinion, a careful

approach, one to be taken with full respect for their

autonomy while aiming at their further rationalization and

consolidation. The steps taken so far by the Secretary-

General in this field are pointing in the right direction.

Slovakia, as a member of the Commission on

Sustainable Development and the Governing Council of

the United Nations Environment Programme, devoted

considerable attention to the nineteenth special session of

the General Assembly. Although the special session has

not brought the expected results, we consider it an

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important step in the global discussion on the strengthening

of the principles of sustainable development.

We look forward with anticipation to the special

session of the General Assembly on drugs. That session,

which will be held next year, should yield concrete results

with regard to combating the production of and trafficking

in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. As we all

know, drugs pose a real threat, mainly to younger

generations.

Since the Slovak Republic’s establishment as an

independent State, it has been participating actively in the

work of one of the most important multilateral development

bodies, namely, the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP). Slovakia has been a member of the

UNDP Executive Board since 1993. The UNDP regional

centre for Central and Eastern Europe was established in

the Slovak capital, Bratislava, in June of this year. The

creation of this centre is a concrete example of the

achievement of United Nations reform, in this instance of

UNDP’s efforts for decentralization at the country level and

cutting the burden of administrative costs. The centre’s

foundation has been actively supported by Slovakia, and

use has been made of my country’s advantageous position

as a bridge between UNDP secretariat activities at

Headquarters in New York and UNDP efforts in the

countries of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of

Independent States region. We are convinced that the

presence of the UNDP regional centre in Bratislava will

enable Slovakia to be even more active in development

cooperation within the United Nations development group.

Human rights are a matter of the highest priority

among the activities of the United Nations. Slovakia

stresses the need for the consistent implementation of

relevant United Nations resolutions. In this regard we

support the role of special rapporteurs appointed to selected

countries where systematic human rights abuses occur. We

acknowledge the results the special rapporteurs have

achieved in this field.

The Slovak Republic supports the ambitious proposals

for restructuring United Nations institutions dealing with

human rights in order to create effective conditions for

improved protection of human rights. In this connection, we

consider it appropriate and necessary to harmonize the

activities of the Commission on Human Rights with the

work of the relevant expert committees established pursuant

to international human rights treaties. At the same time, the

Slovak Republic supports the creation of effective

conditions for tripartite cooperation among Governments,

the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.

Human rights abuse has been the cause of a number

of conflicts in many places on our planet, which are often

followed by a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale.

Women and children are the most fragile sectors of any

afflicted population. We must not forget this fact while

pursuing the purposes of the United Nations.

I believe that the United Nations reform process will

be successfully completed in next few years. I find the

Secretary-General’s programme for reform to be an

important step in this regard. The Slovak Republic is

prepared to contribute to this process so that the United

Nations can approach the next millennium as a modern,

viable, global body with the adequate authority to fulfil

the purposes embodied in the United Nations Charter.