Slovakia, 1999

I would like to express

my sincere congratulations, Sir, on your election as

President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth

session and to extend my best wishes for a successful

conduct of the deliberations and work of this body.

I wish also to thank your predecessor, Mr. Didier

Opertti, for his leadership and his personal contribution to

the achievements of the fifty-third session.

The United Nations was created over 50 years ago

in specific political circumstances marked by enthusiasm

brought about by the end of the Second World War. Its

establishment was a very important step towards a new

global order, although the political situation dominated by

super-Power rivalry over next several decades prevented

it from using its potential to the full. The current

international political situation is much more propitious

for pursuing the original purposes and principles of the

United Nations Charter. Following the end of the bipolar

division of the world, we have witnessed new political

processes that have profoundly changed the political

landscape. An ever- growing number of countries are

embracing democratic principles and implementing them

in practice. This should be emphasized, especially in a

forum such as the General Assembly, because the spread

of democracy gives momentum to the work of the United

Nations and stimulates the expansion of its activities

throughout the world.

A growing number of countries are acknowledging

their share of the global responsibility for a better life on

our planet and for the wise exploitation of its resources.

In this era of globalization and interdependence, the

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United Nations plays a unique and irreplaceable role. Its

fundamental and key tasks — safeguarding peace and

security; promoting economic cooperation and social

development, including poverty eradication; strengthening

the role of international law; and protecting human

rights — are even more relevant today than they were 54

years ago. The Slovak Republic is very much aware of this

fact.

One of the crucial issues in reforming the Organization

and preparing it for the challenges that lie ahead is the

reform of the Security Council. The Security Council is the

symbol and pillar of the concept of collective security,

designed in the aftermath of the most tragic conflict of this

century in order to prevent its repetition.

The fundamental political changes that have taken

place in the world in the last 50 years represent a challenge

to the future role of the Security Council and its legitimacy.

We must draw lessons from past setbacks. Caused mostly

by the divergent interests of major actors or by a lack of

political will, they paralysed the Security Council, which

remained inactive instead of taking effective action on

behalf of the Member States. Otherwise, we risk the erosion

of the authority of the Security Council and consequently

of its central role in the maintenance of international peace

and security. The United Nations cannot afford to let that

happen, because there is no alternative to the concept of

collective security as embodied in the United Nations

Charter. The modern world needs a supreme security

authority with unquestioned credibility.

The key tasks of Security Council reform are to

strengthen its representative character, improve the

effectiveness and transparency of its decision-making

process and working methods and, ultimately, enhance its

legitimacy. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to reach the

widest possible agreement on enlarging its membership and

on the veto right, which plays a pivotal role in the overall

reform of the Council. Unless the scope of application of

the veto and its relationship to potential new members of

the Security Council are clarified, it will be very difficult

to proceed to the enlargement of the category of permanent

members.

Slovakia recognizes as legitimate the efforts of some

countries, which, being capable of assuming a share of the

gobal responsibility for the maintenance of international

peace and security, desire a position in an enlarged Security

Council. At the same time, however, it is necessary to

ensure the appropriate representation of the developing

countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean

region, since those countries represent a significant

majority of the United Nations membership.

Regrettably, as the past six years of discussions in

the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of

Equitable Representation on and Increase in the

Membership of the Security Council have shown, a

fundamental divergence of views continues to exist with

regard to enlarging the category of permanent members,

thus making it very unlikely that concrete results will be

achieved in the near future.

We believe that in order to move ahead, we should

proceed gradually rather than running in place in order to

prevent the United Nations from “missing the boat” in our

rapidly changing world. If there is no agreement on other

categories of membership, Slovakia is ready, at this stage,

to support expanding only the non-permanent category.

The overall number of seats in the enlarged Security

Council would then depend on the scenario eventually

agreed on by Member States. Nevertheless, it should not

exceed the range of 23 to 25 in order to preserve its

capability to act promptly. I would like to point out that

Slovakia is flexible in this regard. The expansion of the

Security Council should also take into account an

appropriate increase in the representation of the Eastern

European regional Group, whose membership has more

than doubled in recent years.

Peacekeeping operations continue to be one of the

key instruments available to the United Nations in the

discharge of its primary responsibility for the maintenance

of international peace and security. Nevertheless, in the

light of the tragic experience of recent and still-raging

conflicts, it is necessary to reinforce those mechanisms,

which would allow the United Nations to more actively

concentrate on preventing conflicts and addressing their

causes rather than their consequences. An early- warning

system should be further enhanced, and preventive

diplomacy should play a more active role in potential

conflict situations.

Today’s conflicts have many dimensions, which

must be addressed comprehensively. An integrated,

multidimensional approach to peacekeeping and post-

conflict peace-building must be taken if a conflict is to be

resolved in a durable manner. It is important to ensure an

effective coordination among the military, civilian and

humanitarian components of multidisciplinary operations,

which should be given adequate mandates and resources.

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As time is a crucial factor in most cases of

deployment of peacekeeping forces, Slovakia supports the

efforts to enhance United Nations rapid-deployment

capabilities through the United Nations standby

arrangements system. Regional initiatives play an important

role in this respect, and Slovakia has therefore joined the

Central European Nations Cooperation in Peace Support,

aimed at closer cooperation among several Central

European States in the field of the preparation, training and

participation of their armed forces in peacekeeping

operations.

Since its admission to the United Nations Slovakia has

been contributing to a number of United Nations

peacekeeping operations in Africa, Asia and Europe,

including those in Angola, Rwanda, the border region of

Uganda and Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Syrian

Golan Heights, Jerusalem, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia

and Eastern Slavonia. The Slovak Government has also

recently decided to contribute an engineering unit to the

United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western

Sahara (MINURSO). Slovakia thus ranks among the leading

troop contributors in terms of the number of troops per

capita. I would like to take this opportunity to assure the

Assembly that Slovakia is determined to continue to support

United Nations peacekeeping activities in all the main

areas: troops, logistics and training.

The active participation of the Slovak Republic in

United Nations peacekeeping activities has proved that it

has a responsible approach to the maintenance of

international peace and security, and has logically led to the

submission of its candidature for the non-permanent seat in

the Security Council for the term 2000-2001. Through

membership in the Security Council, Slovakia would like to

prove that small countries, too, can make an important

contribution to the resolution of conflicts and crises in the

world.

Kosovo is the most recent example of the tragic reality

of the present-day Balkans, driven by violence and ethnic

hatred, which is not only a product of the region’s

complicated historical circumstances, but, above all, the

result of human rights violations and of the misuse of

ethnic differences to reach short-sighted political goals.

Slovakia attaches great importance to the political resolution

of the Kosovo conflict, and appreciates the efforts of the

United Nations, the Secretary-General, the Contact Group

dealing with the former Yugoslavia and regional

organizations to this end. We welcomed with great hope the

adoption of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), aimed

at creating conditions for building a democratic Kosovo

based on respect for the human rights of all citizens,

regardless of their ethnic origin and religion, and for all

the principles enshrined in Article 2 of the United Nations

Charter.

Post-conflict peace-building in Bosnia and

Herzegovina has proved that reconstruction of a

conflict-torn society on a multi-ethnic basis is in no way

an easy task. However, if new tragedies are to be

prevented, the international community must give a hand

to the people in that part of Europe in their quest for

reconciliation and for building mutual trust. An important

role in these efforts is to be played by the economic

reconstruction and development of the entire Balkan

region.

In this connection, Slovakia welcomes and fully

supports the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. I

believe it will open a new stage in the history of the

region. The proof of the importance which the Slovak

Republic attaches to securing stability in this part of

Europe is the appointment of the Minister for Foreign

Affairs of Slovakia, Mr. Eduard Kukan, as the Special

Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Balkans. A

conference was held under his auspices in Bratislava, the

capital of Slovakia, on the post-war reconstruction of the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The conference clearly

showed the direction which the international community

and Yugoslav society should take if the country is to

become a firm part of the community of nations in the

Balkans, built on new foundations.

The Slovak Republic considers a just peace in the

Middle East to be an important component of global

stability. For this reason, we welcomed the signing, on 4

September 1999, of a new agreement between Israel and

the Palestinian Authority on the implementation of

individual steps of the Wye Memorandum. At the same

time, we hope that Israel, Syria and Lebanon will also

renew their dialogues. Although certain issues remain to

be resolved among the parties, we believe that a final

agreement will eventually be reached and a permanent

peace will be secured for the Middle East region.

The continent of Africa is suffering from far too

many conflicts, often fed by poverty and

underdevelopment. Clearly, cooperation between the

international community and African States is greatly

needed in order to prevent and to address conflicts and to

help Africa to create conditions for sustainable

development. Slovakia shares the Secretary-General’s

view, expressed in his report on Africa last year, that

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Africans themselves must demonstrate the political will to

respond to problems by peaceful means and to adhere to

the rules of good governance through ensuring respect for

human rights and the rule of law, strengthening

democratization and promoting transparency in public

administration. In the meantime, the assistance of the

international community is important not only for the

economic development of African States, but also to enable

them to build their own capacity for conflict prevention and

resolution.

The African regional and subregional organizations,

such as the Organization of African Unity, the Economic

Community of West African States and the Southern

African Development Community, should be given credit

for the role they have played in the implementation of

peace operations in several African countries, and should be

provided with the necessary financial and material

assistance. Slovakia is ready to contribute its share — for

instance, by offering its Training Centre for Peacekeeping

Operations, which has specific facilities for training

engineering units.

Another pressing problem is the prevention of the

illicit flow of arms and military material into zones of

conflict, and the enforcement of an effective

implementation of the Security Council arms embargoes.

The most disturbing fact is that the Security Council’s

sanctions are violated mostly by non-African countries

which have turned Africa into a store for all kinds of

weapons. Slovakia firmly adheres to all Security Council

decisions, including sanctions. We believe that Security

Council sanctions committees should be actively engaged

in ensuring the concerted efforts of all the actors concerned

— Governments, international governmental and

non-governmental organizations, private companies and

leaders of opinion — in order to identify the sources of

arms flows into zones of conflict and cut off military forces

and rebel groups from their resources, thus eliminating their

ability to wage war.

I realize that the United Nations is not only a

peacekeeper; it also has a role to play in the everyday lives

of many people suffering from hunger, poverty, disease,

illiteracy and backwardness. All of us are obligated to

promote sustainable development and to protect the global

environment and human rights. The best way to prevent and

eliminate conflicts is to create conditions for a worthy life

for every individual on this planet as well as friendly

relations among nations based on the principles of equal

rights, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human

rights.

Being a small country, the Slovak Republic does not

always have means to resolve global issues comparable to

those that some big countries have. But it compensates

for this disadvantage with its determined and active

approach to all the major problems that mankind is

facing. As experience has shown, small and medium-sized

countries can contribute significantly to the resolution of

crises and conflicts. This may be due to the fact that these

countries are not burdened with power interests and are

capable of presenting and advocating solutions acceptable

to all. Slovakia has already demonstrated its ability to be

an active player in international relations. The United

Nations and its Security Council are the forums in which

we can put this valuable experience to the best use.