Slovakia, 2010

Let me

congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election to

preside over the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth

session. May the United Nations, under his leadership,

confirm its central role in global events. Slovakia

stands prepared to support him. I also appreciate the

work done by his predecessor at the previous session.

The Slovak Republic fully aligns itself with the

European Union’s statements. We are pleased that 27

European member States, plus other associated

countries, speak in one voice at this universal

international forum. This is a good prerequisite to clear

the way for widely anticipated effective cooperation

between the Union and the United Nations.

Let me now share with the Assembly several

remarks on certain global and regional issues from the

perspective of the Slovak foreign policy priorities.

The foreign policy of Slovakia, as a United

Nations member, is based on respect for the core

democratic values, international law and effective

multilateralism. We therefore welcome and support the

main theme of the sixty-fifth session: “Reaffirming the

central role of the United Nations in global

governance”. This topic is all the more important since

we often witness failure to respect binding decisions

taken by United Nations bodies, and from time to time

even among the various United Nations institutions.

One of the most important missions of the United

Nations is to act as a guarantor of the formulation,

protection and implementation of the principle of

collective security of States. Hence, the preservation of

international peace and security at a global level and

within the bounds of international law must remain at

the core of United Nations activities. For peace and

security become particularly vulnerable in times of

global financial and economic crises. They require

increased attention on our part in order to remain under

the control of States and the international community.

The process of arms control and disarmament

represents the most important instrument for the

prevention of war and other conflict. The progress

achieved in the area of non-proliferation of weapons of

mass destruction gives us reason for cautious

optimism. Our duty is to continue the effort and to

strengthen the global system of non-proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction. Yet the risk of such

weapons falling into the hands of terrorists remains

high. We are also prepared to cooperate with our

partners on a number of priorities, such as the entry

into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty.

We appreciate the new post-START Treaty

between the Russian Federation and the United States.

We believe that the Treaty will invigorate the process

of disarmament, which is getting off the ground, and

increase pressure on certain States to desist from their

ambitions to own nuclear weapons. In particular, I wish

to underscore the important role played by the

Conference on Disarmament, which is described as the

sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum.

In the area of conventional weapons, it is

necessary to continue negotiations leading to the

adoption of a new, effective arms trade treaty.

Adequate attention must also be paid to small arms, the

uncontrolled spread of which may have devastating

consequences for the maintenance of peace and

security, particularly in conflict areas.

United Nations peacekeeping operations

represent one of the most visible activities of the

United Nations in its efforts to preserve peace and

security in the world. Slovakia, as an active contributor

to United Nations missions and other international

crisis management operations based on a United

Nations mandate, welcomes the steps towards reviving

the reform of peacekeeping operations as described in

the document “ A New Partnership Agenda: Charting a

New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping”.

I believe that the new Global Field Support

Strategy will contribute, in real terms, towards a more

rapid deployment of peacekeeping missions and, at the

same time, ensure a more efficient utilization of human

and financial resources.

Proper coordination between the United Nations

and regional organizations plays an important role.

There is room for improvement, for example, when it

comes to cooperation between the EU and NATO at the

operational level, but also for a more effective

coordination at strategic level.

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The United Nations must also play a key role in

the prevention of conflicts. Slovakia supports the

prevention and mediation role of the United Nations

and its capacity-building. It is, however, necessary to

exert synergic efforts taking due account of the

interests of all stakeholders at the local, regional and

global levels in order to eliminate sources of conflict

and proceed directly with establishing peace.

The establishment of the United Nations Regional

Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia,

which is headed by a Slovak diplomat, was a step in

the right direction. The recent events in Kyrgyzstan

confirmed the usefulness of this instrument and

underscored the need to support it further.

Slovakia takes an active part in peace processes.

Since our non-permanent membership in the Security

Council in 2006 and 2007, we have continued our

involvement in security sector reform. We are glad that

since then several strategic papers have been produced

and that progress has been made in building the

requisite capacities, particularly in cooperation with

African countries.

As the chair of the Group of Friends of security

sector reform, we continue to actively work towards

strengthening the relations in this matter between

Member States and the Secretariat. In the course of the

sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly, we

teamed up with our partners from Argentina and

Indonesia to hold regional workshops dealing with

security sector reform in the broader context of

preserving and building peace and, at the same time,

establishing a link between its global and regional

aspects. We are determined to uphold this effort in

cooperation with the Inter-agency Task Force on

Security Sector Reform, as well as with other Member

States and subregional organizations.

Under the Charter, the primary responsibility for

international peace and security lies with the Security

Council. The process of its reform could almost be

called a never-ending story. We are therefore pleased

that the intergovernmental negotiations on Security

Council reform were given a clearer shape. It must

stand on the following pillars: representativeness,

effectiveness in fulfilling its mission and transparency

of its working methods, while allowing for possible

enforcement of its decisions by sanctions.

The global financial and economic crisis laid bare

the weak spots in the existing structures of the world

economic order. The key role of the United Nations

and its Member States must also be confirmed in this

financial and economic dimension at the global level.

At the High-level Plenary Meeting on the

Millennium Development Goals, we shared the view

that since our efforts in achieving these Goals started

some 10 years ago they had not become less topical or

less important. Eradicating poverty and hunger,

improving the quality of education, adequate

employment, improving health-care services and

housing, improving maternal health, gender equality

and environmental sustainability remain among the

central concerns of United Nations programmes, funds

and specialized agencies.

Everyday life also shows us that creating

conditions for equitable and sustainable development

must go hand in hand with respect for nature and its

rules. There is an inherent link between the two, and

both have an impact on the life of individuals, who are

part of the universal system.

The people of Slovakia had the misfortune to

witness nature’s power as floods of an unprecedented

scale ravaged our country earlier this summer. A proper

balance must be struck between development and

respect for nature, based on well-reasoned arguments

supported by proper analysis, and without giving way

to the influence sought by certain narrowly focused

transnational organizations that call themselves

environmentalists.

For the first time this year, Slovakia took part in

the Economic and Social Council meetings as a

member. Our experience shows that we need to

strengthen the links between the Economic and Social

Council and other organizations of the United Nations

system and beyond, provided they work towards the

same objectives.

Slovakia welcomes the establishment of

UN Women — the United Nations Entity for Gender

Equality and Empowerment of Women. We believe that

this entity will help curb all forms of violence against

women. We also extend our good wishes for a

successful mandate to the Secretary-General’s Special

Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Slovakia rejects any and all forms of intolerance,

xenophobia, discrimination, racism and extreme

nationalism. We are devoted to the protection of and

support for human rights at both the national and

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international level. We play a leading role in the

interregional initiative aimed at the adoption of a new

optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of

the Child.

Slovakia fully supports the fight to end impunity

for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes under

international law, such as genocide, war crimes and

crimes against humanity. As a facilitator for the

universality and implementation of the Rome Statute of

the International Criminal Court, we actively work

towards increasing the number of States Parties to the

Rome Statute and towards its proper implementation.

Slovakia closely watches the situation and

problems in individual regions of the world.

The long-term effort to reach lasting peace in the

Middle East has failed to yield the expected results. At

this stage, we appreciate the contributions of all

facilitators involved in reconciling the demands of both

sides by way of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks that

were launched recently. We are hopeful that the

Palestinian and Israeli leaders will find a way of

coming to an agreement that will lay down the final

arrangement of their mutual relations. This is necessary

for world peace.

Africa, as the most troubled continent, continues

to call for special attention by the international

community. We need to address the origin and the

essence of the problems, not only their consequences.

On the other hand, we are pleased to see the progress

made in the stabilization and development of countries

such as Ghana, Benin, Togo, Mauritius and others.

As members of the United Nations, we all have to

support respect for the binding nature of Security

Council resolutions — particularly when it comes to

preserving peace around the globe. For this reason, we

support diplomatic negotiations on the Iran issue, as

well as on the situation on the Korean peninsula, which

is a matter of concern.

Slovakia welcomed the conclusions of the Kabul

International Conference on Afghanistan. The

Conference marked a new phase of partnership

between the Afghan Government and the international

community, based on the principle of a gradual

Afghanistanization of the country, that is, the transition

to full Afghan leadership and responsibility to be

achieved in the Kabul Process. Slovakia will continue

to participate in the stabilization and development of

Afghanistan by contributing to NATO- and EU-led

stabilization and training operations and by

implementing humanitarian and development aid

projects.

Slovakia remains a staunch supporter of a

peaceful and just settlement of the Cyprus issue under

the auspices of the Secretary-General. More than

20 years of our support for negotiations and the

continued involvement, since 2001, of the largest

contingent of the Slovak armed forces in the United

Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus within the

United Nations crisis management operations, bear

witness to our engagement in this respect.

As for the Western Balkans, we are looking to

strengthen stability and support democratic processes.

We wish for the European integration processes of the

Western Balkan countries to move forward. We also

wish for the Balkans to see peace agreements and not

imposed solutions.

The United Nations must be able to effectively

respond to the current challenges of the twenty-first

century. This calls for synergies across all United

Nations bodies, programmes, funds and specialized

agencies. But, more importantly, since Member States

determine their activities and their direction, we need

to build synergies among us. The people of our

countries are looking to see positive results.

I am confident that, under the Assembly

President’s leadership, the United Nations will make

great strides in advancing its cause.