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.