It is a great honour for me to address the Assembly on behalf of Montenegro and to reaffirm our determined commitment to the principles and tenets of the Charter of the United Nations and the mission and goals of this global Organization. It is also a great pleasure to be in this great Hall once again with everyone here, despite the risks and fears caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Our presence here shows our strong determination to affirm that multilateralism is still alive.
I would like to thank the Secretariat and the host country’s services for the enormous effort they have invested to ensure that the general debate is not only a demonstration of hope and belief that the world will deal with the pandemic but also a secure and safe event for all participants. In providing desperately needed medical and humanitarian aid, as well as significant support in dealing with the serious economic consequences of the pandemic, the activities of the United Nations have unquestionably demonstrated their important role in the modern world. Today it is clearer than ever that we can respond successfully to global challenges only if we act on a global level, with the concerted and coordinated action of all of us. And it is the United Nations that must be at the core of that action.
Enormous problems and crises — and they are unfortunately increasingly numerous — require strong leadership. Without it the world cannot provide what our citizens expect and are entitled to. But to our common misfortune, the world has lately witnessed a crisis of leadership whose consequences can be seen in almost all areas of global relations. Fragmentation and national approaches are still dominant factors in the behaviour of key international stakeholders. Rather than uniting in joint concrete action, we more often share only our joint concerns. A path focused on clear vision and commitment, quality and continuity, efficiency and effectiveness, cooperation and solidarity, determination and responsibility is the only road to dealing with our
growing global problems, from the pandemic and climate change to famine, migrations, human rights violations and humanitarian crises. Member States will always have an open and reliable partner in Montenegro on that path.
The theme of this year’s debate refers to the generally accepted opinion that an understanding and adequate treatment of the multidimensional consequences of the pandemic, aimed at building a sustainable future, will be a major factor in the future actions and behaviour of States and other international actors. It is clear that reinvigorated multilateralism and revitalization of the United Nations are desperately needed. One step towards that goal, which we warmly welcome, is the Secretary-General’s initiative responding to the health emergencies and social and economic consequences of the pandemic by establishing the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund and the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19. Our response must be united and equally accessible.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the most serious crisis the world has seen since this global Organization was established. However, with a mature and responsible approach, we can learn lessons from every crisis. The lesson this time is a loud warning about how important it is to stand together and ensure international solidarity in seeking global solutions. It seems that the world is at a crossroads. We can either choose further isolationism and erosion of trust, tolerating growing xenophobia, nationalism and right-wing ideas, ignoring the alarming warnings about the state of the environment and silently accepting increased inequality in every arena, or we can make a breakthrough, aimed at achieving a more secure and better future for all, by taking the path of Our Common Agenda — for people, for the planet, for prosperity and for peace, as Secretary-General Guterres has said. It means choosing a future based on the highest values of equality, justice, responsibility and solidarity, not on retrograde ideologies, selfishness and cheap populism.
Surely we cannot consider that we face a dilemma in choosing between those options. We, the leaders and our citizens, have a unique opportunity to use the current crisis as momentum for building a greener, more just and more sustainable world. That mission will require effective and strengthened multilateralism, a retreat from rhetoric and greater space for action. To overcome existing geostrategic divisions and dysfunctional international relations we will need a new world view within our States and a renewed global agreement between them. Our post-pandemic recovery and revitalized multilateralism must be based on fair globalization, respect for human rights and the dignity of all, environmental protection and a responsible attitude to nature, and results that are measured by humane parameters, not just economic ones. We should not strive for a peace that is nothing more than the absence of war, and we should not strive for development merely for the sake of profit. We should strive for peace and progress built on achieving the highest democratic standards and quality of life for all, and for current and future generations alike.
The process of strengthening the multilateral approach should happen alongside our work on strengthening cooperation in the digital arena, particularly now when we are witnessing the influence of technology on the post-crisis recovery and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Montenegro will continue to support efforts to implement the reform agenda within the development and managerial structures, as well as in bodies working to preserve peace and stability and implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are convinced that we can make the Organization’s functioning more efficient and flexible only through such essential reorganization efforts.
In its support to the Secretary-General’s Action for Peacekeeping initiative, Montenegro has again demonstrated its political commitment to the mandates of peace operations and their effective action, particularly regarding the protection of civilians. We remain determined to contribute, within our capacities, to the preservation and enhancement of international peace and security and to extend our participation in United Nations humanitarian and peacekeeping missions. Thanks to the obvious deterioration of the overall international security atmosphere, the modernization of weapon systems and the collapse of some of the most important strategic instruments in this area, the international architecture for disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control is under significant pressure. That is an issue that Montenegro, as a responsible member of the United Nations and NATO, wants to draw attention to. Support for implementing, strengthening and further developing multilateral agreements in the field of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control should be an imperative for us all.
Montenegro will also continue to work on integrating a human rights and gender perspective into every aspect of United Nations work, defending the universality of international human rights law and the independence of the human rights system. As a candidate with a realistic chance of becoming a member of the Human Rights Council, we will advocate for streamlined agendas and better synergy between Geneva and New York. That is the only way to ensure that we will have opportunities to react in a timely fashion and prevent the mass violations that have repeatedly shocked the world public. Until we do that, we will keep reacting post facto almost as a rule, and therefore spending our resources mainly on de-escalating and dealing with humanitarian crises instead of on managing and preventing them.
It is in that light that we should also consider the obvious deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation, as we prepare for a potentially new and greater wave of migrants that will undoubtedly have regional and global repercussions. We call for a global response to the refugee and migrant crisis. We must share responsibility in that regard, as we envisaged in the global agreements we adopted on refugees and migrants. We must cooperate in finding solutions and provide help both to countries of destination and countries of origin. Montenegro is the only one of the republics of the former Yugoslavia that did not have to deal with war on its territory during the conflicts of the 1990s. At the time we took in more than 100,000 refugees and displaced persons, more than 20 per cent of our entire population. As a United Nations member, we find it difficult to understand and accept any approach other than one of solidarity and support for the most vulnerable.
We are witnessing a growing climate and environmental crisis. The High Commissioner for Human Rights recently presented very worrying findings in Geneva about the global human rights situation in the context of environmental issues, saying that climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity will together constitute by far the most serious challenge to human rights in our era. She clearly acknowledged human activity as one factor and a lack of appropriate action as another. The full implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement are crucial to better recovery from the pandemic and to global preparation against future systemic shocks. That is why it is particularly important that in preparing for the World Climate Summit and Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow in November this year, all countries mobilize an additional level of ambition in achieving their long-term goals for reducing global warming. Although Montenegro’s share of global emissions is tiny, in December 2020 we increased our climate goals, thereby affirming our strong and constant commitment to tackling climate challenges adequately. We expect that further activities at the national level will enable us to make new and more ambitious breakthroughs. That is why it is exceptionally important to integrate the components of action that will be based on human rights both when new climate goals are set and when a new global biodiversity framework is defined.
This year Montenegro celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the restoration of its independence and the moment when the Montenegrin flag was hoisted for the first time above New York’s East River. We have walked a demanding path since our admission to the United Nations family — which was the broadest recognition of our restored independence — from our positioning on the main concourse of the United Nations and with our key foreign-policy partners, to the visibility, recognition and affirmation that we have today and that greatly exceed our country’s physical size. That path has not been easy, particularly in the Balkans, which is burdened by its past and continues to be a place where conflicting influences clash and geostrategic interests compete. That is still a concern for various international actors, but it does not always bring needed or timely attention.
The challenges and threats to multi-ethnic democracy in the Balkans have not lessened. The Western Balkans are once again a battlefield for conflicting geopolitical interests, resulting in a slowdown in the integration of Western Balkan societies into their natural European setting, undermining people’s trust in and adoption of European values. That confusion not only hinders and further slows the development of this European region, it also opens the door to a revival of destructive theories that claim that because it is lagging behind, this region cannot survive as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional community and its States cannot be functional. This manufactured thesis is aimed at Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular, but also at smaller countries in the region. The motive for it is to make a case for restoring the greater-State
nationalistic projects that in the 1990s led to war in the Western Balkans and almost 150,000 deaths.
However, our determination to fight those retrograde and dangerous ideas has not wavered and therefore today, from this rostrum, Montenegro is warning of the renewed danger that the Western Balkans may be destabilized and its European prospects reduced. Montenegro has continued to work to build a better future for its citizens based on equality and non-discrimination. We have built relations of trust and cooperation with all of our neighbours. As the most senior officials of our host country used to say, Montenegro was an oasis of peace in the Balkans in the war years of the 1990s. As a contributor to regional security, we joined NATO and have become a leader in the process of European integration. In spite of our many challenges, Montenegro remains determined to defend civic, inclusive, multi-ethnic and European democracy and to be proof that multi-ethnic democracy is possible in the Balkans and is the only true guarantee of prosperity.
Montenegro will remain loyal to those policies and strongly committed to the values of multilateralism, open and friendly cooperation, further democratic consolidation and the strengthening of the rule of law. Among other things, that will help to strengthen our partnership with the Organization.