At the outset, allow me to
join other delegations in congratulating the President
of the General Assembly on her election and to express
my deep conviction that, under her skilful leadership,
this session will achieve remarkable results.
Allow me also to extend my country’s sentiments
of deepest appreciation to Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. His relentless work for a better world has been
most remarkable. Leading the United Nations for 10
years in very sensitive times, his achievements,
humanism, vision and initiatives have crucially
contributed to the Organization. That has been
recognized worldwide. I wish him all the best in his
future engagements and thank him.
We live in a fragile world — a world disturbed
and unsettled, a world that is marked by conflicts,
controversies and confrontations of an entirely new
nature. The architecture and mindsets of yesterday’s
world are giving way to a web of new challenges.
Yesterday, it was all about blocs, ideologies, the cold
war and appeasement. Today, it is all about ethnicity,
conflicts, burning regions, colliding religions, mass
destruction, terror and poverty.
Today, international order is marked by three
extremely demanding and global challenges: global
tensions, global imbalances and global constraints. In
that triangle, we need to strive to deliver sustainable
solutions. Our responsibility is enormous — indeed,
even as we seek to ensure global opportunities,
freedom and shared values, this new world in the
making is in danger of lapsing into mistrust,
disagreements and divisions.
We live in a world of extraordinary inequalities in
opportunity, but our world is also a global and
interdependent one, where a broad sharing of economic
and political opportunities could serve as an effective
instrument for economic growth and development. In
so doing, we can start turning the internationally
agreed development goals, including the Millennium
Development Goals, into action.
My country is aware that a greater mobilization
of domestic resources in developing countries is a
necessity. Croatia has made significant progress in
creating an enabling environment for partnership and
innovation. Tremendous changes have taken place in
the development of a market economy, changing
ownership structures, creating a business environment,
and reforms in the public and private sector. Above all,
Croatia has progressed in ensuring domestic
democratic stability and a prosperous international
position as a framework for long-term development.
Croatia supports the commitments to the goals
and targets deriving from the United Nations summits
in Monterrey and Johannesburg, and the related
processes, such as the Doha Development Agenda and
the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. We also
support the emphasis on achieving the targets in
developed countries for official development assistance
based on actual needs — rising from today’s 0.33 per
cent of gross national income to at least 0.51 per cent
by 2010 and 0.7 per cent by 2015 — to meet the
Millennium Development Goals and each country’s
absorption capacity. We recognize that mobilizing
financial resources for development and the effective
use of those resources in developing countries are
central to a global partnership for development.
Still, simply raising the level of official
development assistance is not enough to enable the
international community to fulfil its obligations
towards the countries in need. It is also necessary to
contribute to a more equitable distribution of aid that,
unfortunately, quite often remains outside the regular
economic and financial flows. Croatia also welcomes
initiatives to enhance the quality of aid and to increase
its impact, bearing in mind the fact that progress both
for donors and for partner countries can be facilitated
by the harmonization efforts at the international and
regional levels. Therefore, we stress the need for an
integrated approach among international institutions.
06-52885 38
Croatia recognizes the needs of Africa, especially
sub-Saharan Africa and the least developed and
landlocked developing States, as well as the special
vulnerabilities of small island developing States. We
are therefore pleased that those groups of countries
received specific reference in the Outcome Document
of 2005, thus emphasizing their particular needs and
circumstances. The less fortunate must not be left
behind. Special attention should be given to countries
emerging from wars and undergoing a costly, complex
and highly demanding post-conflict management
process.
Croatia strongly supports yesterday’s official
launching of the International Drug Purchase Facility
initiative. We see it as a significant step forward and
express our hopes that all countries will render their
contribution.
As a contributor to various United Nations
programmes and funds, my country confirms its
capacity to support the activities of the United Nations
in numerous fields. We will increasingly continue to do
so. During the past few years, Croatia has started to
contribute voluntarily to a number of United Nations
activities, programmes and bodies: the United Nations
Children’s Fund, the United Nations Trust Fund for
African Development and the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, to mention but a few.
Being a small country, Croatia has limited financial
and human resources, but that will not hinder us from
sharing, helping and assisting.
Global economic and human development must
remain in our focus, but as we meet today, the focus is
very much on global tensions and instability. Today,
many ongoing regional crises continue to cause great
humanitarian tragedies around the world, seriously
destabilizing regional and global security. Those arcs
of instability are creating a network of fear and anger
across many parts of the world. Terrorism is taking on
new dimensions and forms. Weapons of mass
destruction are yet another cause of grave concern.
Economic imbalances and social impediments are
becoming new sources of instability across the world.
Religious divisions and misunderstandings add a new
and dangerous dimension to insecurity in the world.
The significant growth of international terrorism
has caused an unhealthy atmosphere of mistrust,
religious and cultural intolerance, and grave
infringements of human rights. Those consequences
have in time developed into their own separate and
extremely dangerous problems that exponentially
threaten already fragile international relations.
The Republic of Croatia, as a member of the
global anti-terrorist coalition, strongly condemns
international terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations and, bearing in mind the ever-evolving
threat of terrorism — especially weapons of mass
destruction and cyber-terrorism — calls for even
stronger global cooperation in the suppression of that
modern-day scourge.
We must prove to our nations that we will stay
firm and united against terrorism. In that light, a strong
commitment to achieving a global consensus on a
definition of terrorism and a final adoption of the
comprehensive convention on international terrorism
are very much needed and would reaffirm the central
role of the United Nations in the suppression of
terrorism. It that respect, we welcome the United
Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, launched
yesterday, and express our hope that all countries will
implement it.
The Republic of Croatia has established very
good cooperation with the United Nations, especially
the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee
and its Executive Directorate. Additionally, on 15 and
16 May, a Monitoring Team for the implementation of
Security Council resolution 1267 (1999) visited
Croatia and met with representatives of all relevant
Government bodies involved in the suppression of
terrorism.
Year by year, we continue our great cooperation
with the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, which
has resulted in a recently held national expert
workshop on international cooperation in criminal
matters related to terrorism, organized through our
joint cooperation in June this year in Valbandon,
Croatia.
Weapons of mass destruction and a common
approach to non-proliferation must remain our focus.
Responsibility for world peace and security must
continue to be the key guideline in dealing with that
grave challenge. The rules and standards must be
globally accepted and the United Nations and its
specialized institutions and agencies must continue to
play a pivotal role.
39 06-52885
My country won its liberty only a decade ago.
Aggression and crises in our part of Europe presented
the entire international community with a new
challenge at that time. Regional conflicts emerged as
the new and disturbing roots of new dangers to
international peace, and they remain a challenge in
many parts of the world. In that light, stability and
peace in South-East Europe and post-conflict
management and cooperation must be viewed as a
success for the international community and the
countries involved.
My country played and continues to play a
prominent and leading role in providing for long-term
stability, cooperation and democratic development for
all of South-East Europe, based on the commonly
shared vision of a new, united and secure Europe.
Already negotiating future full membership in the
European Union, and based on the progress of reforms
in the military and the security sector — as well as
standing at the threshold of NATO membership —
Croatia is today an anchor of stability, security and
cooperation. Croatia is therefore an indispensable
partner in the historical transformation of that often-
troubled and critically important region for European
and world peace, transforming it into a zone of modern
society and democratic standards and values.
Croatia’s specific position as a Central European,
Danubian and Mediterranean country provides added
value in bilateral and multilateral contacts and
experience, stemming from its participation in
numerous global, European and regional organizations
and initiatives in the fields of security, democratic
development and economic cooperation, including
Croatia’s current presidency of the South-East
European Cooperation Process.
Stability, democratic development and
cooperation, as well as the resolution of remaining
open issues and completing the security architecture of
that part of Europe, will also have to be closely linked
to the indispensability of the protection and promotion
of universal values, the rule of law, human rights and
democracy, as well as their interrelationship with
security and development.
Croatia supports efforts to accelerate democracy’s
movement around the world, particularly through such
intergovernmental organizations as the Community of
Democracies. Last year, as a signatory of the Warsaw
Declaration of the Community of Democracies, the
Republic of Croatia contributed to the founding of the
United Nations Democracy Fund to reaffirm its
commitment to encouraging other countries on their
path to democratization.
Croatia welcomes the fact that the International
Criminal Court (ICC) has begun work on its first cases.
We attach great importance to the continuation of the
ICC’s successful work. Croatia also welcomes the fact
that the number of States parties to the Rome Statute
has reached and surpassed 100, and we hope that the
number will continue to rise. The Republic of Croatia
also supports the work of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in pursuing
its completion strategy. Croatia continues to fully
cooperate with the ICTY as part of our own
advancement towards the rule of law, and also as an
indicator and impetus for the region, with the aim of
overcoming the legacy of the recent past in South-East
Europe.
The Republic of Croatia has been a member of
numerous United Nations bodies and very active in
organizing and hosting conferences and other
multilateral activities. My country is now ready to take
the next step in strengthening our responsibility as a
Member of the United Nations. For that reason, the
Republic of Croatia has presented its candidature for a
non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the
term 2008-2009 at the elections to be held in 2007.
Croatia recognizes the importance of global
multilateralism, as well as the growing significance of
regional organizations in tackling the challenges of
today’s world. The role of the United Nations in the
promotion of international cooperation for
development and the achievement of the development
goals agreed by the international community must
remain fundamental, pivotal and re-energized. We also
welcome the strengthening of coordination within the
United Nations system, in close cooperation with all
other multilateral financial, trade and development
institutions, in order to support sustained economic
growth and sustainable development.
Allow me to refer to one of the messages of the
Outcome Document of last year’s Summit — namely,
the notion that there will be no development without
security and no security without development. We
acknowledge that peace and security, development and
human rights are the pillars of the United Nations
system and the basis of our collective security and
06-52885 40
well-being. We recognize that development, peace,
security and human rights are interdependent and
mutually reinforcing. In facing that challenge, the
United Nations system is called on to play an enhanced
development role.
Croatia welcomes the inauguration of the Human
Rights Council and considers it to be a milestone for
the global promotion of human rights. My country also
welcomes the establishment of the Peacebuilding
Commission, which arose from the need for a
coordinated and integrated approach to post-conflict
peacebuilding.
My country is pleased to have been elected to the
Peacebuilding Commission in May, and I would like to
use this opportunity to thank all the States that voted
for us and placed their confidence in Croatia. Our wish
is to contribute actively to the United Nations system
of collective security in an effective and transparent
way, as embodied in the Charter and aligned with the
Millennium Declaration.
Croatia welcomes another visible result of the
efforts to reform the United Nations — the
establishment of the Human Rights Council as the
main standing body of the United Nations on human
rights.
Now, allow me to share some remarks on one of
the most important tasks we need to address.
In this fragile world, the need for an efficient and
democratic world body is ever increasing. The Summit
of heads of State and Government held in 2005
provided us with a platform for further action toward
the reform of our Organization. There has been noted
progress on several important reform issues, but we
cannot be satisfied with the pace of the process. My
country believes that the reform of the Organization
and of the Security Council must justly take account of
the interests of all. Croatia advocates the enlargement
of the Security Council in both the permanent and non-
permanent categories of membership, based on
appropriate regional representation in which the
Eastern European Group would have two non-
permanent seats. It is of the utmost importance in a
new, enlarged Council to have an appropriate number
of representatives of the developing countries of the
South and better representation of small and medium-
sized countries.
Additionally, the reform of the Council should
extend to its working methods and its interaction with
other principal bodies of the Organization, first and
most importantly the Economic and Social Council.
That would strengthen the United Nations in a wide
range of areas, including peace and security,
development and human rights. There is also a need to
improve United Nations management practices and
working methods to raise the whole system to a higher
level of transparency and accountability.
Mindful that peace and security are prerequisites
for economic and social prosperity, Croatia would like
to remain engaged in and responsive to current
concerns on reforming the United Nations system in
order to make it a stronger and more effective
Organization for times to come. That is our common
responsibility. We need to act today in order to prepare
ourselves in a timely manner for the challenges of
tomorrow.
Although one third of the entire Millennium
Development Goals period is already behind us, the
targets set are, regrettably, not being met at the desired
pace. That must be changed as a matter of urgency, as
it is undoubtedly an issue affecting the future security
and stability of the world. We must move forward in
assisting developing countries and other countries in
need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
As I mentioned at the outset of my address,
Croatia has presented its candidature for a non-
permanent seat on the Security Council for the term
2008-2009, the elections for which are to be held in
2007. I feel the need to stress that Croatia’s candidacy
is, above all, a measure of Croatia’s responsibility.
I have mentioned the fragility of today’s world. I
have not mentioned the fragility, uncertainties and
challenges that Croatia experienced in the recent past.
They are well known, but at the same time they are the
source of our understanding of and responsiveness to
the needs of a fragile world. We believe that we can
contribute to building a new cooperative world in
responding to our new challenges and to enhancing our
Organization. Croatian membership in the Security
Council would also serve as a telling demonstration of
the success of the peace process in South-East Europe.
My country went through a successful transition
from being a country receiving peacekeeping forces to
one that is now a contributor to 11 of the 18 United
Nations peacekeeping operations in various regions
41 06-52885
throughout the world. Croatia also provides training
and hosts international courses in the field of
peacebuilding. We are therefore well aware of the
added value that countries that have rebuilt their
national capacities bring to the credibility of such an
important body for the cause of international peace,
security and development. Croatia stands determined to
continue to support peace efforts and a strengthened
United Nations role on a regional and global level.