When I first took the floor
seven years ago to address the representatives of the
States of the world on behalf of the Republic of
Croatia, I started off with the words “time is running
out”. At the time, I did not even imagine that I would
have to repeat those very words seven years later, but
with a greater sense of urgency. However, current
circumstances, the problems facing us and our inability
or inadequate ability to deal with them compel me to
repeat, here and now: Time is running out.
When we attended the millennial session marking
the beginning of the new century and the new
millennium, we also formulated our millennial goals.
Quite appropriately, we identified our tasks and our
aspirations. However, what is not appropriate is the
fact that the implementation of the Millennial Goals is
not proceeding at the proper rate or in the proper
manner if we want them to be meaningful.
We are running late; hence my warning: Time is
running out. Among all global organizations, the
United Nations is that which has been most
sympathetic to the problems of developing countries
and where loud and justified requests have been voiced
to stop the stratification of the world into the haves and
the have-nots. I have also attended sessions and
conferences dealing with the issue, and I have
repeatedly drawn attention to underdevelopment as a
generator of global terrorism, along with inequality in
international relations and unresolved regional crises.
Nevertheless, underdevelopment and poverty still
weigh upon a substantial part of humankind, and the
preferred methods for fighting terrorism have so far
been shown to be less than efficient, and sometimes
even counterproductive. We are also running late in
that regard, and time is running out here, too.
We have wanted and still want this Organization,
our own Organization, to be fit for better and more
functional action in current conditions. In other words,
we want to reform the United Nations; we want to
transform the Organization from a reflection of a world
long gone into an instrument for safeguarding peace,
establishing stability and ensuring development in the
contemporary world and the world of future
generations.
By declaring its candidacy for a non-permanent
seat in the Security Council, Croatia wishes to affirm
its commitment to the global Organization and its
readiness to take part in its reform. I do not want to
misuse the time at my disposal to lobby for that
candidacy. Our deeds say more than our words, and our
deeds include a successful struggle for national
independence, despite an imposed war; the peaceful
completion of that struggle through cooperation with
the United Nations; a courageous confrontation of the
past and of the truth about that past; the establishment
of good relations with all our neighbours, including
those that waged war against us; the promotion of the
peaceful resolution of conflicts, always and
everywhere; current participation in 15 United Nations
peacekeeping missions, which puts Croatia at the very
top of those countries whose soldiers are today
maintaining peace under the blue flag. Let me
emphasize that they are participating only in those
missions that are under a United Nations mandate. In
short, we are putting forward our candidacy as a
mature European democratic country committed to the
goals of the United Nations, and there is nothing more
to be said about it.
As I have already said, we demonstrate our
commitment by supporting the reform of the world
Organization, but even in the realization of that noble
and certainly unavoidable goal we are running late.
Even among us, there are voices suggesting that we
renounce the United Nations. There is less and less
time for action. Even in that context, then, I must
reiterate: Time is running out.
In recent decades, this Hall has heard many
debates on the need to establish new political and
economic international relations. Such new relations
can be based only on equality. It is true that the high
and the mighty have a greater responsibility, but it is
also true that no one no one at all can or may
have greater rights, much less usurp such rights by
force, just as nobody’s rights can be denied by force.
That holds true for global and regional developments
alike. Unfortunately, force is still present in
international relations, and on the European continent
we are witnessing dangerous signs of a possible
renewal of the arms race. Such a trend should be
stopped and such conditions changed. There is not
much time. Once again, time is running out.
By complying with the requirements of often
uncontrolled development and not only in the most
developed countries and by giving in to the
aggressive needs of capital, guided exclusively by
interest and never by social factors, we have agreed to
condemn millions of people to death by starvation and
for lack of basic medical care, and hundreds of
millions to bare survival in poverty, with no prospects.
However, by destroying nature, we have also
jeopardized everyone’s survival. Climate change and
global warming are only two indicators, albeit the most
evident, of the situation to which I am referring. The
summit on climate change proved that we are all aware
of the danger we are facing. Those who underestimate
and even deny that real danger will simply have to face
the truth. We are already living that truth; fast,
coordinated and responsible action is called for. That
action must serve the interests of all, even if it may
momentarily run against the interests of some, because
time is running out dangerously.
We have not met yet again in the General
Assembly in order to describe our world and our
environment from our individual perspectives. Our
mandate is not mere diagnosis. Our mandate involves
healing, changing and improving. With a foreign policy
based on the value of the European Union, which it
will enter soon, and with its desire to develop good
relations with everyone willing to reciprocate, the
Republic of Croatia has shown by deeds that it is aware
of the fact that there is no time to be lost. It has also
shown the capacity to act and to get things going in a
positive direction, both in its own interest and in that of
others.
We have only one world. Its destiny is in our
hands. There is room for everyone in this world, but
this world can, may and must be only a world of
equals, of people enjoying not only equal rights but
also equal opportunities, knowing that nobody,
however big and strong, can live alone and only for his
own sake, and that together we can change our world.
Even more importantly, however, together we can save
and preserve it for future generations. But let us not
forget: time is running out.