Allow me, Sir, to congratulate you on your election as President
of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I
believe that, under your presidency, this Organization
will make further progress in its reforms, enabling it to
respond promptly to the challenges faced by the
international community.
From the outset, I would like to thank your
predecessor, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her
efforts in performing the challenging tasks on the
agenda of the sixty-first session of the General
Assembly.
The Slovak Republic fully aligns itself with the
statement delivered by the representative of Portugal
on behalf of the European Union. In addition, I wish to
make a contribution to the general debate on behalf of
the Slovak Republic.
In spite of notable progress in some areas, the
Slovak Republic is not satisfied with the current pace
and scope of the United Nations reform process. We
think it necessary to make the work of newly created
structures and institutions more dynamic and to prepare
the United Nations to ensure the targeted prevention
and solution of concrete problems and conflicts.
We appreciate the establishment of the
Peacebuilding Commission. We hope that it will
become a pivotal tool in post-conflict stabilization. It
should give the international community a vehicle for
solving issues that extends the scope of crisis
management.
Slovakia also encourages efforts towards overall
reform in the system of human rights protection. We
have welcomed the commencement of work by the
Human Rights Council and recognize its primary
responsibility for promoting universal respect for the
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Within the ongoing process of institutional changes, we
expect the Council to effectively enforce its mandate
pursuant to resolution 60/251. The Slovak Republic
endorses the concept of protecting and promoting
human rights at the national and international levels. In
that context, we are prepared to assume our share of
responsibility. We will be honoured to receive the
support of other United Nations Member States for the
candidacy of the Slovak Republic to the Human Rights
Council for 2008-2011 in the election scheduled for
spring 2008.
The Slovak Republic appreciates the measures
designed to reform the Secretariat. We support the
modernization of the Secretariat’s management system
so that it can flexibly respond to current needs and
challenges, and the strengthening of its accountability
for the implementation of its tasks. As a country
participating in several United Nations-led
peacekeeping missions, we have also expressed our
support for the restructuring of the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations.
United Nations reform cannot be complete
without also reforming the structure and working
methods of the Security Council. Slovakia has been
actively engaged in this reform effort during the term
as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
The membership of that United Nations body should
reflect the changed geopolitical reality. The number of
both permanent and non-permanent Council members
should increase and the Global South countries should
acquire more seats. Germany and Japan have our
explicit support in their ambition to become new
permanent members of the Council. As a small country,
we also support those proposals for the non-permanent
membership category that would restrict countries from
so-called “flip-flopping” between categories.
Nor may the General Assembly evade the reform
effort. It is necessary to strengthen its role and
authority by focusing the Assembly’s attention on real
and acute problems of the current world. The Assembly
should also create mechanisms that would allow for the
monitoring of the implementation of its decisions and
at the same time provide for the elimination of
outdated measures that overburden its work.
Thought should also be given to the
representativeness of the bodies established by the
General Assembly. Slovakia, as a member of the Group
of Eastern European States, appreciates the election of
Mr. Srgjan Kerim as President of the Assembly at its
sixty-second session. At the same time, it should be
emphasized that the Eastern European Group is the
most dynamically growing regional group in the
General Assembly, yet its representation in managerial
positions in the Secretariat and in United Nations
bodies does not reflect that situation. A prime example
of the situation is the fact that this year not one of the
Assembly's Vice-Presidents is from the regional group
of which the Slovak Republic is a member.
Besides the efforts aimed at reforming the United
Nations, the Slovak Republic wishes to pay special
attention to the issue of security sector reform during
the sixty-second session. We believe that insufficient
reform or lack of reform in the security sector is often
a source or catalyst of conflicts, or even causes post-
conflict countries to lapse back to a conflict state. It
should also be borne in mind that a well-governed
security sector should, above all, ensure human
security, which represents the foundation for the
stability, good governance and, ultimately,
development of a country.
We are expecting a comprehensive report by the
Secretary-General on security sector reform, which
should become the basis of a more in-depth discussion
on this issue within the United Nations. Therefore,
Slovakia has decided to initiate a thematic discussion
on security sector reform during the sixty-second
session.
The Slovak Republic also expects the sixty-
second session to revitalize the discussion on
disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. Slovakia has had an opportunity to
contribute to these efforts through its chairmanship of
the Security Council Committee established pursuant
to resolution 1540 (2004). In this context, in February
2007 Slovakia also initiated an open debate in the
Security Council on non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction.
The destructive potential of weapons of mass
destruction increases along with the growing threat of
international terrorism. We therefore also wish to pay
special attention to this threat to international peace
and security. The United Nations Global Counter-
Terrorism Strategy adopted by the General Assembly
last year (resolution 60/288) provided for wide-ranging
international cooperation in this field.
The Slovak Republic pays due attention to the
economic and social aspects of the United Nations,
where we wish to engage even more actively. In 2003,
we submitted our candidacy for membership in the
Economic and Social Council for the years 2010 to
2012. We will be pleased to receive support from other
Member States for our candidacy.
As a new development aid donor, we want to
facilitate more effective cooperation with both
beneficiary and donor countries, integrate the work of
international agencies and make more efficient use of
the existing United Nations capacities in this area. We
wish to pay special attention to the development of
post-conflict regions, which currently receive the
largest portion of development aid. We believe that
there will be room in the Economic and Social Council
for Slovakia to utilize its experience in the field of
security sector reform in the joint work with other
bodies of the United Nations system.
Over the past two years, Slovakia has worked for
the first time as a member of the Security Council.
When adopting our decisions on the sensitive problems
of the modern world, we took into consideration the
peculiarities of individual cases, yet at the same time,
we sought to promote the value system of a member of
the European and trans-Atlantic community. Slovakia
will continue to work within the United Nations in this
same spirit, even after the completion of its current
term in the Security Council. We also wish to make
good use of the experience we have gained in our work
in other United Nations bodies.
The Slovak Republic is frustrated that no solution
to the Kosovo issue has yet been found. In our opinion,
Kosovo must not thwart the unification of European
nations nor set a negative precedent in terms of
international law.
It is with hope that we view the adoption of
Security Council resolution 1769 (2007), granting a
mandate for the deployment of a joint African Union-
United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur. This
unprecedented decision has moved the cooperation
between the United Nations and regional organizations
to a new level.
With regard to the Middle East issue, Slovakia
endorses a peaceful, fair and permanent solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The talks should result in
the establishment of a viable Palestinian State that will
coexist with Israel in an atmosphere of perpetual peace
and security. In this context, we appreciate the
resumption of dialogue between Israel and Palestine
and the measures taken in this respect by the Quartet.
It has been seven years since our Millennium
session, when we discussed our vision for the future of
life on our planet. It has been neither seven rich nor
seven poor years. The United Nations has made some
progress. On the other hand, it has failed to cope with
many challenges. We must do better together to make
the future score fall more in favour of the United
Nations.