Slovenia

It was 10 years ago, immediately following the admission of newborn Slovenia to the United Nations, that I addressed the Assembly for the first time. I did so with great pride, with faith in the United Nations and with gratitude for the chance given to my country to present to the international community its own views on current world affairs, with a sense of responsibility for its actions not only towards its own citizens, but also towards the entire international democratic community. Looking back at the past decade, I can say without the slightest reservation that, without the United Nations, life on our planet would be even more uncertain, social injustice would be even more widespread and global disparities in prosperity even more marked. There would be even more systematic violations of human rights in many States and even more wars. In spite of its acknowledged weaknesses and inefficiencies, this world Organization has done great work. I daresay that, throughout its membership, Slovenia, too, has contributed to this through its own active pursuit of the principles of the United Nations. It received widespread recognition for the work it accomplished as a non-permanent member of the Security Council; this is something of which we are particularly proud. 2 The United Nations decisions at the historic Millennium Summit have already placed the Organization in the future realm of our global world. The violence committed by States against their own peoples is now faced with a new force: the ethic of the democratic world. This ethic does not recognize absolute State sovereignty or absolute non-interference in internal affairs when systematic mass violations of human rights, through State terror, occur. The principle of humanitarian intervention is the beginning of an important process of implementing global ethics in the governance of this globalized and increasingly interdependent world. It is also a clear message to the authors of international law and to international judicial institutions. It is one of the pillars of the next phase of international law, as is the International Criminal Court. No one any longer has responsibility only towards themselves. State sovereignty is no longer untouchable. Everyone, in their actions, also has a responsibility towards global society, for in an increasingly integrated world, the actions of one easily affect others. Certain measures of the global community of States in response to the challenges of the twenty-first century, such as the special session on the future of children, the World Summit Sustainable Development and the forthcoming meetings on a better future for Africa are signs that the United Nations is gaining in political and moral clout as an Organization common to all States and as an organization capable of finding the strength to carry out the announced internal reforms. In that context, Slovenia supports the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and the Secretary-General's proposed reforms. That these efforts are urgently needed became particularly apparent last year on 11 September, a day of tragedy not only for New York, Washington and the United States in general, but for all humanity. The entire democratic world joined in the fight against international terrorism. Slovenia also did so with great resolve. No one who cared for humanity just stood aside. But as time passed, it became increasingly clear that even the best military weaponry of the anti- terrorist coalition could not reach down to the social roots of this horrendous evil. This evil is craftily taking advantage of the apathy and the anger of people and States without a future. This evil is trying to regain its strength by playing on religious, cultural and civilizational differences, intertwined with the great social rifts in our global world. Evil, understood in this way an evil that threatens to use the most atrocious weapons of mass destruction can be eradicated only through concerted action by democratic States under the umbrella of the United Nations. It is precisely in this context that the authority and credibility of the United Nations are on trial. The Organization has proven itself capable of reaching common positions and decisions even on the most demanding issues. We are capable of defining common positions, even concerning the actions of those who do not respect these common decisions. The United Nations now must have the ability not only to speak of those positions, but also to implement them through concerted action. That is the responsibility that all of us face today. Globalization, with all of its positive and negative aspects, is a given fact. Let us do more to transform that fact into something that is in keeping with the needs of the people and the rule of individual and collective human rights. Certainly, this cannot be achieved by trying to drive peoples, States, cultures, religions and civilizations away from their own identities, by trying to place them under the common denominator of a single global identity. That would signify the collapse of our human world, bearing disastrous consequences. Today's world, where borders between States and particularly between civilizations are growing less rigid, is a world full of plural identities and of clearly defined national, cultural and religious entities that are beginning to open up to one another. This plurality calls for a unique integrating factor. That factor can only be a global ethic based on the ancient principle of reciprocity among human beings: do unto others as you would have others do unto you. In times of interdependence among each and every one of us, such values are particularly important. The global ethic should be developed based on this value, for it is a value with deep roots in the world's age-old great religions and civilizations. Based on this value, we will be able to strengthen universal human rights and global social justice, and without that justice, one cannot expect the world to be a safe and peaceful place offering people justified hope that our planet belongs to all of humanity. 3 International terrorism has unveiled the negative aspects of interdependence among our societies. We must now do more to strengthen the positive aspects and to create new ones. The environmental, economic and ethical challenges humanity is facing today require a radical rethinking of global governance and the establishment of global responsibility. This is so much more so since we are faced with the breakdown of regulation and control in global trade, with an inequitable global development machinery that generates misery and humiliation, and that manifests a relentless preference for economic and financial logic over ecological, social and human demands. A positive alternative must be found to these negative aspects of our interdependence. Present generations of statesmen, politicians, academicians and civil society all have a duty to lay the foundations of a global ethic and a United Nations that offers stronger guarantees for a world that is no longer so fiercely divided into peoples, nations and States with the right to a future and those who are robbed of that future by the technological and social gaps of our planet. I am convinced that there will be a kinder future for our world and a more creative future for the United Nations. It is with this in mind that I most warmly welcome our new Member, Switzerland, and soon also, Timor-Leste. These two new Members illustrate very clearly all the disparities in our globalized world. I firmly believe that their work in this Assembly will help transform the United Nations into a community for the entire world.