Yesterday and today we have
heard many inspiring words. We heard powerful words,
words of hope. A few moments ago we heard words
about salvation. Although most of us would not agree
that salvation is around the corner, at the same time I
believe all of us will agree that improvement is
possible and that the reason we are here is to make that
improvement a reality. But in order to do that, we must
do what the peoples of the world legitimately expect
from us as representatives of United Nations Member
States: to make this institution, the United Nations,
effective and to work for it with a sense of common
purpose, truly as united nations.
I express full confidence in your experience and
wisdom, Mr. President, congratulate you on your
election and wish you every success in your work for
the improvement of humankind’s situation.
At the same time, I would not wish to miss the
opportunity to thank the President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-third session, Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann, who guided this Assembly with
great determination and an ethical commitment to
fairness and justice.
I also wish to pay tribute to our Secretary-
General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his guidance in these
trying times.
In the past few days, many of us were engaged in
an effort, spearheaded by the Secretary-General, to
generate the necessary political will to seal the deal in
Copenhagen. We all appreciate this example of
international leadership. Humankind must take resolute
steps towards a new and effective system to mitigate
the effects of global warming and to ensure our
necessary adaptation.
Our responsibilities are common and
differentiated. Today, we understand that each of the
Member States of the United Nations must do its share
and that, together as united nations, we can save the
planet. Let the Copenhagen Conference be the turning
point.
We also need to broaden the front and fully
include civil society and the business sector in broad
action for this needed technological and social
transformation. Action starting now to mitigate the
consequences of climate change will have to lead to
profound societal change — a change in the way we
produce, the way we consume and the way we live. Let
us not be afraid of these changes. These changes may
not amount to a revolution, of which President Chávez
Frías of Venezuela spoke, but they will have to be real
and, if guided in a wise and timely manner, they can
improve our common future.
Now the world needs a comprehensive strategy in
order to fulfil this task. Such a strategy needs to
address all the main challenges of our time in a
consistent manner. The food crisis, climate change, the
energy crisis, the spreading of infectious diseases and
other problems may have different roots, but they
produce a single, communicative effect. They hobble
global development and make the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals only a distant
possibility. Therefore, clear responses are called for.
And what is the role of the United Nations in this
context? Some of the answers have already been
provided. They are enshrined, inter alia, in the
Outcome of the United Nations Conference on the
World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on
Development, which was held in New York in June.
Results of that Conference should be further
elaborated. Specific priority tasks for global
development must soon be defined.
These days, many expectations are linked to the
G-20 summit meeting in Pittsburgh. Much needs to be
done to bring greater discipline and responsibility to
the global financial system. This is an important and
immediate priority. Moreover, it is necessary to
increase resources and to adjust the Bretton Woods
institutions with a view to the proper maintenance of
global financial stability and of development financing.
The restarting of global trade negotiations has become
an urgent priority.
But even more is needed, including the
improvement of official development assistance, with a
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particular priority on development in Africa. Issues of
global development represent a large part of the agenda
of the current session of the General Assembly.
However, we must also think about the fate of
human rights in current global circumstances. Human
rights and development are closely connected. The
current recession has already increased global levels of
poverty. Unemployment is growing. The faith of many
young people is becoming ever more uncertain. All
these are serious challenges to global social stability
and may turn into the serious security concerns of
tomorrow if left unattended.
I welcome the efforts of the International Labour
Organization and the Global Jobs Pact adopted in June.
Today, there is no challenge to human rights more
pervasive, more strategic and more pressing than the
challenge of poverty and unemployment. Policymakers
need to ensure that economic policies and human rights
policies alike are coordinated and that mechanisms are
put into place at the national and international levels.
Slovenia was one of the first Member States to
sign today the Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Protocol will give individuals an additional and
potentially significant implementation mechanism.
This is a small step, but one which demonstrates our
awareness of the problem and our commitment to
action.
We are also looking to the Human Rights Council
as the main body of the United Nations to devise
strategies for human rights. Slovenia has been an active
member of the Council and we remain optimistic. The
progress achieved so far in developing new methods of
work in the Council is encouraging, albeit not yet
sufficient. We welcome the election of the United
States to the Council and believe that only an inclusive
forum for human rights can be an effective forum for
human rights. Members of the Human Rights Council
must realize that they bear a special responsibility to
lead.
But there are problems which exceed the
potential of the Human Rights Council itself. The
failures to protect human beings from mass atrocities
and from gross and systematic violations of human
rights should not be repeated. We still have not found
the right tools to respond in a timely and effective
manner to such situations. I therefore welcome the
debate on the responsibility to protect that took place
in the General Assembly in July this year. Continued
engagement of the General Assembly on this subject
has proved to be necessary, and I hope that this
discussion will yield results.
Issues of environment, development and human
rights represent today the bulk of the current United
Nations agenda, but it is in the area of the maintenance
of international peace and security that some of the
most urgent thinking and action are necessary. Four
areas of work are of special importance.
The reform of the Security Council is long
overdue and progress made at the sixty-third session of
the General Assembly is insufficient. However,
negotiations so far have generated a positive
momentum. It is apparent that the expansion of the
Security Council in the permanent and non-permanent
categories of membership has gained broad support
among United Nations Member States. Exactly a year
ago from this rostrum, I suggested a specific model for
Security Council expansion. It was one of many
proposals that were made. Now the time is right for
that and other proposals to be put on the table and to be
addressed head on.
In addition to structural change, such as Security
Council reform, we need to strengthen the United
Nations practical role in the maintenance of
international peace and security. I welcome the
thinking expressed in the report of the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations entitled “A New Partnership
Agenda: Charting a New Horizon for United Nations
Peacekeeping”, published in July this year. The report
highlights many of the most pressing and subtle needs
for improvement. Member States must give careful
consideration to the report and to such concepts as
expanding the peacekeeping partnership, the purpose
of which is to strengthen the operational capacity and
political sophistication of United Nations peacekeeping.
Let us not overlook the fact that progress in
peacekeeping would strengthen all other United
Nations activities linked to the maintenance of
international peace and security, including preventive
diplomacy and post-conflict peacebuilding.
The third area which needs to be addressed is
disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control,
where we have come up against far too many
stumbling blocks in the past. United Nations action
needs to be energized now, and the forthcoming review
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of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons has to be a step forward.
Fourthly, the United Nations will continue to be
an indispensable forum for political consultation and
policy advice. The experience of the United Nations is
irreplaceable. The situation in Afghanistan can be cited
as a case in point. For three decades now, the United
Nations has been seized with a variety of problems
affecting Afghanistan, a Member State. No one should
doubt that Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans or that
the Afghanization of security is the only real path
towards security in the country. There can be no
military solution to the country’s variety of problems.
It is becoming ever more apparent that the international
community will have to assist in an Afghan process of
transition that will decrease and eventually phase out
the international military presence in the country.
Let me emphasize the role of the United Nations
in that context. Sometimes, matters such as the
situation in and around Afghanistan are discussed at
specialized international conferences, but wisdom and
common sense suggest that the experience of the
United Nations be put to use. Let us not forget the
unique success of the United Nations, of the United
Nations-led 2001 Bonn Conference and of the
subsequent Constitutional Loya Jirga. The time has
come for a broad look at the entire experience since
that period, an assessment of what exactly went wrong
and why, a sober assessment of the current situation,
and the careful definition of further steps that will
make international political, economic and
administrative assistance more effective and the
international military presence no longer needed. The
assistance of the Security Council and the General
Assembly will be valuable in that regard.
Let me conclude by saying something very
obvious. The agenda of the United Nations today is
heavy, but that is not news. The United Nations has
always been the forum for addressing the world’s most
intractable problems. At the same time, however, the
United Nations has always represented hope and
promise to the world. Let us live up to that hope and
that promise. Let us make this the era of the United
Nations and the Organization’s finest hour.