SL0VAKIA

STATEMENT BY

H.E. MR. EDUARD KUKAN

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

OF SLOVAKIA

IN THE GENERAL DEBATE

OF THE 55TH SESSION

OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

NEW YORK

20 SEPTEMBER 2000

Mr. President,

At the outset, I would like to warmly congratulate you on your election to the presidency of this session of the General Assembly. I am confident that your vast experience and outstanding record of achievements will guarantee the best results for this session. I wish you every success in this crucial role. I would also like to extend my wishes to your predecessor, H.E. Mr. Theo Ben Gurirab, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Namibia for the productive way he was managing the affairs of the 54th session of the General Assembly. I also welcome Tuvalu as the new member of our Organization.

Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Globalization is definitely the most typical phenomenon of the upcoming turn of the millennium. Globalization is frequently criticized, and at other times accepted uncritically; however, it definitely brings unprecedented progress and, at the same time, problems and challenges. The economic boom also has another aspect, in the form of large social differences; the environment often suffers from the industrial boom; due to new communication technologies, direct human contact is forgotten. I could continue in this vein. The world community also has to face other problems, which are beginning to display a trans-regional nature-for instance, organized crime, terrorism and emerging armed conflicts. Who else is better prepared to tackle all this than the United Nations-the most global institution we have? In my view, the Millennium Summit was the most significant step on this very demanding road. It spelt progress when compared with similar meetings in the past, as this time it dealt with the urgent problems of civilization to a greater extent. And moreover, the Millennium Summit managed to draw the attention of the whole world to problems considered by the United Nations to be of the greatest importance. However, in order to make a progress, a lot still remains to be done; therefore, I will take the liberty of commencing my contribution precisely with the reform of the UN.

The report of the UN Secretary-General, 'We the Peoples: the Role of the United Nations in the 21^st Century' displays great promise in this direction. The United Nations reform process must continue. The key point within the overall United Nations reform is the reform of the Security Council. The positions and opinions of Member States on the crucial issues of the Security Council reform, which are the increase in the number of permanent and non-permanent members and the issue of the veto right, unfortunately still vary to a great extent, thus making it very difficult to achieve substantive outcome in the nearest future. The results of the work the Open-Ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council for the past seven years are not encouraging. Despite this development Slovakia will support the renewal of the Working Group's mandate for the 55th session of the UN General Assembly. We consider next year's session of the Working Group to be crucial for further advancement of the reform process within this forum.

In the past, Slovakia has already presented its position with regard to the key issues of the Security Council reform. We support strengthening of its representative character, effectiveness, and transparency of the decision-making process and working methods. With regard to the issue of the enlargement of the Security Council, we consider the increase in the number of members in both categories to be justified. However, in our view the number of members in both categories does not have to necessarily increase simultaneously. The failure to reach an agreement on one category should not prevent the conclusion of an eventual agreement on the enlargement of the other category. The total number of members of the Security Council should not exceed 25, in order not to jeopardize the effectiveness and flexibility of the Council to immediately react to crisis situations. The Group of Eastern European States, whose membership has more than doubled over the past years, should not be omitted in the enlargement of the UN Security Council.

Mr. President,

Since its founding the United Nations as the world's universal organization has assumed under the Charter primary responsibility in maintaining the international peace and security. This concept continues to be fundamental to the United Nations and is being reinforced every time the international development necessitates a call to our community for rapid peacekeeping response.

The evolution in the nature of the UN peacekeeping operations from performing traditional military functions to the greater need for multi-disciplinary approaches, including interim administration and post-conflict peace-building, alongside the significant expansion of the regional and international conflicts worldwide with the growing demand for the involvement of the United Nations in their prevention and settlement, puts the United Nations potential in this vital area to a challenging test.

The need for peacekeeping has never been greater. However, such an international assistance can be effective only if it is based on well suited peacekeeping operation to be able to deal with all problems and needs in a situation it is deployed to. Therefore, we welcome the report of the expert panel on the United Nations Peace Operations which we consider to be an important step toward a meaningful reform of the UN peacekeeping activities. The Brahimi report gives a serious challenge to various actors involved to meet requirements of today's peacekeeping operations.

One should agree, and recent experience has confirmed it, that good intentions of deploying peacekeeping operation must be supported with clearly defined and achievable mandate. Only an adequate mandate and appropriate resources, both human and financial, can bring success to and strengthen the credibility of the United Nations in its peacekeeping efforts and not to cause more problems. It requires an appropriate and responsible approach of key players, including the Security Council, Member States an the UN Secretariat, to act promptly on their own as well as to enter into effective mutual cooperation to give a rapid and decisive response to the conflict situations.

Apart from the reform of the Security Council, qualitative improvements must be achieved in modernizing and streamlining the responsible departmental units in the Secretariat to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their outputs as possible. At the same time, member states must support the ability of the Secretariat to carry out tasks we ask it to do, since its capability to act depends on the will of member states to contribute troops and another assistance to a potential peacekeeping operation. However, member states should provide adequately prepared troops to be able to fulfill given tasks.

Simultaneously, peacekeeping operations should be, from the very beginning, provided with adequate financial resources to support the wide array of mandates. It is therefore equally important to ensure that the financial system providing the funding for the United Nations peacekeeping is stable, equitable and transparent and that there is a flexible mechanism in place with the ability to stabilize the finances for current and future peacekeeping operations. The revision of the United Nations peacekeeping scale of assessment over the next few months will provide a genuine opportunity for the UN General Assembly to take a critical look at the current method of assessment and with emerging consensus of the member states to take important steps to find a viable solution to this pressing issue.

I am pleased to announce today, Mr. President, our strong support for the revision of the peacekeeping financial structure and our readiness to meet our financial commitment under a reformed peacekeeping scale.

Mr. President, we would like to express our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his significant role in the process of UN reforms. We welcome his commitment to implement those changes recommended in the Brahimi report for which he is responsible. We should do our part and continue our personnel, material and financial support to UN peacekeeping missions. Slovakia has traditionally been participating in peacekeeping operations and, as a part of its latest activities, Slovakia is ready to send an engineering unit to the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea authorized by the Security Council last Friday.

Mr. President,

Due to the geopolitical position of Slovakia, we follow the situation in the Balkans most sensitively. We are aware that problems can only be effectively addressed, and crises and tension in the region eliminated, when all the countries involved are maximally engaged; when they are willing to collaborate, to search for compromises, and to overlook historical feuds towards the development of relations in a complicated region, from both an ethnic and nationalistic perspective. We hope that the elections in the Republic of Yugoslavia will be held in a peaceful atmosphere, and that neither of the parties will resort to violence. It is necessary that the elections correspond to the rule of law, and that they be democratic, free and fair. Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the basic objective: the stabilization of the situation in the Republic of Yugoslavia and in the region as a whole.

Mr. President,

In the area of disarmament, we welcome a consensus achieved at the 6^th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in the form of confirming commitments to the provisions of the Treaty and its strengthened review process. This positive impulse needs to be efficiently utilized in the process of the further implementation of the Treaty.

We also welcome the ongoing preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects in 2001. The outcome of the Conference should provide us with clear strategies on how to cope with the issue in its complexity.

The Slovak Republic fully supports respect for the norms of international law and the execution of international treaties in good faith, in compliance with the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The harmonization of traditional theories based on the principle of state sovereignty as the basic element of international law with newly developing principles based on global respect and guarantees of fundamental human rights and freedoms will be necessary for the future development of international law. New ideas and concepts should be the subject of extensive discussion and negotiations between states, resulting in the consensus of the international community, as it was the case 55 years ago, when the United Nations Charter was adopted.

We are supporting the early establishment of the International Criminal Court. The results of the negotiations of the Preparatory Commission for the Intemational Criminal Court, especially the adoption of the draft Rules of Procedures and Evidence and the Elements of Crimes by consensus last June are very encouraging.

Slovakia supports the work of the UN in the field of combating international terrorism. The adoption of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism is the latest fruit of the work in this field. Slovakia will sign this Convention by the end of the year 2000.

Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Face to face with all the challenges of our era, the UN must prove its relevance. The Slovak Republic is convinced of the irreplaceable role of the UN in a whole range of global issues, the solution of which is practically impossible by the member states alone on an individual or group basis, or at a regional level. If we want the term 'globalization' to have only positive connotations, the endeavour to tackle the accumulated problems must become a matter and the highest interest to all of us. I believe that this meeting will contribute to this endeavour.

Thank you for your attention.