Address by the President of the Republic of Slovenia at the UN General Assembly

New York, 24.9.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, today participated in the General Debate of the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In his address, Dr Türk stressed that the world is living in turbulent times, calling for real answers to the accumulated global problems and major challenges of the present day. He pointed out that the entire international system would have to be engaged, which includes the United Nations as the centrepiece of the system. “We live at a time requiring transformation. The key idea of policy-making to guide the action of the UN should therefore be transformation,” said President Türk.

Dr Türk mentioned the area of human rights as an example of such action on the part of the United Nations, and referred to the fact that the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to be celebrated later this year. In his words, the world has changed a great deal in this period of time, owing to the transformational energy of human rights. After World War II, when the world was living through one of its most traumatic moments, the Universal Declaration outlined an optimistic vision of a just society and a better world. From then on, human rights were the genuinely transformational idea of the time, guiding social change and development ever since. The Slovenian President added that the world of today, while still far from ideal, is substantially better than the world of 1948; human rights have triumphed in many parts of the world, many oppressive systems have ended in the “dustbin of history” and democracy has progressed globally, becoming the way of life for more people than ever before.

President Türk nevertheless cautioned that violations of human rights still persist, some taking place in new forms. New issues of human rights have also arisen, and therefore the fight for human rights must continue. He highlighted the realisation of the universal right to development, identified and enshrined by the United Nations in 2000 in the form of the agreement on global development goals. According to Dr Türk, the vision exists and practical progress is already visible, while the high level event on Africa’s development needs and the panel on the Millennium Development Goals will deepen the understanding of the current levels of achievement and the tasks ahead.

The Slovenian President highlighted the fight against climate change as the main area in which the transformational efforts of the United Nations must be concentrated. He recalled that the UN Security Council had recognised the urgency of environmental issues and the variety of extremely adverse effects on international security which these issues might produce. Dr Türk cautioned that there is no time to lose, citing the ambitious objective proposed by the European Union during Slovenia’s EU Council Presidency as an example of a plan of activities to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. He stressed the necessity of an adequate partnership being established between the key economic players, such as the European Union, the United States of America, Japan, China and the G-77 countries. The existing environmental challenges call for transformational approaches to the way the world consumes energy, and the way it develops technology and pursues development. The world as a whole has to move ahead, and the UN must get the direction right, according to Dr Türk.

As the third issue President Türk highlighted the necessity of transformation in maintaining international peace and security. In his view, the world has undergone a variety of changes since the end of the Cold War. There have been moments of disappointment, such as the failure to prevent genocide, and yet at the same time the overall number of armed conflicts has been on the decline, which is due in no small measure to the contribution of the UN, which has steadily increased its experience and capacity in peacekeeping and preventive diplomacy. Still, further efforts are needed and a set of partnerships will have to be developed to address security issues, in particular those in the Middle East, the Caucasus, the Balkans and in several regions of Africa, observed the Slovenian President. Moreover, consideration should be given to the transformation of existing security structures, emphasised President Türk, proposing reform of the UN Security Council membership structure in order to contribute to the transformation of international security architecture, which would, along with other transformations, contribute to the improvement of the world.

Dr Türk’s proposal for UN Security Council reform is to add – to the current five permanent members with veto rights – six additional permanent members from all the regions of the world. Non-permanent members would be divided into two groups. The first group should include non-permanent members with more frequent rotation, six in any particular composition of the Security Council and alternating every second two-year term. The remaining eight non-permanent members would be elected in accordance with the principle of equitable geographic distribution. Thus the total membership of such a reformed Security Council would not exceed 25.