Statement
by
Mr. Ivan Nimac
Depuy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Croatia to the United Nations
General Assembly Fifty-ninth Session,
Informal meeting on the draft outcome document
for the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly to be held September 2005
22 June 2005
Mr. President,
Let me first commend you and the facilitators for the admirable job you have done in preparing the draft outcome document for the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly. It is a sound basis for discussion.
Croatia has aligned itself with the statement of the Permanent Representative of Luxembourg, delivered on behalf of the European Union, but wishes to take this opportunity to make specific additional comments on several key issues. I will make my comments in accord with the clusters in order to reflect the order presented in the draft outcome document.
The outcome document as it now stands reflects the state of the consensus that has been reached on the issues. Consequently, some issues appear in much greater detail than others, resulting in an unbalanced document. Additionally, we believe that the Secretary-General''s notion that "development, security and human rights go hand in hand", as well as the principle of gender equality, should be more consistently present throughout the document.
Let me now address the specific issues.
Development
Development is a pillar of the United Nations'' mandate. In this regard, we welcome the recommitment to the Monterrey and Johannesburg outcomes and the renewed emphasis upon the achievement of the target of 0.7% of GNI for ODA. We consider it important to reaffirm all the outcomes of the UN conferences, which form part of the agreed international development framework of which comprehensive debt relief and completion of the Doha round are key elements. However, we need to emphasize that it should be encouraged and supported not only in developing countries, but also in the countries with economies in transition.
Mr. President,
Croatia recognizes the needs of Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed and Landlocked Developing States as well as the special vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States. We are, therefore, pleased that these groups of countries have received specific mention in the draft outcome document, in this way emphasising their particular needs and circumstances.
Croatia strongly supports the national ownership of development programs and the proposal for the implementation of development strategies aimed at meeting the MDGs targets by 2015. However, we would also like to underline the importance of the international community in this regard and international financial institutions. There is a need to put stronger emphasis on cooperation between the UN and the Bretton-Woods Institutions as well as with the World Trade Organization. More emphasis should also be put on the interconnection of the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental).
We are aware that the current level of aid is not enough to achieve the MDGs, therefore, it is necessary to look at innovative sources of financing which could provide additional, stable and predictable flows, including the International Finance Facility, international taxation and complementary sources. We welcome the current ongoing efforts in this area. In addition, recent heartening progress on the multilateral debt relief at the recent meeting of G8 Finance ministers should be reflected in the document.
The section of the draft outcome document on employment should be strengthened to include reference to core labor standards as defined by the ILO and to underline that respect for them should be strengthened with the help of international institutions. Additionally, it could be connected with a section on migration so that steps can be taken to build a multilateral framework that provides fair and transparent rules for the cross-border movement of people in order to ensure the rights and protection of migrant workers.
Regarding environment sustainability, we are of the view that more concrete tasks should be set out regarding implementation of environment conventions especially on further action beyond 2012 in connection with climate change.
Peace and collective security
We affirm once again that Croatia subscribes to the concept of collective security as elaborated by the Secretary-General and recognizes the interconnected nature of threats that are facing our world at the dawn of 21st century. The draft outcome document confirms the need for all States to take concerted actions and we believe that the aim of bringing safety and prosperity to all people should remain the foundation of our collective actions.
Mr. President,
Global disarmament and non-proliferation efforts have witnessed a setback at the recently concluded NPT Review Conference. However, we believe that the September Summit is an opportunity to chart the way forward with a view to reconfirming the key role of the NPT and strengthening the non-proliferation regime. In particular, Croatia believes that all States should continue to be vigilant in preventing the potentially devastating consequences of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists. Therefore, Croatia fully supports calls for the universal adoption of the comprehensive safeguards agreements and additional protocols as a modern verification standard. We are satisfied that this recommendation figures prominently in the draft outcome document.
Croatia supports calls for the strengthening of UN peacekeeping and crisis management capabilities, as well as for improving cooperation and coordination with regional organizations. In this context, as a troop contributing country in a number of UN missions all around the world, we support the practice of holding private meetings of the Security Council with the TCCs in accordance with Resolution 1353. However, we believe that additional cooperation between the Security Council with the TCCs is necessary, and that reference to this should be included in the draft outcome document.
Croatia welcomes and supports the proposal to establish a Peacebuilding Commission. We believe that the draft outcome document should contain, whether in the body of the text or in an annex, more details on the modalities of the Commission, with a view to its establishment as soon as feasible. In this respect, we would like to reiterate that countries with first-hand experience in building national capacities and institutions in the aftermath of the conflict could provide unique expertise to the work of the Commission. Processes should be established to enable these countries'' active participation in the work of the Commission. We believe that the proposal to have some ECOSOC members represented on the Commission does not address this issue sufficiently.
Croatia shares the belief that sanctions remain an important tool in our efforts to maintain international peace and security. For that purpose to be fulfilled, we support calls for improvements in carefully targeted sanction regimes, especially regarding monitoring and accountability, as well as ensuring that implementation does not affect the general population and third States.
Human rights and rule of law
Croatia recognizes the indispensability of the protection and promotion of the rule of law, human rights and democracy, as well as their interconnectivity with security and development.
Lasting peace and security can only be founded upon the rule of law. Croatia supports a stronger UN role in building state capacity to allow states to deliver rule of law for all their citizens and, in this way, to build security between states.
Mr. President,
Croatia recognizes that human rights, as one of the fundamental pillars of the UN system, should be further strengthened and consolidated through human rights education and their promotion in the context of gender equality. In this regard, we would like to stress that we consider gender mainstreaming an indispensable part of human rights and as such, we believe it should be underlined and included in every aspect of UN reform, accompanied by the promotion of gender equality, accountability and the empowerment of women.
Croatia emphasizes the interconnectivity of the human rights, security and development, and we acknowledge the importance of the responsibility to protect viewing it as closely linked and interpreted in the context of human security.
Croatia, as a signatory of the Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies, fully recognizes the importance of strengthening democracy and advancing its global acceptance as a universal value. In this vein, Croatia supports the enhancement of the United Nations'' capacity to promote and reinforce democratic institutions and practices around the world, and in this regard, the establishment of the Democracy Fund.
We fully support the intention to strengthen the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to enable it to efficiently respond to the broad range of human rights challenges. In this regard, the introduction of the recent plan of action put forward by the HCHR in the outcome document would further reinforce the importance of this task.
Croatia welcomes the proposal to establish a Human Rights Council as a main standing body of the UN. This is a concrete demonstration of the increasing importance being placed on the strengthening of the human rights in the international community.
Strengthening the United Nations system
Croatia views the strengthening and entrenching of the United Nations system as the primary multilateral venue as being of paramount importance. Only an efficiently functioning United Nations system can answer contemporary challenges. In this regard, more needs to be done so that provisions of the draft outcome document on the General Assembly contain concrete proposals for reform. The provisions on Economic and Social Council are more specific and Croatia welcomes the work of the Pakistani Presidency of the ECOSOC as well as the Group of Friends of UN reform in providing substantive proposals which would strengthen this principal organ.
Mr. President,
Croatia regards Security Council reform as a component of overall United Nations reform. The working methods of the Security Council, should reflect a willingness of this important body to engage more actively in consultations with other principal organs of the United Nations, member states, regional organizations and civil society. The reform of its working methods is, in many ways, the more important aspect of Security Council reform, particularly for smaller states.
Finally, Croatia supports the efforts to introduce significant human resource management reforms in the Secretariat. The United Nations cannot afford to have a Secretariat which is not managed according to contemporary standards and practice. For the same reasons we support system-wide coherence both in management and policy.
Mr. President,
Allow me once more to reiterate that Croatia welcomes the draft outcome document and looks forward to working with other delegations in developing a final product which will pave the way for a more efficient and effective United Nations.
Thank you Mr. President.
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