Statement
by
Mr. Ivan Nimac
Depuy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Croatia to the United Nations
General Assembly Fifty-ninth Session,
Informal thematic consultations on Cluster II (Freedom from fear) of the Report of the Secretary General "In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all"
21 April 2005
Madame Facilitator,
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 briefly touch upon several key issues regarding the "Freedom from Fear" chapter of the Secretary-General''''s report.
Croatia has already expressed appreciation to the Secretary-General for the comprehensive set of proposals contained in the report. We would like to emphasize that some of the recommendations in the international security segment of the report need urgent attention and response by Member States, even before the High-level plenary meeting in September.
Croatia subscribes to the new concept of collective security and the necessity to agree on a common and realistic understanding of the threats facing our world at the dawn of 21st century. Embracing this concept would enable us to jointly devise a more comprehensive and more successful series of actions to bring about the safety and prosperity of all people around the globe.
Croatia would like to join others in expressing its satisfaction with the recent adoption of a convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism. The successful finalization of the convention after several years of negotiations is an encouraging sign that the collective political will of the entire UN membership, provided that all sides show the necessary amount of flexibility, can still bring new and effective results. We believe that such unity should be maintained and enhanced during the negotiations on a definition of terrorism as well as in concluding a comprehensive international convention on terrorism.
One of those landmark events before the Summit is surely the forthcoming NPT Review Conference. In his report, the Secretary-General outlined a broad and ambitious plan for the Conference and encouraged States Parties to the NPT to endorse proposed measures. While we understand that the status of preparations for the Conference is far from ideal, we believe that all parties, in particular major actors, should do their utmost to create a constructive atmosphere at the Conference and seek to reverse the trend which led to the crisis of confidence and compliance with the Treaty.
Croatia also believes that all States should continue to be vigilant in preventing the potentially devastating consequences of weapons of mass destruction falling into hands of terrorists. Therefore, Croatia fully supports calls for the universal adoption of the Model Additional Protocol, as a means of strengthening the verification authority of the IAEA. This recommendation should figure prominently in the outcome document of the September Summit. Moreover, Croatia also support recent practical initiatives aimed at supplementing and buttressing the treaty-based non-proliferation regime.
Madame Facilitator,
Croatia supports calls for the strengthening of UN peacekeeping and crisis management capabilities. 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 the Resolution 1353. However, we believe that further format of cooperation is necessary. This would provide the TCCs with an opportunity to give their inputs during the creation and at all stages of implementation of peacekeeping mandates, as well as before their completion. Additionally, inclusion of the TCCs in consultations even prior to making a decision on creation of a particular mandate would be helpful and would contribute to the transparency of the work of the Security Council.
Croatia has welcomed the proposal to establish a Peace Building Commission. While we intend to provide further comments on the Explanatory Note by the Secretary-General during the discussion on Cluster IV, we would like to reiterate that smaller 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 and processes should be found to enable their active participation in the work of the proposed Commission.
Thank you.
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