The President addresses the UN General Assembly

New York, 21.9.2011  |  press release

In the morning hours (local time) of the third day of his working visit in New York, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended the opening of the general debate at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, and in the afternoon he participated in the debate as a speaker. He spoke about current international issues, global challenges and about Slovenia’s candidacy for membership to the UN Security Council.

The President supported efforts of the European Union in striving to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through mediation. Mediation has two aims: to revive the peace process with a view of concluding a peace agreement, allowing the peaceful coexistence of the two states, and to find a suitable status for Palestine within the UN. The President added that both aims are genuinely linked and that the latter supports the former.

The President welcomed the Republic of South Sudan as the newest UN member. He also welcomed the decision of the UN General Assembly to grant the Transitional National Council of Libya the role of representative of Libya. At the same time he stressed the importance of support provided by the United Nations and regional organizations, in particular the African Union and the Arab League, to citizens of Libya in establishing legitimate, democratic and effective institutions together with the economic, social and political development of Libya.

Among global challenges, the President pointed out the necessity of forming an effective system of measures mitigating effects of climate change and ensuring necessary changes. He expressed hope that the envisaged meeting of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban later this year will contribute to forming a final agreement. He pointed out that particular attention should be paid to the Small Island Developing States that are most threatened by climate change.

The President also mentioned the Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), planned for the next year, which, in his opinion, represents a good opportunity to confirm agreed commitments and to strengthen the development concept encompassing economic growth, social development and environmental protection. He stressed that while continuing our efforts to implement the Millennium Development Goals, we should also pay particular attention to African countries most in need and to improve the effectiveness of development aid.

The President referred to the links between development and human rights, and particularly emphasized equal rights for women as essential to promoting peace, security and development. He also presented Slovenia's efforts in relation to the rights of the child and human rights education. He took the opportunity to invite all UN member states to adopt the draft Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training in the UN Human Rights.

At the end of his address, President Türk spoke of Slovenia's candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council. He emphasized that Slovenia remains strongly committed to the United Nations where it has been actively working for twenty years. He expressed his hope that the candidacy would receive the broadest support, and assured that Slovenia, if elected, would be aware of the responsibilities of the Security Council towards the entire UN membership and act with a sense of fairness.

On Wednesday the President attended the lunch organized for heads of the delegations to the 66th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations by the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and a reception organized for heads of the delegations by the President of the United States of America Barack Obama and his spouse Michelle Obama.