Mr. President, Honorable Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
May I thank the General Assembly on behalf of the Republic of Slovenia for accepting us into full membership of this largest and most important international organization of the contemporary world.
As a member of the United Nations, Slovenia will act in the life of the international community, in the future as in the past, in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and other documents which have been adopted in the long and useful development of the extensive system of the United Nations.
In becoming a member of the United Nations, the Slovenian nation has fulfilled its historical aspiration to join the international community. On its own initiative and responsibility, with its own creativity together with that of the other members of the United Nations, the Slovenian people are thus continuing the mission which they began when they were included in the United Nations in 1945 with their full consent within the former Yugoslavia and as a constituent part of it, and are contributing to the Organization's honorable endeavors towards a better, happier and more peaceful world order.
Slovenia is the country of a small nation in Central Europe, where the Slovenian nation has lived for more than a thousand years. The language and rich culture have long given Slovenia the characteristics of a contemporary and developed nation. Prior to 15 January of this year, to its international recognition, Slovenia was economically and politically by its own volition a republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The combination of circumstances in an unfriendly historical environment is the reason why only towards the end of the twentieth century do we join you as an independent country open to cooperation and integration on an equal footing.
After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War, given the then historical circumstances, Slovenia joined other South Slavic nations in a common state, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This association provided neither to Slovenians nor to other nations the fulfilment of their aspirations to a life on equal footing and preserving their own identity. Thus, this unstable country quickly collapsed in the face of the attack of the fascist powers in 1941. The resistance movement in Slovenia, which grew into a Slovenian army during the course of the Second World War and enabled the establishment of an own sovereign state, was a member of the Allied anti-fascist forces and it finally liberated its own territory by itself. After the Second World War, Slovenia, as a constituent part of the new federal Yugoslavia, a state of nations holding equal rights, became a founding member of the United Nations precisely because of its role in the anti-fascist coalition.
However, the new Yugoslavia was also incapable of satisfying the historical aspirations of the nations which composed it. It was unable to respond to the challenges of the new historical surroundings which have been created in Europe in the last few years, especially after the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. The former Yugoslavia, despite the obstinate processes of national emancipation, democratization at home and changes in the world, became an ever greater factor of instability in this part of Europe. The dissolution of Yugoslavia with a series of unresolved internal questions and controversies, with its great backwardness in terms of the progress of civilization and aspirations of the world, its inability to follow the process of emancipation in Eastern Europe, which is comparable in some senses to the process of decolonization after the Second World War, was a historical inevitability.
Slovenia was the first country in this part of Europe to have understood that global and all-encompasing social and economic reforms were necessary for ongoing survival. It has striven to implement these without major upheavels. Unfortunately, the rigid, bureaucratic system of former Yugoslavia, especially its armed forces, responded to these aspirations with force and the use of arms, which Slovenia had to resist.
Slovenia ascertained by democratic plebiscite the will of her people that - on the basis of the permanent and inalienable right to national self-determination enshrined in the documents of the United Nations and in accordance with the provisions of international law - she become an independent and sovereign State.
With the declaration of independence, on 25 June 1991, the Slovenian Parliament decided that the Republic of Slovenia would consistently act in the international community on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations and that it would respect all international agreements and conventions to which it was a party and which it had ratified as a republic of the former Yugoslavia.
The independence of Slovenia is not directed against anyone. It has throughout recognized and will continue to recognize the same right also to other nations. Slovenia wishes to keep and maintain good and friendly relations with its neighbors and other countries and to be creatively involved in the integration processes of the contemporary world. Slovenia wishes to establish this, first by joining the extensive system of the United Nations, and later also by joining other institutions of international association.
Contemporary history is familiar with a number of ways of securing the economic interests and culture and dignity of a nation. The Slovenian nation has chosen, at this time of its existence, the path of establishing its own national state. This path is not the only one, and even not the most important one in contemporary times. Today, multinational communities are being established and this will even become more frequent in the future. Such communities, however, will only be possible with the highest respect for democracy and on condition that the nation itself administers its own destiny, and decides with consensus on a common destiny with others.
Slovenia did not declare independence in order to become an island in the middle of the world which is becoming ever more integrated, but to ensure an appropriate role and just treatment in the processes of integration into which we join. In the world of today, the process of establishment of national states is running parallel to their association. The essential task of the international community is to use scientific and political creativity in the quest for such formulas that will ensure respect for individuality and beneficial coexistence. Slovenia is prepared - at this very moment, when the peoples on the territory of the former Yugoslavia are affected by the gravest crisis and war - to contribute to the assertion and respect of national diversities of all nations and their coexistence.
Slovenia will remain consistently committed to the non-violent resolution of conflicts in the world. It has already become a participating state of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and is attempting through the Brussels conference to contribute to the best of its abilities in resolving not only the economic crisis but also in stopping the tragic and senseless war which is raging in parts of the former Yugoslavia.
Slovenia will continue in the future to put forward initiatives and actively contribute to the peaceful political resolution of the Yugoslav crisis and to achieving an agreed and just settlement of questions of state succession of the SFR Yugoslavia. This cannot be unilaterally taken over by any of the republics of the formal federal state. Slovenia will continue to participate in resolving the great humanitarian problems which have arisen as a result of the war in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We now provide shelter to tens of thousands of refugees from these two states and will, in cooperation with the international community, try to ease their suffering and to bring an end to the war and violence, thus enabling their earliest return to their homes. Slovenia will do everything in its power to end the senseless and brutal war in its neighbourhood and will be prepared, also after the war is over, to cooperate with the neighboring countries in dealing with the consequences of the war and to ensure comfort and prosperity to the people of these unhappy regions.
Mr. President,
I wish you further successful guidance of the work of the General Assembly, and prosperity to all Member States in their development in a peaceful world, as well as fruitful international cooperation.
Thank you, Mr. President.