United Nations A/70/ PV.22 General Assembly Official Records Seventieth session 22nd plenary meeting Thursday, 1 October 2015, 9 a.m. New York President: Mr. Lykketoft .......................................... (Denmark) The meeting was called to order at 9.05 a.m. countries alike, and has never ceased to be a beacon of hope in times of despair. Address by Mr. Dragan Čović, Chairman of the The anniversary that we are celebrating also Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina offers us an opportunity to analyse and evaluate the The President: The Assembly will now hear an degree of progress that we have made individually and address by the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia collaboratively in achieving the objectives set out in the and Herzegovina. Charter of the United Nations. We do that in the context of today’s highly dynamic global environment, which Mr. Dragan Čović, Chairman of the Presidency continues to bring in new challenges. of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was escorted into the General Assembly Hall. Those challenges are many, and it is increasingly difficult to predict the consequences of our failure to The President: On behalf of the General Assembly, address them effectively. The crisis in Syria was, until I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations only recently, merely a crisis in one country in one His Excellency Mr. Dragan Čović, Chairman of the region of the Middle East. Not long ago, the refugee Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to invite and the migrant crisis of the Syrian people materialized him to address the Assembly. on our country’s own borders and reminded us that President Čović (spoke in Bosnian; English text events in other places and regions and events at our provided by the delegation): Six days ago, world leaders, own borders are closely intertwined and inseparable in who gathered in this very Hall, brought to life a new today’s global environment. vision of a just and sustainable world, free from poverty, The number of refugees and displaced persons fear and oppression. We agreed that our achievements, fleeing destruction and death, leaving their homes and as well as our mistakes and failures, of the past decades seeking a safe haven, is increasing literally each hour. formed a sufficiently solid foundation to transform the For the majority of countries, the waves of refugees that 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (resolution arrive confront them with a heavier burden than they 70/1) into a reality, rather than a utopia. are able to manage. In addition, the tragedies involving The determination and unity that we have innocent victims — especially and unforgivably demonstrated in creating and adopting the new children — place a great sense of responsibility Agenda have a special symbolism this year as we not only on individual States, but also on the entire mark the seventieth anniversary of the Organization international community. They also test the limits of that continues to bring us all together, big and small human solidarity and empathy. At the same time, it is This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 15-29658 (E) *1529658* A /70/PV.22 01/10/2015 a warning to us that we must find urgent and effective As the Chair of the Council of Europe, our country solutions. leads the Council’s actions in the fight against terrorism, particularly through strengthening the legal framework, We are therefore very concerned at the deterioration pursuant to the provisions of Security Council resolution in the devastating conflict in Syria, which continues to 2178 (2014). The adoption of the Additional Protocol to destabilize the region and presents an extremely serious the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention threat to international peace and security. Bosnia of Terrorism, adopted by the Committee of Ministers and Herzegovina strongly condemns the unspeakable in May 2015, is a significant step in the fight against suffering and torture that the Syrian people are being terrorism. I would like to take this opportunity to subjected to. In that regard, we support the efforts of emphasize the importance of article 7 of the Additional the Secretary-General, the United Nations and the Protocol, which provides for the parties to exchange broader international community to find a political and information among the designated points of contact peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria. We believe that available on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis. it is essential that the political transition in Syria be conducted in accordance with the Geneva communiqué A limited military response, when used as the of 2012 (S/2012/522, annex). only instrument in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, has accomplished only We are also carefully monitoring the situation short-lived results. Along with decisive, thorough, in Yemen. We are very concerned about the political dedicated and well-coordinated military action, there destabilization of that country and the deterioration in the must be a comprehensive strategy and holistic approach security and humanitarian situation there, which have, to combating violent extremism and terrorism, which to date, taken on intolerable proportions in that country. should be aimed at addressing the root causes of the We call on all sides to come to a peaceful settlement of phenomenon. Among other measures, reducing poverty all the outstanding issues in order to establish a lasting and inequality, improving education and providing peace and to allow, without delay, the distribution of opportunities to young generations are extremely humanitarian aid to the civilian population. In that important, even crucial. Furthermore, eliminating the context, the safety of the humanitarian-aid staff and the effects of prejudice and xenophobia in our societies United Nations staff must be ensured. and communities also remains essential, if we wish to As for the situation in Ukraine, we hope that counter the spread of the ideology of violent extremism. the parties to that conflict will adhere to the peace Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomes the extremely agreement reached in Minsk as the basis for a lasting important agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme, solution. reached in Vienna in July 2015. We believe that that Terrorism and violent extremism are, without historic agreement is evidence of the true superiority any doubt, the most serious of all the challenges we of diplomatic efforts and the parties’ determination to face today. The ideology of such groups, which is find a peaceful solution. The agreement can serve as a characterized by an absolute disregard for human life, guideline for the resolution of other crisis situations. is seriously undermining the fundamental values and Undoubtedly, the United Nations offers a guarantee achievements of civilization. of collective responsibility and security, notably through Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the full the greater use of preventive diplomacy and mediation, implementation of the United Nations Global Counter- solid and carefully planned mandates for peacekeeping Terrorism Strategy and the work of the Counter-Terrorism operations, and instruments for building lasting peace. Committee, the activities of which have already shown Bosnia and Herzegovina has endeavoured to share results in strengthening intergovernmental cooperation its vast experience in peacebuilding and democratic and improving the capacity of individual Member transition, particularly through our membership since States in that area. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member January 2014 in the Organizational Committee of the of the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State in Peacebuilding Commission. We support all activities Iraq and the Levant, established in 2014 and led by the and peace initiatives aimed at conflict prevention, United States, and it is one of the countries providing and we actively contribute to collective security on a material assistance to the Government of Iraq as part global scale. By participating in the United Nations of that effort. peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, Cyprus, 2/55 15-29658 01/10/2015 A /70/PV.22 Somalia, Afghanistan, the Congo and Mali, we learned can contribute to solving numerous challenges contribute in the most direct way to maintaining and at both the regional and the international levels. Our building world peace. candidacy for membership in the Economic and Social Council for the period 2017-2019 should be viewed in Following the suggestions of the United Nations, that light. We are taking part in the general efforts to Bosnia and Herzegovina has had a significant achieve a better and more unified world through those participation of female police officers among our and similar activities. peacekeeping mission personnel; they now account for more than 20 per cent of the total number of our mission Our commitment to full respect for human rights personnel. While our contribution to peacekeeping and fundamental freedoms and the strengthening operations, in terms of numbers, is not as large as some of democracy and multicultural dialogue and our participating countries with far larger military and respect for ethnic, cultural and religious diversity police forces, we are very proud of the bravery of our are unquestionable. In that regard, Bosnia and Bosnia and Herzegovina police officers in peacekeeping Herzegovina will spare no efforts to combat all forms missions around the world. of discrimination and intolerance against members of any part of society, as enshrined in our Constitution. The degree of equality of women and girls Bosnia and Herzegovina is a complex, multi-ethnic compared to men with regard to certain rights has State.