Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honour for me to be present at the third of four meetings in the Stockholm Forum series. I consider these forums to be both beneficial and successful. Please allow me, therefore, to thank the Swedish government for their initiative and dedication in organising these meetings over a four-year period, enabling us to turn our attention to global problems that affect the international community as a whole.

The subject of this final meeting – preventing genocide – is also very relevant in the modern world. After all, in the last decade of the previous century alone, we witnessed two bloody reminders of the fact that genocide is still possible today. One would think that after experiencing the horrors of World War II, the world would have grown wise enough not to tolerate such manifestations of hatred any more.

The UN reacted very rapidly after the Second World War came to an end – a mere three years later it approved an international, legally binding convention on preventing and punishing the crime of genocide. This convention preceded the approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (albeit by a very short time) and thus became the first tile in today's complex mosaic of UN instruments for the protection of human rights. As a representative of a UN member state, I am glad that we have managed to create an independent judicial body – the International Criminal Court – which has the power to pass judgment on people who violate the basic principles of humanity. Slovakia's endorsement of the ICC helped to ensure that its statute became valid. The Slovak Republic supports the activities of the ICC, and believes it will help the international community to bring those responsible for the most terrible crimes on Earth to justice.

I would like to mention briefly the situation in Slovakia. The Slovak Republic is a contracting party to the UN Convention, and its provisions have been incorporated into our domestic legislation. The definition of the crime of genocide in our criminal code fully corresponds to that of the internationally recognized version. Slovak law also protects people against other crimes, such as inciting national and racial hatred, denigrating races, nations, and faiths, or supporting movements that promote the suppression of people’s rights.

However, I would like to pose a rhetorical question. And perhaps many of you will be asking the very same question at this forum. Do the UN Convention, the Declaration of Human Rights, international criminal tribunals, criminal codes, and national courts provide enough protection? Will they be sufficient to ensure that our children will never have to worry about their future simply because they have different ancestors, worship a different deity, or speak a different language? Although we have accomplished a great deal, I am convinced that we can still do more. And this is the objective of our meeting – to seek out ways of preventing the threat of genocide. I think we would all agree that the threat of genocide is most likely to arise in situations where respect for others is lost, and a feeling of dominance and one's own superiority prevails. Situations where certain people, nations, or religious groups start to believe that they are better than others, and that their perceived rivals should be denied attention, respect, or even their right to exist.

Nevertheless, I believe that such negative phenomena (up to and including genocide) may be prevented in societies where individuals are encouraged to accept certain values, such as respect for, and recognition of, other people who differ from the majority because of their race or faith, or because they belong to a national or ethnic minority. As the Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, responsible for dealing with the issue of human rights and minorities, I know that respect for minority groups is not a matter of course for everyone. Which is why I am convinced that our citizens must be encouraged to accept the fact that respect for other people’s differences can only lead to their own personal enrichment. However, we are well aware that we must lead by example. And in turn, this is why I believe that we are faced with a great challenge
– that of continuing to fulfil the objectives set out in the UN Charter; in other words, to develop friendly relations based upon the equality of nations, and to promote respect for human rights regardless of race, faith, or language.

Bearing in mind that most of us here are politicians, I believe that respect for the opinions of political opponents is also important. In this way, we can use our political functions to demonstrate our eagerness to prevent negative phenomena stemming from intolerance. And genocide is merely the worst manifestation of many such phenomena that have their roots in prejudice. I perceive only one possible solution – the strict observance of the principles of democracy and human rights, which we all acknowledge unwaveringly. The events of the previous century have shown that genocide cannot occur in a democratic state. All the threats of genocide that arose in the 20th Century only found fertile soil in non-democratic regimes.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to assure you that Slovakia has embraced the principles of democracy and human rights, and that we will continue to support these principles in the future. We will do everything in our power to prove that in a democratic country, no one should fear for their rights, or for that matter, their lives. Quite the contrary. Democratic systems provide a guarantee – not only of people’s opportunity to realize their full potential, but also of their peace, security, and protection against genocide.

In conclusion, please permit me to paraphrase an immortal expression: “Democracy is the worst form of protection against genocide, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

 

Thank you for your attention.