Photo: UPRS
A message of support for the UN Secretary-General: let him do his job!
On Monday, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, spoke by telephone with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. She expressed her regret that like most of his predecessors, the UN Secretary-General is caught in a whirlwind of crises and confronted with negative, at times despicable, attitudes towards the function he performs and towards the Organisation itself. This attitude is even more pronounced these days with the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Ljubljana, 7 Nov 2023
News
Mr. Guterres expressed to President Pirc Musar his gratitude to Slovenia for its constructive position regarding the situation in Palestine. Both have agreed that the tragedy in Gaza is yet another proof that striving for human dignity must go hand in hand with effective multilateralism, international law, and in particular international humanitarian law and human rights law. On Gaza, they agreed that one must work on a two-state solution as a path to stability in the region.
In connection to the phone conversation, the President has issued the following statement:
"We should never forget that the United Nations was born out of the ashes of the Second World War. Neither should we forget that every country that became a member of the United Nations, had thus been accepted into a Family of States – that it became part of the International Community. For each country, the act of recognition by the United Nations was a cause for celebration. For some countries, it was indeed the UN itself that helped them be established in the first place.
Most Secretaries-General have made enormous efforts towards maintaining international peace and security, thus preventing many conflicts that would have otherwise made headlines. Quiet diplomacy and patience have never received public accolades, for one simple reason: they had been little known to the general public. Dag Hammarskjöld, as the then UN Secretary-General, paid his commitment to peace with his life. The UN and the international community are in need of a Secretary-General who can do his job properly and with strong international support!
That is why I am advocating respect for the office of the UN Secretary-General. I support the current Secretary-General in his efforts to comply with the provisions of the UN Charter. It is only right that the UN Secretary-General should speak out on behalf of civilian victims, like the women and children of Gaza, who have been driven from their homes and are put in mortal danger each day. It is only right that we all do our best to support him and his staff."
