UN - United Nations
United Nations
Seat: New York, USA
Founded: 24th October 1945
Member States: 192 countries
Aims: To maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.
The Czech republic and the UN
The Czech Republic is an active member of the United Nations (UN). Our views and interests are represented by Permanent Missions of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.
Why is our membership important?
The United Nations is the only international organization with universal membership and it is therefore a unique platform for dealing with global issues. As its member the Czech Republic can actively pursue its political and economic goals and visions, make stronger connections with international community and coordinate its efforts with other member states.
Brief summary
The former Czechoslovakia was one of the 51 original member states. Its representatives signed the UN Charter in San Francisco on June 26, 1945. As one of the two successor states of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic was unanimously admitted as a fully fledged member of the UN at the resumed 47th session of the UN General Assembly on January 19, 1993.
Since 1993, the participation of the Czech Republic in the work of the UN has been very active, including, in particular, a non-permanent membership on the UN Security Council in the term 1994 - 1995, the Presidency of the 57th session of the UN General Assembly in 2002 - 2003 and membership on the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in the terms 1996 – 1998, 1999 – 2001 and 2006 - 2008. To the present day, the Czech Republic has been elected and actively participated in the work of more than 40 elected organs, programmes, funds and other bodies of the UN.
Czech priorities in the United Nations
· The Czech Republic is committed to the concept of effective multilateralism and therefore puts an emphasis on cooperation within the UN as well as between the UN and other international organizations.
· The UN in the 21st century faces a whole range of global challenges and needs to react decisively and effectively. The Czech Republic recognizes the importance of reforming the UN system, including its main bodies, which would strengthen the UN system and enable it to respond more decisively and effectively to the current global challenges.
· The protection andpromotion of human rights of all people is one of the priorities of the Czech foreign policy. The Czech Republic supports UN mechanisms pursuing those goals and visions, such as Human Rights Council.
· The Czech Republic supports the UN effort to adopt global strategy on terrorism as well as all UN activities related to disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
· The Czech Republic supports the UN´s effort and activities in the area of climate protection and sustainable development.
The Czech Republic participates in the development and humanitarian activities and operations of the UN and strongly supports the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. For more information about the development cooperation and humanitarian aid please visit the website on the Czech development policy.
The Czech Republic honors its financial obligations towards the UN regular budget and budgets of the UN peace-keeping operations. Based on the modified scale of December 2009, the share of the Czech Republic to the UN regular budget is 0,349 %.
Participation of the Czech Republic in peacekeeping operations
Since its establishment in 1993 the Czech Republic has provided more than 3000 military and civil personnel for more than 30 UN missions.
More information about the Czech participation in peacekeeping missions of the UN can be found on the website of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic or the Permanent mission to the UN in New York.
To learn more:
- UN - official web pages
- Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York
- Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN in Geneva