The work of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the Office of the United Nations and to the Other International Organizations in Geneva is determined by the main priorities of Slovenian foreign policy, namely its international position on the one hand and the opportunities offered by the Geneva based United Nations international organizations on the other. Geneva is literally crisscrossed with international organizations and, as such, it can be considered the global center of multilateral diplomacy. It is in Geneva that the specific issues relevant to the effective functioning of the international community as a whole are discussed and resolved.  Most of the international organizations in Geneva function within the UN system, while some of them are even older than this organization or have a non-governmental status.  Each of them plays an important role in various areas of contemporary international life, from formulating the rules of international trade, transport and communications, to addressing international security issues, migration problems and, perhaps most importantly, upholding the protection of human rights and providing humanitarian aid to people and nations in distress.

In recent years, Slovenia has been striving to obtain the reputation of a reliable and committed member of international organizations to which we belong. Active multilateralism, which has been one of the main priorities of Slovenian foreign policy since we became an independent country, has enabled us to overcome the limits of our geographic and demographic size.  Such policy led us, for example, to being elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council only a few years after gaining independence.  We have also taken part in all of the major discussions within the UN, including the debate concerning the reform of this organization, aimed at making the UN more effective in contemporary international relations. In addition to this, we have participated in, or led a series of working groups in different areas and been an integral part of some of the most important UN bodies, such as the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council where we recently completed our three-year term.

All this together with the important role we played in other regional international organizations in the past, such as the OSCE presidency, Presidency of the EU Council and Presidency of the Council of Europe, is by no means a complete list of Slovenia’s multilateral activities. However, it does offer compelling evidence that we have, through our commitment and cooperation, negotiated ourselves a visible place in the international community, which we want to further cultivate in the future.

We would like to invite you to browse through the website of the Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the UN Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva to learn more about our activities.

Matjaz Kovacic
Ambassador, Permanent Representative