A champion of women and peace: Slovenia's first female president makes inaugural UAE visit

Natasa Pirc Musar discusses artificial intelligence, war and the US election in an exclusive interview with The National

President of Slovenia, Dr Natasa Pirc Musar, is in the UAE for her first official bilateral visit. Victor Besa / The National

During a historic first official bilateral visit to the UAE, Slovenia’s President Natasa Pirc Musar shared a clear vision for the future – one marked by ethical technology, gender equity and a commitment to global peace.

Speaking to The National on Sunday, Slovenia’s first female head of state emphasised the urgent need for responsible AI governance, echoing the European Union’s stance on prohibiting artificial intelligence for purposes such as profiling, surveillance and autonomous weaponry. She also cited Slovenia’s own innovations, including an AI-driven sustainability tool for the tourism sector.

"Certain topics, certain freedoms, should not be connected to artificial intelligence," said Ms Musar. "Artificial intelligence should not be used to profile people, to follow them outside of their homes, nor in the autonomous weapons industry. This is no-go."

Slovenia has one of the highest rates of AI experts per capita in the world, said Ms Musar, with one in every 7,000 citizens being an authority on the subject. The International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence, under the auspices of Unesco, has its headquarters in Slovenia.

"We are really, really into digital," said Ms Musar. "There is an app in its test phase already, a special AI app which is telling hotels how much food to buy to feed so many people. You know, it's very green. Slovenia tries to be green. We love that we are one of the best regarding circular economy in the world. We want to have sustainable tourism so we are really very into this."

Disinformation

Teaching children critical thinking needs to be a priority, according to Ms Musar, who believes that the spread of disinformation is the biggest threat to democracy today. "I'm pretty sure that we will never be able to eliminate it. It will always be there because it was present hundreds of years ago. It was just distributed much more slowly. Today in the modern digital world, the distribution of this information is easy. This is why we have to teach kids in primary schools about it.

"They have to read books, then they will be able to distinguish disinformation from the real information. Debunking disinformation is really very essential for a country, the state cannot do everything on behalf of every single individual."

Speaking about the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Ms Musar said there was a "tug of war" between the real facts and those created and spread online. "The whole European Union is now very cautious about disinformation. The war between Russia and Ukraine is sadly still going on, and we are facing also a hybrid war behind the scenes. This is the war with disinformation."

Women in international relations

Having been described as a "career ambitionist", a label equally baffling and comical to Ms Musar, she has remained an outspoken advocate for gender equity, and touched on Slovenia’s strides in women’s representation on the global stage and her efforts to increase female leadership within international bodies, notably the United Nations.

"In Slovenia, we have the so-called zipper rule which means that every other candidate on the electoral list should be a woman," she said referring to a mid-2000s decision to adopt legislative changes determining gender quotas in different types of elections.

"Today, in Slovenian parliament, we have 40 per cent women, including the first female speaker of the house in the history of Slovenia. So we are breaking the glass ceilings. I broke one huge glass ceiling being the first female president of my country. It was not easy. It was really not easy, believe me."

Ms Musar is relentless in her gender equity mission, lauding the achievements of her country while pushing for changes across the board. Having discovered that there have only ever been four female presidents of the UN General Assembly, she aims to bring a bold new rule to that branch of the UN.

"I'm a fervent supporter of ongoing efforts to promote better representation of women in UN bodies. I was quite specific in my address before the UN General Assembly that a woman should hold the UNGA Presidency every other year.

"I believe I was among the very, very few who raised this point. But it seems that the call has resonated. I expect some concrete steps internationally by the end of this year. I will discuss this with the President of the UAE on Monday. Our two countries speak the same language on this topic so I look forward to our exchange of thoughts and ideas.

"The head of the Slovenian mission is also going to give a speech about gender equity. The United Nations calculated that we will need 140 years more to reach gender parity. I don't want to wait for 140 years."

Ms Musar also founded the She Knows platform, which lists readily available female experts to talk about a wide range of subjects in the media and at public events.

War

Ms Musar describes her country as "an honest broker with no hidden agendas" and highlighted Slovenia’s active role in international security and peace efforts as a newly seated non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. "Slovenia has recognised Palestine. I was very in favour of that, because if we are advocating a two-state solution, how can we not recognise one of the conflicting parties?"

Ms Musar also advocates for "aggressive" structural reforms in the UN, calling for limitations on the veto power of the Security Council’s permanent members, the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, to foster fairer resolutions.

"It's not just the Middle East right now. Of course, it's Russia and Ukraine. It's the war in Sudan, in Yemen. There are currently 55 armed conflicts around the globe, and this is the highest number after the Second World War. It's devastating.

"Now it's the time to discuss one big problem: the veto power of the P5 countries inside the UN Security Council. We are seeing a hybrid war inside the Security Council. We are fighting with vetoes, and the United Nations is paralysed, totally paralysed because of that."

Among Ms Musar's proposals would be to either scrap veto power completely, especially for mass atrocities, or limit its use and remove voting power from any country involved in the conflict. "That would be a huge step forward, but we need to be vocal about it. We have to discuss this. This is what Slovenia is doing."

US elections

A former attorney, Ms Musar spoke about her relationship with Slovenian ex-model and former first lady Melania Trump. On the eve of another historic US election, she said they stay in touch mostly for formalities.

"We congratulate each other for birthdays every year and for the new year, but I'm [more] in touch with her father, who regularly comes to Slovenia, also with her mother, before she passed away. Now [with Ms Trump] not so often, but still, she's a wonderful lady."

Pressed for her opinion on the imminent election, Ms Musar maintained her diplomatic line. "It's tight. Very tight. Whoever wins, we will have to co-operate, that's for sure. We will have to work with Republicans and Democrats. The United States is still the biggest economy in the world. Maybe with one person it will be a bit easier than with the other, but nevertheless, we will have to co-operate."