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** THE SECRETARY GENERAL **
** REMARKS AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY CEREMONY **
** MARKING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY **
** OF THE UNITED NATIONS **
September 21, 2020
The ideals of the United Nations – peace, justice, equality and dignity – are beacons for a better world.
But the Organization that we celebrate today arose only after immense suffering.
It took two world wars, millions of deaths, and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law.
That commitment produced results.
A Third World War, which so many feared, has been averted.
Never in modern history have we gone so many years without a military confrontation between the great powers.
This is a great achievement that Member States can be proud of and that we must all strive to preserve.
Over the decades, there have been other historic achievements, including:
- Peace treaties and peacekeeping
- Decolonization
- Human rights standards and mechanisms to defend them
- The triumph over apartheid
- Life-saving humanitarian aid for millions of victims of conflicts and disasters
- Disease eradication
- The constant reduction of hunger
- The progressive development of international law
- Emblematic pacts to protect the environment and our planet
More recently, unanimous support for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change provided an inspiring vision for the 21st century.
However, much remains to be done.
Of the 850 delegates to the San Francisco Conference, only 8 were women.
Twenty-five years since the Beijing Platform for Action, gender inequality remains the greatest challenge for human rights around the world.
A weather calamity is coming.
Biodiversity is collapsing.
Poverty is on the rise again.
The hatred is spreading.
Geopolitical tensions are increasing.
Nuclear weapons remain on trigger alert.
Transformative technologies have opened up new opportunities but have also exposed new threats.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the frailties of the world.
We can only address them together.
Today we have a surplus of multilateral challenges and a deficit of multilateral solutions.
I welcome the 75th anniversary declaration and the General Assembly’s commitment to revitalizing multilateralism.
You have invited me to assess how to advance our common agenda, and I will inform you with analysis and recommendations.
This will be an important and inclusive process of deep reflection.
We already know that we need more – and more effective – multilateralism, with vision, ambition and impact.
National sovereignty, a pillar of the United Nations, goes hand in hand with increased international cooperation based on common values and shared responsibilities in the pursuit of progress for all.
Nobody wants a world government, but we must work together to improve global governance.
In an interconnected world, we need networked multilateralism, in which the United Nations family, international financial institutions, regional organizations, trade blocs and others work together more closely and effectively.
We also need, as the President said, an inclusive multilateralism, based on civil society, cities, companies, local authorities and increasingly on young people.
The Secretariat marked this anniversary with a global conversation that reached more than one million people around the world, with a special focus on the voices of youth.
They shared their fears and hopes for the future.
They said that international cooperation is vital to meet today’s challenges.
They highlighted that Covid-19 has made that solidarity more urgent. And they stressed that the world needs health systems and basic services for all.
People fear the climate crisis, poverty, inequality, corruption, and systemic racial and gender discrimination.
They see the United Nations as a vehicle to make the world a better place.
And they count on us to pass today’s tests.
That responsibility rests primarily with the Member States.
Member States established the United Nations and have a duty to embrace it, nurture it, and provide it with the tools to make a difference.
We owe it to “we the peoples.”
We owe it to peacekeepers, diplomats, humanitarian personnel and others who sacrificed their lives to promote common values.
I salute all staff, past and present, for their dedication to bringing the ideals of the United Nations to life.
The founders of our Organization began their work during the heat of the conflict.
Now it’s up to us to chart our way out of harm’s way.
In the words of our Charter, “let us combine our efforts to achieve these goals” as the United Nations.
Thank you.
