Taking action in a world in movement

Ms. Valdés,
Ms. Cibiriain,
Dear students and friends:

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Palais des Nations today. Thank you GIMUN for organizing this event every year to emphasize the values instilled in the United Nations Charter.

It is fascinating to see that this document, which is now 73 years old, continues to be a source of hope and inspiration for people across the world – old and young. Thank you GIMUN for gathering the young minds here today to reflect on the relevance of the Charter in facing current global challenges.
This year’s theme of your meeting - taking action in a world in movement - reminds us of the great rapidity at which our world is continuously changing and evolving.

Like any one of us, institutions like the UN also have to adjust to new environments and circumstances, including technological and geopolitical changes, to pursue the vision and objectives of the UN Charter.

The UN as a whole is often criticized for being too resistant to change, for losing its relevance, influence, credibility, and ultimately its impact on international affairs over the years.

Some of these criticisms are well deserved. Although we should also keep in mind that the United Nations is made up of 193 Member States, and the advancements of the United Nations system and its ability to adapt depend on their interactions and steering role.

Indeed, the UN system needs to enact major reforms in order to keep up with the pace of a rapidly changing world. And this is what our Secretary-General is trying to do with his ambitious reform agenda.

Despite the shortcomings of the international system, we also need to recognize the achievements that have been made possible thanks to international cooperation.

First of all, a large part of the planet is at peace today. We would have to go back hundreds of years to find the world in a similar state. As Oxford University economists tell us, on average, it is far less likely to be killed in a war today than at any time in the history of humankind - the number of war casualties is down by 75%, compared to every decade after the end of the Second World War.

Second, as a whole, poverty has been reduced more in the last 50 years than in the last 500 years. A person who is born today has - in most cases - a much lower chance of being illiterate, dying of an illness or being a victim of violence than ever before. This progress is, however, not even across the world.

Third, the creativity of our time is unprecedented. 90% of all scientists who have ever lived, are currently alive today. To understand the unprecedented advances of our era, consider the fact that your cell phone has much more computing power than the rocket that took the first men to the moon in 1969!

I do not tell you all this to convince you that everything is fine, but to show you that our collective actions are important and have an impact.

The challenges we face are real and existential. But all were created by human beings. Nothing - neither climate change nor inequality - is independent of human activity. We can reverse the impact of our actions. We are the masters of our destinies and our future.

What gives me hope and optimism is that we now have a plan and a timeframe.

Three years ago, the 193 Member States of the United Nations - that is, most of the world - agreed on something truly innovative and ambitious. Agenda for Sustainable Development, which we need to implement by 2030.

This is a plan to improve our world. With 17 Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs as we call them - we now have a detailed collective roadmap for action. And action is already happening. Three years into implementation, this roadmap is being followed and owned by all actors, from Member States themselves, to civil society, to the business community and other actors.

And it is through the prism of the SDGs that I would like to look at the challenges you have chosen to discuss today. Let me touch upon some points you might want to take into account in your deliberations.

As you rightly pointed out in the topic of your event, the world is on the move. In our increasingly interconnected world, international migration has become a reality that touches nearly all corners of the world. We have seen the number of international migrants worldwide continuing to grow at a rapid pace, reaching 258 million in 2017. This is up from 173 million in 2000.

Unfortunately, in today’s discourse, migration is often percieved as a “problem” that needs to be “resolved”. Migration is described in negative terms. Yet this should not be the case. Migration is a fact. What we need is understanding, genuine solidarity, respect, and empathy - coupled with a framework to manage this phenomenon effectively. We also need a narrative that is based on facts, not on fear.

That is why we look forward to the adoption by Member States of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in December. The GCM is expected to cover all dimensions of international migration in a complete and comprehensive manner. It will aim to strengthen international collaboration to improve the current treatment of migrants and to protect their human rights.

Changing the public rhetoric around the buzzword that has become “migration” is essential, and we must show the positive contributions of migrants to both host countries and countries of origin.

As our Secretary-General put it, as a global community, we face a choice: do we want migration to be a source of prosperity and international solidarity, or a byword for inhumanity and social friction? The SDGs will help us address these challenges in a holistic and sustainable way.

The second challenge you will be discussing is children and armed conflict. The latest report of the Secretary-General on this issue offers a disappointing global picture that reveals continued grave violations of children’s rights, particularly in armed conflict zones, where they continue to be used as child soldiers, human shields, and sources of labour for economic or military purposes.

This is simply unacceptable.

Every child that dies on a battlefield is a bloodstain on our collective conscience. Ensuring the protection and promotion of children’s rights represents one of the most sacred collective responsibilities of the international community.

International treaties to protect those rights already exist. Today, it is time to implement them. Again, the SDGs offer us unprecedented opportunities to address these issues by addressing the root causes that create conflicts in the first place.

The protection of our common cultural heritage – your third theme - is our collective responsibility.

Once a language disappears or ancient ruins are destroyed, a culture disappears with them. Our natural and cultural heritage are irreplaceable sources of wisdom and inspiration, which highlight our commonness as human beings. These are sources of universal symbolism greatly needed at a time of divisions.

Imagine - according to the latest research, today there are 7,106 living languages in the world. Linguists estimate that almost half of those languages will disappear within the next century.

The destruction of archeological sites and artifacts in places like Mali has been qualified as a war crime by the International Criminal Court.

We must remember that this global heritage represents our common history, the history of human evolution, and of progress, which helps us look forward. Once we lose the pieces that make up the human mosaic, a part of our history is erased, and can never be recovered. We must not allow this to happen.

Moving on to your last topic – disarmament: as the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, I am a firm believer that we need to continue paving the way towards non-proliferation and general and complete disarmament if we want to continue living on this planet.

Disarmament serves both to prevent and to end violence. It supports and advances the Sustainable Development Goals. It embodies the values of the Charter we are here today to commemorate.

In May this year, our Secretary-General released his new disarmament agenda, “Securing our common future”, here in Geneva. Preventing the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons is vital.

Today there are still over 15,000 nuclear weapons that remain stockpiled around the world waiting to be activated any time, ready to kill and destroy.

As the Secretary-General put it, “we are one mechanical, electronic or human error away from a catastrophe that could eradicate entire cities from the map”.

That threat is now coupled with new developments in technology. We must find ways of dealing with these newly emerging technologies to ensure that they are not used in malicious ways. We are developing tools that we have yet to understand and this could have grave repercussions on future generations.

The bottom line is this: complete disarmament is essential to securing our world and our future.

The scale of all these global challenges seems big and scary. You might even find yourself wondering what you can personally do to make a difference. You might say it’s too overwhelming.

That is not the case. Take a look around in this room. Every person in this room is here today because you and me, all of us want to make a difference. Let’s make a difference. As responsible citizens, we have to complement the work of our governments with our own means to make our planet a better place.

Making a difference does not have to take the form of a heroic stance. Change can begin with the small actions you take in your daily life. Small steps that you take today, repeat tomorrow, will become second nature to you in the end. Practices that you can ultimately influence your family and friends to adopt as well.

You can look for inspiration in the “170 actions” booklet. It gives you a list of concrete daily actions that you can easily incorporate into your routine.

Now, if you all take part in this action-taking as a group, as a generation even, the ripple effect becomes a wave of a magnitude that has the power to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals and address all of the issues that you will be discussing today.

I keep repeating that everything that is done here, in Geneva, has a direct impact on every person on this planet, in any 24-hour period. This event for you is an opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions, creative problem-solving, and to come up with concrete solutions to the problems of tomorrow. It is an opportunity for your voices to be heard and for your actions to have an impact.

Take full advantage of it. Start a wave. Have an impact.

Let me conclude with two quotes from one of the greatest visionaries of our times, our former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said: “More than ever before in human history we face a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together” and “You can never be too young to lead and never to old to learn”.

Thank you.