Students' League of Nations

Thank you, Mrs. Tuck, for your kind introduction. It is a special pleasure for me to welcome you, the delegates of the Students’ League of Nations to the Palais des Nations. I appreciate taking part in this, my first General Assembly meeting of the Students’ League of Nations. Your organization has a long history of encouraging the spirit and innovation of the next generation’s leaders in international affairs. And I am happy that you are able to be here once again for this annual tradition.

Distinguished Delegates:
You come at a busy time for the United Nations in Geneva. We are currently hosting the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention. The High Commissioner for Refugees just held a high-level event at the ministerial level last week. The International Organization for Migration hosted its 100th Council meeting. And our neighbors at the World Trade Organization are holding a ministerial meeting this week.

You also come at a busy time for the United Nations around the world! It is a time when the world is becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. We have 7 billion people now that are more and more connected – to each other, to information, to the rest of the world. At the same time, we are seeing an erosion of public trust in leadership. Citizens are looking for governments to do more to address rising social and economic inequality. To ensure that all people have the opportunity to live in dignity. They are speaking out to make their voices heard all over the world – from the Middle East and North Africa, to Wall Street.

This loss of public trust has serious implications for future economic growth and political stability. And all of us now – the United Nations and other international organizations, governments, academics, non-governmental organizations, the private sector - need to think inventively We need innovative, bold solutions that deliver results and that address the needs of the most vulnerable. The poor, the planet and women and youth.

This is where all of you come in. You are creative, you are motivated, you see things from a different perspective. We have evidence of this in the draft resolutions that you will be debating these next two days. They show that you are not afraid to deal with difficult issues and that you go straight to the heart of subjects currently on the international agenda.

As I believe you know, the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon will begin his second term on 1 January. He has outlined five main priorities for the United Nations for the next five years, several of which link directly to issues that are of interest to you, which are raised in your draft resolutions.

The first is sustainable development. Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth – these cannot be seen as separate challenges. They are interlinked and all part of the same fight. We are now on the road to Rio de Janeiro, where next year, exactly two decades after the landmark Earth Summit, leaders will gather for a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put sustainable development at the centre of international policy-making.
After extended negotiations, leaders meeting in Durban, South Africa, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference agreed on Sunday morning a package of decisions that will define how the international community will address climate change in the coming years. Known as the “Durban Platform”, the decisions include the launch of a protocol or other instrument with legal force that will apply to all Members and to be operational from 2020, a second commitment period for the existing Kyoto Protocol and the launch of the Green Climate Fund. The Secretary-General has welcomed the “Durban Platform”, saying that “taken together, these agreements represent an important advance in our work on climate change”. And he has called on countries to “quickly implement these decisions and to continue working together in the constructive spirit evident in Durban.” There is no doubt that after the Climate Conferences in Copenhagen and Cancun, the agreement in Durban has raised the level of ambition and the mobilization of resources that are critical for an effective fight against climate change.

The second priority stressed by the Secretary-General is achieving sustainable energy for all. As you have emphasized in your draft resolution, access to energy is a critical issue. More than 1.4 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity, and 1 billion more only have intermittent access. Some 2.7 billion people rely on traditional, non-electric means for cooking and heating. Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Jobs, security, climate change, food production or poverty - sustainable energy is essential to strengthen economies, protect ecosystems and achieve equity. The Secretary-General has recently launched the “Sustainable Energy for All Initiative”. It calls for private sector and national commitments and attracts global attention to the importance of energy for development and poverty alleviation. The goal is to meet three objectives by 2030: ensuring universal access to modern energy services; doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency; doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

A third priority of the United Nations is building a safer and more secure world. This includes our work in conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, as well as our response to humanitarian emergencies. It also includes our work in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation – critical to our world truly being safe and secure for us all. Disarmament is also linked to development, as the 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars currently being spent on arms could be put to this use instead. This work is quite important here at UNOG, where we are home to the Conference on Disarmament, and where we connect with a number of civil society, academic and research organizations based in Geneva that also deal with these issues. As the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, I am particularly focused on this critical work.

Fourth, and again, related to your draft resolutions, is supporting countries in transition. We gave our full assistance in helping South Sudan emerge as the world’s newest nation – through support to a comprehensive peace agreement and a largely peaceful referendum. It is important that these processes are followed, and are supported by all involved parties, so that eventual membership in the United Nations, under Article 4 of its Charter may eventually be considered. The United Nations has also supported countries in transition in the Middle East and North Africa – with specific action taken, as you probably know, in Libya, where the Security Council acted decisively to protect civilians. We now have a political support mission there to assist with the country’s transition to peace and democracy. The democratic processes underway in Tunisia and Egypt are nationally driven, but the United Nations continues to offer its help and expertise on democratic transitions and elections, and on equitable and inclusive economic development. Our organization respects the right of freedom of expression and of a people to come together to show political will. These events were brought about by the citizens of these countries – including large numbers of young people and women - demanding that their voices be heard.

This brings me to the fifth and last priority of the Secretary-General which is working with and for women and young people. The role of women and young people in this wave of democratic transitions cannot be emphasized enough. It was critical. And the United Nations continues to work to support both youth and women to ensure that they are part of these processes. The Security Council, for one, has emphasized repeatedly that involving women in conflict prevention and mediation is essential for building peace and reinforcing the foundations of democracy. This understanding was further acknowledged by the award of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to three extraordinary women peacemakers: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia; and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. Unfortunately, however, women’s participation in these processes remains low, both at official levels and as observers, and the United Nations remains committed to change that. We encourage governments to increase the participation of women at all levels and are trying to lead by example in terms of the gender balance within our own organization. We also fully support the engagement and participation of young people in not just becoming the leaders of the future, but becoming leaders today. We have seen young people do this in the Middle East and North Africa. Today, more than a quarter of the world's people are between the ages of 10 and 24. This is an extraordinary figure, and you should all feel quite important that you are part of this new generation. A vocal, outspoken generation that has shown that it will stand up for democracy, for human rights, and for opportunities for a better life.

Dear Friends:
I very much look forward to hearing the outcome of your discussions on all of the resolutions, which are linked to many of the priorities that I have mentioned. I predict a fruitful and hearty debate! I also look forward to the solutions you may devise to some of the challenges that we, as the international community, continue to face.

I thank you for bringing your enthusiasm, your optimism, and your energy with you today. I hope that you will continue to maintain these valuable and much-needed qualities as you advance through life and through your careers. And I hope that you will continue to support the work of the United Nations. You are the ones who will take our principles, values, and commitments forward – for a better world for us all.

I wish you all success in your discussions and all the best for the future.

Thank you very much.