Director-General's remarks at the Opening Session of FerMUN 2025

FerMUN 2025
Opening Session
Tuesday, 7 January 2025 at 3.00 p.m.
Room XX – Palais des Nations
 

Bonjour et bienvenus au Modèle des Nations unies du Lycée international de Ferney Voltaire

Welcome to the 15^th edition of FerMUN 2025!

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all—some 600 students from our local community as well as those who have joined us from 35 schools across 18 countries worldwide—to the Palais des Nations. Today, we come together to celebrate this special opportunity to connect, to collaborate, and to inspire one another.

Over the years, this impressive conference has empowered thousands of students to master the skills of negotiation and embrace the values of the United Nations. Your participation reflects your dedication to tackling global challenges, those we address in our daily work here at the UN Office at Geneva.

This event holds special significance as we embark on 2025, a milestone year marking the 80th anniversary of the UN’s founding. This encounter highlights the importance of coming together as a community to reflect on the United Nations' vision of peace, dignity, and equality laid out 80 years ago.

This milestone year is also a reminder of the importance of youth in shaping the future, the significance of empowering students to uphold these values in the future, starting the year with an event focused on this goal.

You are not just leaders of tomorrow; you are leaders today. By engaging with critical issues here, you join the UN’s efforts to build a better world, tackling challenges like climate change, inequality, and conflict.

Since the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945, our world has changed significantly. In 2024, we faced turbulent times marked by economic instability, rising conflicts, nuclear threats, climate crises, and deepening inequalities. These challenges have tested the multilateral system with the UN at its heart.

The United Nations remains a vital forum for nations to tackle shared problems, but the global community must strive for more. We need a fairer, more inclusive, and effective system of international cooperation to meet the demands of our time.

In September, last year, global leaders adopted the Pact for the Future, a transformative agreement to adapt global governance to today’s realities and tomorrow’s challenges. Covering issues from peace and security to climate change and digital cooperation, the Pact aims to ensure international institutions can effectively address a rapidly changing world.

Central to its success is the active engagement of youth. The Pact emphasizes meaningful opportunities for young people to shape decisions impacting their lives and future, recognizing that the UN cannot achieve its ambitious goals without the energy, ideas, and participation of the next generation.

We need your passion for innovation and the power to raise awareness; we need your minds to rethink paradigms and drive meaningful change; we need you to help transform the Pact for the Future into tangible results to overcome the many challenges we are faced with, and those which you have and will continue to address.

Today, at the Palais des Nations, you will engage in vital discussions to address global challenges, much like the work we do every day at the UN. Model UNs foster the understanding and collaboration needed to tackle real-world issues.

Let this conference inspire you to take action in your communities. Use the knowledge and skills gained here to become ambassadors of the UN's vision and leaders of change. Together, with your voices and passion, we can build a world of peace, dignity, and equality.

Thank you! Merci beaucoup!