Reception to mark the launch of the Disarmament section of the UNOG Bookshop & to honour the winners of the UN Poster for Peace Contest

Mr. Kim, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs,
Ambassador van der Kwast,
Mr. Douglas,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen:

I am very pleased to welcome you this evening to celebrate the winning entries in the United Nations Poster for Peace contest, and the launch of the section for disarmament publications at the bookstore here at the United Nations Office at Geneva. I would like to particularly thank Ambassador van der Kwast and the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands for the great support in making available disarmament publications at the UNOG bookstore, and for having invited us to this reception today.

Disarmament is a process where everyone more or less agrees on the goal, but not on how to get there. To come together in the pursuit of this common goal, we need two things: understanding the issues at stake and the dangers of the status quo and generating creative ideas to address the challenges. The two initiatives, which we are celebrating today promote both.

By making disarmament publications available at the bookstore here in Geneva, knowledge and expertise is made available. The United Nations—through the activities of the Secretary-General, the Secretariat, and other parts of the UN disarmament machinery—has recognized and supported the importance of education in advancing disarmament goals for many years. Offering literature on topics across the disarmament agenda at the book-store here in Geneva, where academia closely collaborates with international institutions, the diplomatic community and well-respected think thanks, is a further critical element of these efforts.

At the same time, we are here to celebrate the fantastic winning entries of the UN Poster for Peace contest. Looking at these posters, I have no doubt that creativity and disarmament go hand in hand. The posters really inspire and evoke interest in this topic, something that is not always easy as those of us working together in the Conference on Disarmament can tell.

It is a pleasure to see ambassadors from the different home-countries of the artists of these wonderful posters here at the reception. I congratulate you on the impressive work of your fellow countrymen and women. All of these works highlight the wish for a world free from nuclear and other weapons “adaptable to mass destruction”, as expressed in the first General Assembly resolution on this topic adopted 70 years ago.

To get closer to this shared goal, new ideas are needed and this involves getting the international community – and young generations in particular – to talk more, and louder, about disarmament. The initiatives we are celebrating today are powerful examples of how this can be done. And the commitment of UN Messenger for Peace, Michael Douglas, whom I welcome warmly to the Palais des Nations, is essential in spreading this message all around the globe.

As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the Award Ceremony for the Poster for Peace Contest in New York: “Disarmament is part of the DNA of the United Nations”. Combining the power of knowledge through books, artistic creativity and the outreach and enthusiasm of messengers like Mr. Douglas induces new energy in the pursuit of this important mandate of the United Nations.

Thank you very much.