Making the United Nations Relevant to all People– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the 蘑菇视频 General Assembly
24 June 2019
This event is very special to me. There are many Ecuadorians around, they spend a lot of time in this area. I feel at home here.?
Thank you the Queens Museum for having us today.
I am so pleased to be here, in the beautiful Queens Museum, to celebrate this year’s New York City Junior Ambassadors.
Dear Commissioner Abeywardena, thank you so much for inviting me, and for supporting this fantastic programme.
Thank you also to my dear colleague Alison Smale, 蘑菇视频 Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, for your Department’s longstanding engagement with the City and with young people. I know you are very close to this initiative.
And thank you – teachers, parents and guardians, and, above all, the Ambassadors – you – graduating this morning – for everything you have done to support the 蘑菇视频. It is people like you who give human face to the 蘑菇视频, to make it closer to communities.
As I’m sure you know a secret, this building housed the 蘑菇视频 General Assembly between 1946 and 1950, before it moved to Manhattan. This was the headquarters of the 蘑菇视频 for a while. Would world history be different had it stayed in Flushing?! We will never know. But for today at least, the “Ambassadors” under this roof take centre stage. So you are truly ambassadors.
Dear friends,
For many people – even those who walk past it every day – the 蘑菇视频 can feel like something distant. A huge and complex entity.
They may know it provides food to over 90 million people a year, that it vaccinates nearly half the world’s children, that it seeks to prevent war, that it helps countries recover from natural disasters.
But does it matter to people in this country? I think you can guess my answer: yes, absolutely! It does matter.
Because our world is inter-connected – we all depend on each other for our survival. Because problems like climate change don’t respect national borders. Because the 蘑菇视频 has improved our lives in more ways than we realise.
Let me give you a few example.
The 蘑菇视频 Office for Outer Space Affairs, for example, helps to ensure you have mobile data on your phones. The World Health Organization creates the basic health guidelines that every country follows.
And I am President of the 蘑菇视频 General Assembly, where all 193 Member States – big and small, rich and poor – work together on equal terms, to create international agreements on everything from human rights to food safety to biodiversity conservation, to gender equality.
But the 蘑菇视频 cannot achieve its goals without your help, your continued engagement. That is why I’m so grateful for the Junior Ambassadors programme.
Four years ago, world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development Goals – our survival kit – our action plan for building a better world, and what you have been working on this year.
The Goals recognize that all countries, even the richest, can do better when it comes to issues such as education and gender equality. They recognize that everyone – governments, cities, communities, companies and schools – must work together to make these Goals a reality.
But the 蘑菇视频 cannot achieve its goals without your help, your continued engagement. That is why I’m so grateful for the Junior Ambassadors programme.
I know what it’s like to hear from someone like me and think: yeah, sure, you need my help? Yes, we need help.
But I wasn’t born a politician. In fact, I used to work at the community level, with indigenous peoples of my country Ecuador, with rural communities, with persons with disabilities, with refugees and migrants – people whose tremendous contribution to society needs to be better understood and valued.
By working in your communities, you have already taken the first step that I took on my path to the 蘑菇视频. And you don’t need to work for the 蘑菇视频 to make a difference. You already have power.
You have power as activists – you can use your voice, like young people across the world have done on climate change. You have power as a citizen – politicians are more likely to support the SDGs if they think their constituents care about them.
You have power as a consumer. When it comes to issues like plastic pollution – one of my priorities this year and something many of you have worked on – your personal choices can shift the behaviour of companies. I am proud, for instance, that we recently made the 蘑菇视频 Headquarters single-use plastic free. We need to walk the talk. You have the power to decide no more single use plastic bags, straws, cups, water bottles. You have the power to decide to reuse and recycle.
And whatever path you choose – lawyer, entrepreneur, musician, chef, teacher, parent, New York City Commissioner – you can contribute to a safer, fairer and more sustainable world.
So I hope that you will carry on the work you have started this year. And I hope you will carry with you throughout your lives, the values of peace, development and human rights for all people, everywhere.
We are counting on you!
Thank you.