Statement by H.E. Mrs. Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa Garc\u00e9s, President of the 73rd<\/sup> Session of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly<\/h3>\n21 September 2018<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/73\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/09\/IMG_0406-small-300x200.jpg\")
Tribute to former Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General Kofi Annan<\/p><\/div>\n
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Excellencies,<\/p>\n
Distinguished Delegates,<\/p>\n
Mr. Secretary-General,<\/p>\n
Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is with great sadness that we begin this 73rd session of our Assembly by acknowledging a great loss – that of Kofi Annan, who will surely be remembered as one of the outstanding leaders of this Organization.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it is also eminently fitting that we remember him on this day \u2013 a day fixed by this Assembly 17 years ago, on his watch and with his strong support, as International Peace Day. For no one laboured more tirelessly or consistently in the cause of peace than did Kofi Annan.<\/p>\n
Kofi Annan was a great Secretary-General because he understood that peace cannot be achieved in isolation.<\/p>\n
He subscribed fully to the principles set out in the Preamble to our Charter and knew that they are mutually interdependent. Succeeding generations would not be saved from the scourge of war\u2026unless and until human beings can have faith, faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small; unless and until conditions are established under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained; unless and until we succeed in promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Larger Freedom\u201d was, indeed, the title of Kofi Annan\u2019s report to this Assembly in 2005, in which he asserted that peace and security, development and human rights are the three indispensable and mutually reinforcing pillars of the Organization.<\/p>\n
And five years earlier he had submitted his Millennium Report, using as its title the very first words of the Charter, \u201cWe The Peoples\u201d. It fell to him to guide us from the 20th century into the 21st, and he knew well that in the 21st century the United Nations would have to convince the peoples of the world \u2013 not just the governments \u2013 that it was doing something useful to them, something that offered them hope of a better and more rewarding life.<\/p>\n
His genius lay in his ability to enlist the member states in a common effort to achieve that end. Perhaps no other Secretary-General could have persuaded this Assembly, not only to mark the year 2000 by convening at summit level but also to commission a report from him which articulated the aspirations of humanity as it embarked on the new millennium, and which formed the basis for the Millennium Declaration, including the Millennium Development Goals. Rightly, he cited this as his greatest achievement.<\/p>\n
It was thanks in large part to his influence that those goals included the pledges to ensure that by 2015 \u201cgirls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education\u201d, and by the same date to have \u201chalted, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV\/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major diseases\u201d. These were causes very dear to his heart, and to which he continued to devote himself after leaving office \u2013 notably through the work of his Foundation, which I hope will continue.<\/p>\n
He reminded Member States regularly that empowering women meant empowering whole nations. That there is no tool for development more effective than women’s advancement; that no other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, promote health or increase the chances of education for the next generation. And he often urged the entire international community to remember that promoting gender equality is not only women\u2019s responsibility — it is the responsibility of all of us.<\/p>\n
He retained throughout his life a strong concern, not only for the welfare of refugees and migrants but also for greater recognition of the important contribution they could make. He showed great foresight in persuading the late Peter Sutherland to become the first Special Representative for Migration. We owe it to him and to his legacy to do everything we can to finalize and implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the Global Compact on Refugees.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.12.2″]<\/p>\n
Kofi Annan could be heard around the world without raising his voice; but he could also achieve results in private, through quiet diplomacy. Probably few of us here today, except the delegates of Nigeria and Cameroon, have ever heard of the Bokassi Peninsula. But we might have learnt all too much about it had not Kofi Annan devoted years of discreet diplomacy to working with the presidents of those two countries, to prevent it becoming a cause of war.<\/p>\n
And we would search the Charter in vain for any article mandating the Secretary-General to bring together private corporations to discuss ways of improving global public health. Yet there must be many thousands of people alive today who would not be, if Kofi Annan had not brought together the heads of the world\u2019s major pharmaceutical companies and persuaded them to make antiretroviral drugs available in poor countries at affordable prices.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.12.2″]\n\n
Tribute to former Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General Kofi Annan<\/p><\/div>\n
Excellencies,<\/p>\n
Distinguished Delegates,<\/p>\n
Mr. Secretary-General,<\/p>\n
Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is with great sadness that we begin this 73rd session of our Assembly by acknowledging a great loss – that of Kofi Annan, who will surely be remembered as one of the outstanding leaders of this Organization.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it is also eminently fitting that we remember him on this day \u2013 a day fixed by this Assembly 17 years ago, on his watch and with his strong support, as International Peace Day. For no one laboured more tirelessly or consistently in the cause of peace than did Kofi Annan.<\/p>\n
Kofi Annan was a great Secretary-General because he understood that peace cannot be achieved in isolation.<\/p>\n
He subscribed fully to the principles set out in the Preamble to our Charter and knew that they are mutually interdependent. Succeeding generations would not be saved from the scourge of war\u2026unless and until human beings can have faith, faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small; unless and until conditions are established under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained; unless and until we succeed in promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Larger Freedom\u201d was, indeed, the title of Kofi Annan\u2019s report to this Assembly in 2005, in which he asserted that peace and security, development and human rights are the three indispensable and mutually reinforcing pillars of the Organization.<\/p>\n
And five years earlier he had submitted his Millennium Report, using as its title the very first words of the Charter, \u201cWe The Peoples\u201d. It fell to him to guide us from the 20th century into the 21st, and he knew well that in the 21st century the United Nations would have to convince the peoples of the world \u2013 not just the governments \u2013 that it was doing something useful to them, something that offered them hope of a better and more rewarding life.<\/p>\n
His genius lay in his ability to enlist the member states in a common effort to achieve that end. Perhaps no other Secretary-General could have persuaded this Assembly, not only to mark the year 2000 by convening at summit level but also to commission a report from him which articulated the aspirations of humanity as it embarked on the new millennium, and which formed the basis for the Millennium Declaration, including the Millennium Development Goals. Rightly, he cited this as his greatest achievement.<\/p>\n
It was thanks in large part to his influence that those goals included the pledges to ensure that by 2015 \u201cgirls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education\u201d, and by the same date to have \u201chalted, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV\/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major diseases\u201d. These were causes very dear to his heart, and to which he continued to devote himself after leaving office \u2013 notably through the work of his Foundation, which I hope will continue.<\/p>\n
He reminded Member States regularly that empowering women meant empowering whole nations. That there is no tool for development more effective than women’s advancement; that no other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, promote health or increase the chances of education for the next generation. And he often urged the entire international community to remember that promoting gender equality is not only women\u2019s responsibility — it is the responsibility of all of us.<\/p>\n
He retained throughout his life a strong concern, not only for the welfare of refugees and migrants but also for greater recognition of the important contribution they could make. He showed great foresight in persuading the late Peter Sutherland to become the first Special Representative for Migration. We owe it to him and to his legacy to do everything we can to finalize and implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the Global Compact on Refugees.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.12.2″]<\/p>\n
Kofi Annan could be heard around the world without raising his voice; but he could also achieve results in private, through quiet diplomacy. Probably few of us here today, except the delegates of Nigeria and Cameroon, have ever heard of the Bokassi Peninsula. But we might have learnt all too much about it had not Kofi Annan devoted years of discreet diplomacy to working with the presidents of those two countries, to prevent it becoming a cause of war.<\/p>\n
And we would search the Charter in vain for any article mandating the Secretary-General to bring together private corporations to discuss ways of improving global public health. Yet there must be many thousands of people alive today who would not be, if Kofi Annan had not brought together the heads of the world\u2019s major pharmaceutical companies and persuaded them to make antiretroviral drugs available in poor countries at affordable prices.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.12.2″]\n\n