[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”-76px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.19.3″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
14 December 2022<\/b><\/p>\n
Secretary-General,<\/p>\n
Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,<\/p>\n
I thank Minister Jaishankar and the Indian Mission for organizing this critically important debate.<\/p>\n
I also commend India \u2013 and the four other outgoing Security Council members, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway \u2013 for your important contributions to international peace and security over the past two years.<\/p>\n
Mr. President,<\/p>\n
We are at a watershed moment for multilateralism. At a historic crossroad.<\/p>\n
The international rules, norms, instruments and institutions that have guided interstate relations for over 75 years are facing deep, some would say, existential, questions of relevance \u2013 at a time when the world needs them most.<\/p>\n
But as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, grappling simultaneously with the climate crisis and protracted debt, food and energy emergencies, one thing is clear: these global challenges are far too great for any one nation to handle alone.<\/p>\n
Our best hope, our only hope, is always to find a multilateral solution, designed in line with the United Nations Charter and international law.<\/p>\n
Let us recall that the actions you take here in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, impact the 8 billion people out there.<\/p>\n
You are to improve the lives of the people who count on you. And you are to do so at a time of profound global change and polarization.<\/p>\n
But, excellencies, just as your actions have profound effects across the globe, so too, does your inaction.<\/p>\n
Inaction in the General Assembly, or, more frequently, in the Security Council.<\/p>\n
Too often, sharp geopolitical divides have prevented responses and progress in the Council.<\/p>\n
The question I have for this Council is simple: will these rifts continue to upstage your collective ability to maintain international peace and security?<\/p>\n
A reminder of our mission hangs above you daily \u2013 will you choose Per Krohg\u2019s phoenix rising from the ashes of war, or the pain and destruction depicted in Picasso\u2019s Guernica just beyond these doors?<\/p>\n
Mr. President,<\/p>\n
Multilateralism can work. But it must work better.<\/p>\n
The 193 Member States of the General Assembly have placed their trust in the 15 of you. As members of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.<\/p>\n
They elected the majority of you. And trusted the rest of you though the Charter.<\/p>\n
They expect each of you to act for the good of all. To uphold the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Charter. You have done so, on countless occasions. In doing so, you have saved countless lives.<\/p>\n
Just last week, you decided to establish a humanitarian exemption across Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ sanctions regimes. This will have a direct impact on so many people living under dire conditions.<\/p>\n
Yet, there are examples of failed collective actions, as well.<\/p>\n
And let me mention just one of those.<\/p>\n
As we approach 10 months of the war in Ukraine, not a single Council resolution has been adopted to mitigate the exact type of crisis the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ was created to prevent.<\/p>\n
Excellencies,<\/p>\n
For the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ to reinforce its\u00a0relevance, its\u00a0<\/span>raison d’\u00eatre, for it to survive, it must deliver solutions for its end-users. For all of the eight billion of them.<\/p>\n The people we serve do not neatly organize their lives into boxes labelled \u201chuman rights\u201d, \u201cdevelopment\u201d and \u201cpeace\u201d.<\/p>\n It is our responsibility, individually and collectively, to respond to that complexity.<\/p>\n It only makes sense that we collaborate across bodies, organs and processes \u2013 and build on efforts already underway.<\/p>\n The so-called veto initiative has opened an important door for a new form of collaboration and accountability.<\/p>\n The Assembly has been obliged to step up when decisions by this Council are blocked.<\/p>\n Following the mandate given by Member States, I will always convene a formal debate on the use of the veto in the 77th<\/sup>\u00a0session of the General Assembly.<\/p>\n This will allow Member States to reflect on the initiative, and how to bring our two organs working closer together, discharging their function, in support of both peace and prosperity.<\/p>\n Outside this Chamber, Member States are participating in 15 negotiating processes on a range of issues, from counterterrorism, to health, sustainable development, and digital governance.<\/p>\n Several of the co-facilitators sit around this table today.<\/p>\n One of those processes is the Intergovernmental Negotiation on Security Council reform, with the participation of all 193 Member States. It has been a mandated duty for the General Assembly for many years, but the outcome is still less than what was expected.<\/p>\n During the high-level week in September, more than one-third of world leaders highlighted the need for Security Council reform.<\/p>\n I fully support today\u2019s focus on \u201ctangible steps that Member States can take\u201d.<\/p>\n I ask each of you, as members of the General Assembly, to take up this challenge, to move from a position of \u201cno\u201d or \u201clater\u201d \u2013 to a position of \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cnow\u201d.<\/p>\n Excellencies,<\/p>\n As we embark on our discussion, I urge you to think about those who rely on you \u2013 and your ability to agree \u2013 to ensure their safety and wellbeing:<\/p>\n To guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid that will save their lives.<\/p>\n To support inclusive peace processes, with full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and marginalized groups, that will end the fighting and suffering in their communities.<\/p>\n To support the demobilization of former combatants and child soldiers that will reunite their families.<\/p>\n And to ensure protection from conflict-related sexual violence that no one should ever have to endure.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing more [\u2026] uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things,\u201d \u2013 as the adage goes.<\/p>\n For us today, I would add: there is nothing more necessary.<\/p>\n Deadlock translates to a dead end for the millions of children, women, men and families who are all suffering the consequences.<\/p>\n They are putting their trust in us to step beyond power dynamics.<\/p>\n I am imploring you to respond by prioritizing dialogue and diplomacy.<\/p>\n To trade your political differences for genuine political will to find solutions.<\/p>\n To go beyond the\u00a0calculations of distrust and old rivalries.<\/span><\/p>\n To focus on what unites all of us.<\/p>\n Together with my office, I stand ready to support Member States in that in any way possible.<\/p>\n Thank you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 14 December 2022 Secretary-General, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, I thank Minister Jaishankar and the Indian Mission for organizing this critically important debate. I also commend India \u2013 and the four other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" 10 November 2022<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\r\n Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is in crisis. It is in many crises.<\/p>\r\n It has been 15 months since the Taliban consolidated control over the country.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Its economy is in ruins. The humanitarian situation is disastrous.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Two-thirds of the population is hungry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Girls and women are banned from learning, having a job or getting proper medical care.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The country is awash with heroin and opium.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Organized crime and terrorist organizations are thriving once again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is facing complex and interlinked challenges that the Taliban have shown they cannot \u2013 or would not \u2013 solve.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\r\n It is time to support the Afghan people with concrete solutions that place their needs front and center.<\/p>\r\n It is true that some problems will require some time to resolve.<\/p>\r\n But there are actions the Assembly can take to change the paradigm now.<\/p>\r\n I would like you to consider one solution through solidarity.<\/p>\r\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan \u2013 which requires $4.4 billion US dollars \u2013 is only half funded.<\/p>\r\n With winter weather just weeks away, I encourage Member States to provide urgent support to help reduce the $2.3 billion dollar shortfall.<\/p>\r\n Let\u2019s remind ourselves of the old saying from Afghanistan: \u201cA real friend is one who takes the hand of his friend in times of distress and helplessness.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan has a rich history of scientific achievement.<\/p>\r\n I encourage the country\u2019s reengagement with the international science community.<\/p>\r\n And\u00a0to allow women who used to be respected members of the country\u2019s science community to resume their research and their studies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Afghanistan is now the only state in the world that would deny girls their full right to education.<\/p>\r\n The prospect of girls\u2019 education has been left to uncertainty amid seemingly random edicts from the Taliban.<\/p>\r\n This time last year, Fawzia Koofi, the first woman Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, recalled her dream of one day addressing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ as the President of Afghanistan.<\/p>\r\n She said:\u00a0\u201cWith me, millions of girls and women in Afghanistan had this dream that now they think will never come true.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Dreams of becoming President have been replaced by the reality of child marriage. Arrests if women and girls leave their home without a male chaperone.<\/p>\r\n I reiterate my call for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of all Afghans, especially women and girls.<\/p>\r\n Similarly, I urge the Taliban to ensure the safety of all Afghans, regardless of gender, ethnic background, religious belief or political affiliation.<\/p>\r\n To protect journalists and civil society members.<\/p>\r\n To allow unhindered humanitarian aid, and to cooperate with humanitarian workers.<\/p>\r\n We expect the Taliban to make good on the commitments they made to the international community.\u00a0To show honesty through\u00a0concrete action.<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n The dramatic changes of 2021 have taken a massive toll on Afghanistan\u2019s economy and profoundly widened many security risks.<\/p>\r\n