Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock
President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
at the Observance of the annual Nelson Mandela International Day
GA Hall, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ HQ, New York
20 July 2026
[As Delivered]
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
More than three decades ago, Nelson Mandela addressed this very Assembly, as we saw it in the video with so much emotion and joy, as the first democratically elected President of the Republic of South Africa.
After 27 years of imprisonment, isolation, and dehumanization by the apartheid government, he spoke not with bitterness, but with dignity, resolve, and a determination to build a different future.
Demonstrating, through his own example, that even after generations of injustice, reconciliation is possible.
Amid deep division, societies can choose dialogue over hatred.
And after conflict, peace can prevail.
Nelson Mandela reminded this Assembly¡ªus¡ªof the same principles that guided the founding of this organization: that peace requires more than the absence of conflict, it requires human dignity, justice, and equality for all.
As we mark the Nelson Mandela International Day, we honour not only that vision, we acknowledge our own responsibility to carry this work, this spirit, forward, as reflected in this year¡¯s theme: ¡°it is still in our hands to combat poverty and inequity.¡±
To quote Mandela himself, ¡°Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.¡±
Yet today, progress to end poverty remains uneven.
808 million people¡ªnearly one in ten worldwide¡ªare living in extreme poverty.
And although Member States committed, through the Sustainable Development Goals, to end poverty in all its forms, only one in five countries is on track to halve its national poverty rate by 2030.
And as we know and as we have seen in the short movie, behind the numbers are families, like ours. But families who are forced to choose between food and medicine.
Children whose education is interrupted.
Communities displaced by conflict or climate shocks.
And people denied the opportunity to shape their own futures.
Poverty is not only a development challenge.
It is a question of human rights, justice, and ultimately, peace.
Because poverty, inequality, and exclusion fuel instability, fomenting conflict and crisis, which deepens poverty once more ¨C resulting in a vicious cycle that no country can break alone.
Yet we should not forget why we are here today like every other year¡ªthe words ¡°it is still in our hands¡±, and the statue with the hands in this building, remind us of our power to make progress when we act with purpose.
Indeed, the record shows what determined action can achieve, also in relation with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Between 1990 and 2019, the number of people living in extreme poverty was reduced by around 66 percent.
And we have learned that when the root causes of poverty and inequality¡ª conflict, discrimination, unequal opportunity, climate vulnerability, and exclusion¡ªare addressed, progress is not only achieved, it is sustained.
So this Nelson Mandela International Day should not only be a moment to honour his legacy through remembrance, but rather through action.
Because as we enter the final four years of the 2030 Agenda, it is, indeed, still in our hands, but the pronunciation has to be in our hands, to make the active choices required to end poverty and reduce inequality every day.
That is why, at the High-level Political Forum last week, I issued a clear call to focus our efforts on implementation in the years remaining until 2030.
To not allow ourselves to wallow in self-pity, or dare to say that four years is not enough time.
But instead remember about 27 years in prison, and draw inspiration and conviction from the legacy of a man who endured these 27 years in prison¡ªunder a system designed to strip him of his dignity¡ªand never gave up hope, or never gave up trying.
So four years is nothing.
And I reiterate my call¡ªinstead of talking about any post-2030 Agenda, let us focus all our efforts on today. On what we can do now.
How many more households can we help in four years? How many more children can we educate? How many more mouths can we feed?
It is in our hands.
Like Nelson Mandela, let¡¯s fight right to the finish.
Thank you.
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