Gyeongju

30 May 2016

Secretary-General's Press Conference at opening of 66th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference

Ban Ki-Moon, Former Secretary-General

Good afternoon,

Before I begin speaking about this important DPI/NGO Conference, let me say a word about the latest deadly attack on our peacekeepers in Mali.

We are still getting details of this very serious incident. The latest report I have says that five peacekeepers were killed in an ambush.

They were heroes who had gone to Mali to make it safer and more stable for the country’s suffering people. They made the ultimate sacrifice as the world marked the International Day of Peacekeepers.

I have conveyed my sincere condolences to the families of these courageous blue helmets. The United Nations will never forget their sacrifice.

I am urging action to bring the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible. They did not just target the United Nations; they took aim at our universal values. We must respond forcefully.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very happy to be here at this dynamic DPI-NGO Conference.

As you may know, this is the first time that the UN DPI-NGO Conference is being held in Asia. I am also very happy that the first meeting is taking place in my home country, Korea, and in particularly in Gyeongju.

  Let me express my deepest thanks to the leaders and people of Gyeongju for their warm hospitality and strong support.

I am particularly pleased to convene the 66th UN DPI-NGO Conference in Gyeongju, the capital of the Silla dynasty, which lasted for a thousand years.  Its outstanding cultural artefacts still stand today.

The United Nations highly values the contributions of non-governmental organizations.

This Conference is a reminder of the power of NGOs to shape our common future.

And it is a chance to strengthen our resolve to enable NGOs everywhere to operate freely.

Governments must listen to the voices of their people. NGOs can often link communities and officials. But they can only play their role when they have freedom to operate.

I am deeply concerned to see democratic space shrinking in some areas.

We cannot allow this authoritarian impulse to silence NGOs.

As I said in my speech today, we have seen a disturbing pattern of actions against NGOs whose work is essential to progress.

This is happening around the world – and, unfortunately, even within the United Nations. 

I am dismayed at the latest example. After six years of delays, a majority a Member States on the ECOSOC NGO Committee voted to deny the Committee to Protect Journalists consultative status.

Around the world, media workers are being targeted.  Press freedoms are being restricted.  An appalling number of journalists have been murdered or unjustly imprisoned. 

The media are our eyes and ears.  Journalists expose truths and uncover stories that we need to know.  They risk their lives for the public’s right to truth. 

I am opposed to any restrictions on journalists – and I am against any limits on organizations that protect them. The last place this should happen is at the United Nations.

We must help these valuable organizations gain material support and political backing.

Of course not everyone will agree on every issue – but we should all agree on the need for open dialogue.

The United Nations is proud to serve as a forum for dialogue among the world’s NGOs.

This Conference should forge a strong outcome.

The United Nations will continue strengthening our proud partnership with the NGOs represented here – and others around the world which share our vision of a life of dignity for all.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This evening, I am returning to New York.  Let me take this opportunity as I wind down my visit to the Republic of Korea, my home country, to express my deepest thanks for the support and encouragement that the Korean people and Government have shown to me wherever I visited, in Jeju province, Seoul, Andong city, Hahoe village, and here in Gyeongju.

Thank you.

Q: [Question on Global Education First initiative]

Secretary-General: As you know, there are 17 Goals and, some Goals are crosscutting Goals. Education, number 4, is one of the crosscutting Goals. This affects the whole spectrum of our life. That is why since I became Secretary-General, I have launched a Global Education First initiative. UNESCO has been asking [for] this initiative; in close coordination with UNESCO I have appointed Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as my Special Envoy on Global Education, so that much I have paid great attention on education.

Most recently, when I was attending the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey last week, the world leaders have agreed to establish an Education Cannot Wait Fund, so we are now reaching out to many governments, the business community and civil society. Here, NGOs can play a very important role. First of all, they can actively engage and support education initiatives. At the same time, they can raise their voices and raising the awareness of investing wisely in education.

The Korean Government has been investing wisely since its independence. That’s what we are now seeing the result, very good positive results, why and how the Korean Government has become one of the 15 largest economic powers in the world not only economic power but also social, economic and democratization. Korea has advanced significantly. Korea has become the only one in the world who used to be recipient but now is a donor as member of OECD DAC.  So while we should be very proud of what Korea has achieved, we should also remember that there are 75 million school age children who are out of school. When you travel around, particularly in developing countries, it is very sad and strange to see so many young children just playing on the ground without going to school. With all these crises continuing, with the economic downturn, the number has increased significantly during the last few years. It used to be 57 million, now we have almost 20 million more children left out of school. So it is very serious.

In that regard, this NGO DPI Conference focused on education as a part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. I highly count on the role of NGOs in this.

Thank you.

Q: [Question in Korean on the focus of the Secretary-General’s trip. Answer was also in Korean]

Secretary-General: I hope there is no misunderstanding about the purpose of my visit to the Republic of Korea. And that is not for any personal reasons but only to participate in official ceremonies in the capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General. The DPI-NGO Conference is a biannual event, held this time in Asia for the first time in Korea, a point of personal pride. It fills me with pride and happiness to open this event as the Secretary-General. And it was planned during the same timeframe as the Jeju Forum, so I thought it was convenient timing. As you well know, the Jeju Forum is a regular event which I helped plan as the RoK Vice Foreign Minister - and finally established as the Foreign Minister. I attended the event in 2008 as well. So my visit should be interpreted as the Secretary-General visiting a UN Member State.

I would add that the coverage of what was supposed to be off-the-record meeting with the Kwanhoon Club has led to overreaction and over-interpretation.  I have seven months left in my tenure, and I hope that all of you and fellow citizens of Korea will help me finish my tenure successfully.  Therefore, I ask you to defer from speculative over-reaction about my next steps.  I would add that what happens after my tenure as the Secretary-General is up to my own thinking and planning, and my own decision. 

Q: [Question on the Secretary-General's biggest achievements in his two terms]

Secretary-General: This may take some time for me to answer.

As I said, I am almost completing my job as Secretary-General of the United Nations but I make it clear today that I will devote my time and energy to carry out the mandate entrusted by the Member States of the United Nations until the very last day of my mandate. That means December 31st. Of course whatever achievement or legacies  which I have been made will be assessed or judged by historians or by others around the world. That I completely leave it to those historians to judge, but if you ask me today whether there are something which I feel proud of; as I said in the Jeju forum, there are two very outstanding visions and commitments the world has achieved and adopted, that is the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, with 17 Goals, that will put 7 billion people in the world and this planet Earth onto a sustainable path. This is a very ambitious, far-reaching vision which has been adopted and agreed upon by Member States of the United Nations, I believe I played a very important role. First, form day 1, 2007 I have devoted a lot of my time in helping Member States implement the Millennium Development Goals. Now the Millennium Development Goals [campaign] is over, with the new SDGs replacing [them]. In the course of this negotiation and drafting [of the] Sustainable Development Goals, we made and I made, together with the Member States, a great contribution on this.

Another one [is] climate change. When I took over as Secretary-General, there was very low awareness of the importance and seriousness and urgency of addressing this climate change. Everybody, mostly everybody in the world agreed that it was me as Secretary-General who really put this [issue of ] climate change high on the international agenda United Nations agenda . After 20-year long negotiations, the speed and awareness have been picking up since I became Secretary-General in 2007. Finally, with all support Member States have been giving, all 196 parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have agreed and adopted the very ambitious Paris Agreement. I am asking Korean government and business communities and other people to really implement this climate change agreement.

I believe that there is another: I have been paying great priority on enhancing the role and human dignity and human rights of women. Still, women’s political, social, economic standing is not much appreciated around the world. While in many countries women have been making great advances but still, there are many millions of women whose human dignity and social and economic standing is very low. I took up this issue as one top priorities as Secretary-General and as the United Nations. Now, we see quite [great] strides, significant not only within the UN system but leaders raise their standards and status higher, if not higher than at least equal with men. I feel proud but whatever I am doing I will continue to work with the international community to achieve this.

At the same time, as I have been urging, we must do much more for youth. I had very good meeting with youth group and I told them you will soon be leaders of this world tomorrow. But there have been many who have become leaders today. Therefore it is important that leaders of the world should place higher priority on how to provide social, economic and political opportunities, decent opportunities to young people to make this world much, much more prosperous and healthier.