– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Tijjani Muhammad Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
20 May 2020
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank Under-Secretary General Bience Gawanas and the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa and her collaborators for organizing this important Africa Dialogue for 2020, being held at a time when the world is actively searching for solutions to COVID-19 and its related fallouts. COVID-19 has brought such disruption as never experienced since the creation of the United Nations. I extend my deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19 and wish those battling the virus a fast and full recovery.
My gratitude goes to healthcare workers and other frontline staff, including employees of the United Nations and African Union, as well as UN peacekeeping troops who are working tirelessly to keep the world safe.
The challenges posed by this disease are multidimensional and can only be effectively tackled by galvanising multilateral action to collectively ensure the mitigation of its health and socio-economic impact. The United Nations is best placed to lead a multilateral approach and response and has done so since the onset of this challenge, with the World Health Organisation taking lead. This can also happen with active partnerships. It is also gratifying that the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan has coordinated the response of the key UN agencies to aid people in the most fragile contexts.
A firm and coordinated response is important to ensure that among other things, the pandemic does not negatively affect our plan to silence the guns in Africa, among other important priorities. Accordingly, the United Nations has continued to ensure business continuity and facilitate global response to the pandemic. Within the UN family, the General Assembly has continued to serve as a crucial forum for cooperation and effective information sharing. Member States have continued to coordinate initiatives for mutual assistance to address COVID-19 and its effects.
Among other efforts, the General Assembly recently adopted resolution 74/270 on the “Global solidarity to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)” and resolution 74/274 on the “International cooperation to ensure global access to medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to face COVID-19”. There are complementary efforts in the Security Council as well as the Economic and Social Council. I applaud the call by the Secretary-General for a global ceasefire, which should serve to bolster our efforts to silence the guns in Africa.
Excellencies,
It is however important that both in our rapid response to the pandemic, and our long-term planning, we address the development-peace nexus and uphold human rights. To prevent conflicts during this pandemic, we must continue to address their root causes. As we experience socio-economic hardships due to COVID-19, we must continue to pay attention to the needs of the most vulnerable, including children, women, people with disability, and marginalized groups within our societies, as they often experience greater hardship during difficult times. As most families lose their income during this hardship, governments around the world must continue to prioritize the socio-economic and mental well-being of their citizens, as these are key to silencing the guns anywhere, including, especially in Africa.
As we mark the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security, we must also ensure that women are integrated into decision-making processes in all spheres of life. We cannot allow unemployment and exclusion to undermine our efforts for peace. We must also reverse the deepening inequalities that affect all minority groups, as this puts immense strain on them and push them deeper into poverty and hunger. Surely, we cannot have a peaceful and stable world in the context of hunger and poverty for a significant part of humanity.
We must approach our response to COVID-19 with our sights on 2063, and the Africa we want. We simply will not achieve peaceful, prosperous and sustainable societies if we do not silence the guns in Africa. Partnerships and solidarity are essential.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We must devise modern and effective ways to resolve the farmer-herder conflicts that have ravaged some part of Africa, by ensuring that we deepen our commitments to climate action, as the intensification of climate change has exacerbated desertification, land degradation, drought, and locust invasions. We must also prioritize food assistance programmes and assistance to farmers and food producers to ensure food security for the people we serve. As millions of children in Africa depend on school feeding programmes, there is need to ensure that we do not allow this pandemic cut food supplies to these children.
Given the role education plays, excellencies, in all aspects of life, there must be coordinated effort to limit the disruption to education for students in Africa. The Global Partnership for Education has found that each additional year of education reduced a person’s likelihood to engage in conflict by 20%. We must thus ensure continuity of education for students in Africa and prioritise the integration of ICT in education when we are addressing infrastructure needs. As youth under the age of 25 represent the largest demographic group in most developing countries and are most vulnerable to radicalisation, we must take urgent action to ensure that the pandemic does not open the door to an increase in extremist recruitment.
Excellencies,
Africa faces unique challenges. There are large budget deficits, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, limited capacity in the education sector, imports essential commodities and equipment, among other challenges. All of these combined with the sharp fall in commodity prices and remittances, the seize in tourism, and capital outflows on an unprecedented scale put enormous pressure on foreign currency reserves for many African countries. It is thus important to show global solidarity in swiftly providing necessary financial, technical and material support to the continent.
Existing debt challenges paired with the economic and financial shock caused by Covid-19 undermine the public and external debt sustainability of a wide range of countries. Given these, preventing a series of disorderly defaults and widespread debt crises is of the utmost importance. It is in this regards that debt standstill and/or cancellation, and other measures are put in place to address COVID-19 fallouts.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We pledged in 2015 to leave no one behind. In this 75th year of the United Nations, we cannot renege on that promise, particularly given the challenges and the deepening inequalities that we are witnessing. We must approach our response to COVID-19 with our sights on 2063, and the Africa we want. We simply will not achieve peaceful, prosperous and sustainable societies if we do not silence the guns in Africa. Partnerships and solidarity are essential.
We will be defined by our actions and I urge you to act now to build a better future and a better world for all.
Thank you.
