Statement by H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly

51st Plenary of the General Assembly: “Report of the work of the organisation”

28 January 2021

 

Mr. Secretary-General,

Excellencies,

I would like to thank you all for attending this meeting today. This Debate on the Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization is being held at the start of the new year, rather than in October, for only the second time. This reform allows Member States sufficient time to reflect on the report and also gives the Secretary-General the opportunity to present his priorities for 2021.

I would like to thank the Secretary-General in advance for his presentation. I know that the membership has been particularly looking forward to this engagement with the Secretary-General to hear his assessments of the challenging year just past, as well as his perspective and priorities for 2021.

On behalf of Member States, I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive report, which explains in detail what our organization is doing “day in and day out, around the clock, around the world,

–        to help save millions of lives;

–        to assist more than 80 million refugees and displaced people;

–        to enable 2 million women and girls to overcome complications from pregnancy and childbirth;

–        to bring and keep the peace and to protect civilians, with more than 40 political missions and 95,000 peacekeeping troops, police and civilian personnel;

–        to provide electoral assistance to 60 countries each year; and

–        to protect human rights, to help victims of torture and to hold perpetrators accountable.”

Last year, we celebrated 75 years since the Charter’s signing and on that special occasion recognised in various formats the many achievements of the United Nations since its establishment.

This year, as we look forward to our common future in the context of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that the world requires even more, not less, global cooperation.

We all know that the pandemic has exposed existing vulnerabilities in our global and national socio-economic and health systems, as well as large scale inequalities within and between countries, exacerbating the complex economic, humanitarian, security and human rights challenges we are facing.

These challenges require a more effective, coherent and timely response of the broader United Nations system. During this most trying of times, this Assembly continues to work and lead as the primary political forum of the world, in support of Member States’ efforts.

Since the beginning of the session, and per established practice, we have held regular coordination meetings with the Secretary General and the Presidents of the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council, with the aim of improving coordination across the entire UN system, to break silos and bring the pillars of our Organization together, to better respond to our collective challenges and deliver on our respective mandates.

As President of the General Assembly, I stand ready to continue working with United Nations membership and the Secretary-General to advance efforts to revitalize multilateralism, to implement the much-needed reform agenda and to strengthen the United Nations by addressing the financial difficulties and improve its effectiveness and accountability, in order to make “the future we want and the United Nations we need” – a reality.

I thank you all very much and with those thoughts and observations, I would like to give the floor to the Secretary-General for his presentation.