Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly

21 December 2021

 

Dr. Judy Kuriansky,

Students of Columbia University’s Teacher’s College,

Colleagues and friends,    

 

I am humbled by this invitation. It is my privilege to speak at Dr. Kuriansky’s last class for this semester.

For those of you that did not do your homework and google me –let me introduce myself. My name is Abdulla Shahid, and I am from the Maldives, where I serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

I am also proud to have been elected by the Membership of the UN General Assembly to serve as the President of the 76th session of the General Assembly.

For those of you that did google me, you will know that I have chosen ‘hope’ as the theme of my Presidency.

And remember, it is just ‘hope’. Not ‘hope and change’. That was someone else.

My friends,

I chose hope as my theme for two reasons.

Firstly, I wanted to – and still want to – address the deep-rooted anxiety, the loneliness and the despair that has sprung out of two years of isolation, uncertainty, and apprehension.

As we face yet another COVID surge and, at least here in New York, another dark and anxious winter, we have to also accept that the world is going through a sort of ‘communal mental health crisis’. We are all suffering, in all sorts of ways, with the impacts of the pandemic. This has left us in a dark place.

I wanted to bring hope back into the picture, to offer people a reminder that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Cynicism and gloom will neither help us recover from the pandemic nor solve the challenges that remain.

For that, we need faith in humanity, in our ability to cooperate, and in the willingness and ability of our leaders to come together, in the spirit of multilateralism and address a communal problem as one.  

Secondly, I chose it because hope embodies the Maldivian experience on the global stage. As the only Maldivian to yet serve as President of the General Assembly, I want to draw upon that experience, and infuse it into the tone and tenor of our work.

I want to impress upon Member States that if the smallest of countries can make a difference on the world stage, then the concerted actions of the global community can achieve monumental feats.

You see, when the Maldives won independence in 1965 and applied for membership to the United Nations, many powerful members of the global community were skeptical.

Skeptical that a country as small as ours could stand on our own as a Member State. That skepticism was on full display when the Security Council debated our admittance that year.

Yet we remained hopeful that we would be given a chance. And fortunately, we were given that chance.

Today, the Maldives proudly stands alongside its peers within the UN membership, and is a leading voice on issues such as climate action and resolving the challenges faced by Small Island Developing States.

We weigh in on every matter of global importance, from human rights, to sustainable development, to vaccine equity, to gender equality.

Today, when I, a Maldivian, hold the gavel as the President of the General Assembly, I reflect on how far our tiny island nation has come.

I remain proud of how the Maldives continues to engage with the global community through a forward-looking foreign policy, capably led by our diplomatic corps and ambassadors – half of whom, I might add, are women.

My friends,

Despite our small size, the Maldives never doubted its own ability to make a difference. The Maldives has always approached global challenges with the attitude that we can overcome all of them, as long as the international community works together in the spirit of solidarity, collaboration and cooperation.

That is the same attitude I want to bring to the work of my office.

As President of the General Assembly, I have a year to make a difference.

During the 76th session, I have the privilege of presiding over the principal deliberative and representative organ of the United Nations: the General Assembly.

In that capacity I can shape and streamline the global agenda, convene high level events and meetings, and take the lead on strengthening global cooperation, including through meeting with states bilaterally or in groups, and mediating deadlocks.

By the end of the session, I will have organized approximately 15 high-level meetings, including the High-Level Week held in September, in which 82 Heads of State and Government participated in person.

Throughout this work, I am guided by five key priorities I have set for this session, my five rays of hope: 

  • Recovering from Covid-19, including by prioritizing universal vaccination.
  • Rebuilding sustainably, through promoting more resilience, more sustainable economies, and green technologies, a recovery anchored to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
  • Responding to the needs of the planet, by meeting our climate and environmental obligations.
  • Respecting the rights of all, including often marginalized voices, such as women, and youth.
  • and revitalizing the United Nations, by restoring trust in multilateralism.

I am aware that these are ambitious tasks, all of them easier said than done.

However, with the support of Member States, with faith in multilateralism, and with the conviction that we can achieve them, we will succeed.

And going forward, youth, such as yourselves, will play a critical role.

Currently there are 1.8 billion young people, the largest youth cohort in human history, eager to contribute and make a difference.

That is why in addition to my five rays, I have given a prominent role to youth participation in the General Assembly’s work, through including youth representatives in High Level meetings, and engaging with youth and civil society during my visits and events.

I am proud to say that on each of my visits abroad – from the Maldives to UAE, Serbia, and China, to COP26 in Glasgow, I have made it a priority to meet with young people and hear their concerns, to ensure that their messages and their demands color my speeches and my priorities.

And I am also proud that one of my signature initiatives for this session – one that I hope will be a lasting legacy – is the Fellowship on Harnessing Opportunities for Promoting Empowerment of Youth – or Fellowship for HOPE.

Through this Fellowship, young diplomats, and civil servants from underrepresented countries, particularly from the SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs will engage with the UN system, and take back with them the lessons and values of multilateralism to serve their home countries.

I am proud to note that we have already selected the first eight fellows, who will begin in January, and that five out of 8 are women.

They represent a diverse array of flags, including Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Grenada, Guinea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nauru, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

My friends,

It is the youth that will inherit the world we leave behind – and therefore it is only the youth that can carry our work forward. It will be up to them to solve global challenges, protect our planet, and pass on those responsibilities to succeeding generations.

That is why it is so crucial to not only instill youth with the values of multilateralism – but imbue them with the confidence that multilateralism still works. To remind them if today’s problems are global in scale and require global solutions, then that will be even truer tomorrow.

As I endeavor to succeed in my priorities for this session – I look forward to hearing from and consulting youth such as yourselves. And in the coming years, I look forward to your active participation in the important work of global multilateralism.    

I look forward to engaging with you, learning from you, and hearing from you.

And in turn, I hope that you find my answers to your questions to be satisfactory and insightful.   

Thank you.