14 December 2022
Secretary-General,
Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,
I thank Minister Jaishankar and the Indian Mission for organizing this critically important debate.
I also commend India – and the four other outgoing Security Council members, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway – for your important contributions to international peace and security over the past two years.
Mr. President,
We are at a watershed moment for multilateralism. At a historic crossroad.
The international rules, norms, instruments and institutions that have guided interstate relations for over 75 years are facing deep, some would say, existential, questions of relevance – at a time when the world needs them most.
But as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, grappling simultaneously with the climate crisis and protracted debt, food and energy emergencies, one thing is clear: these global challenges are far too great for any one nation to handle alone.
Our best hope, our only hope, is always to find a multilateral solution, designed in line with the United Nations Charter and international law.
Let us recall that the actions you take here in the UN, impact the 8 billion people out there.
You are to improve the lives of the people who count on you. And you are to do so at a time of profound global change and polarization.
But, excellencies, just as your actions have profound effects across the globe, so too, does your inaction.
Inaction in the General Assembly, or, more frequently, in the Security Council.
Too often, sharp geopolitical divides have prevented responses and progress in the Council.
The question I have for this Council is simple: will these rifts continue to upstage your collective ability to maintain international peace and security?
A reminder of our mission hangs above you daily – will you choose Per Krohg’s phoenix rising from the ashes of war, or the pain and destruction depicted in Picasso’s Guernica just beyond these doors?
Mr. President,
Multilateralism can work. But it must work better.
The 193 Member States of the General Assembly have placed their trust in the 15 of you. As members of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.
They elected the majority of you. And trusted the rest of you though the Charter.
They expect each of you to act for the good of all. To uphold the UN Charter. You have done so, on countless occasions. In doing so, you have saved countless lives.
Just last week, you decided to establish a humanitarian exemption across UN sanctions regimes. This will have a direct impact on so many people living under dire conditions.
Yet, there are examples of failed collective actions, as well.
And let me mention just one of those.
As we approach 10 months of the war in Ukraine, not a single Council resolution has been adopted to mitigate the exact type of crisis the UN was created to prevent.
Excellencies,
For the UN to reinforce its relevance, its raison d’être, for it to survive, it must deliver solutions for its end-users. For all of the eight billion of them.
The people we serve do not neatly organize their lives into boxes labelled “human rights”, “development” and “peace”.
It is our responsibility, individually and collectively, to respond to that complexity.
It only makes sense that we collaborate across bodies, organs and processes – and build on efforts already underway.
The so-called veto initiative has opened an important door for a new form of collaboration and accountability.
The Assembly has been obliged to step up when decisions by this Council are blocked.
Following the mandate given by Member States, I will always convene a formal debate on the use of the veto in the 77th session of the General Assembly.
This will allow Member States to reflect on the initiative, and how to bring our two organs working closer together, discharging their function, in support of both peace and prosperity.
Outside this Chamber, Member States are participating in 15 negotiating processes on a range of issues, from counterterrorism, to health, sustainable development, and digital governance.
Several of the co-facilitators sit around this table today.
One of those processes is the Intergovernmental Negotiation on Security Council reform, with the participation of all 193 Member States. It has been a mandated duty for the General Assembly for many years, but the outcome is still less than what was expected.
During the high-level week in September, more than one-third of world leaders highlighted the need for Security Council reform.
I fully support today’s focus on “tangible steps that Member States can take”.
I ask each of you, as members of the General Assembly, to take up this challenge, to move from a position of “no” or “later” – to a position of “yes” and “now”.
Excellencies,
As we embark on our discussion, I urge you to think about those who rely on you – and your ability to agree – to ensure their safety and wellbeing:
To guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid that will save their lives.
To support inclusive peace processes, with full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and marginalized groups, that will end the fighting and suffering in their communities.
To support the demobilization of former combatants and child soldiers that will reunite their families.
And to ensure protection from conflict-related sexual violence that no one should ever have to endure.
“There is nothing more […] uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things,” – as the adage goes.
For us today, I would add: there is nothing more necessary.
Deadlock translates to a dead end for the millions of children, women, men and families who are all suffering the consequences.
They are putting their trust in us to step beyond power dynamics.
I am imploring you to respond by prioritizing dialogue and diplomacy.
To trade your political differences for genuine political will to find solutions.
To go beyond the calculations of distrust and old rivalries.
To focus on what unites all of us.
Together with my office, I stand ready to support Member States in that in any way possible.
Thank you, Mr. President.
