Statements

6 December 2022   Excellencies, distinguished delegates, Today’s meeting on strengthening the coordination of the United Nations humanitarian and disaster relief assistance could not come at a more fitting moment. Our world today is in a permanent state of...

5 December 2022   Thank you very much, Olof. Many thanks to you and all the friends gathered here today. Olof said a lot already about Diwali. We are in the mood already.   Let me just reinforce that Diwali marks the victory of good over evil, light over darkness,...

2 December 2022   Thank you much, dear USG Fleming. Good morning, dear friends in Turtle Bay. Good afternoon in Europe and Africa. Good evening in Asia. And good late evening in Australia. I’m very grateful for you for being here, for being with us. “Governments do...

1 December 2022 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to encourage...

1 December 2022 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, As I look out into the General Assembly today, there are relative many of us here. But not nearly the number of spectators who would be attending a major sports event. Today the World Cup is underway,...

17 November 2022 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: Forty-three years have passed since the question of Security Council reform first appeared in the General Assembly agenda. It has been 17 years since world leaders expressed their support for the so-called “early...

15 November 2022 Ladies and Gentlemen, This world needs concrete examples of boosting transformation. This Coalition is a powerful catalyst for action on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants. Your partnership is aiming to reduce air pollution and, by that, global warming,...

14 November 2022 Thank you. I want to start by congratulating the Egyptian Presidency by having the first day focusing on water. Water is an integral part of the climate agenda. In order to make sure the money is invested in much, much more efficient ways, for that we...

10 November 2022 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Afghanistan is in crisis. It is in many crises. It has been 15 months since the Taliban consolidated control over the country. Its economy is in ruins. The humanitarian situation is disastrous.  Two-thirds of the...

9 November 2022   Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, While we consider the report of the IAEA for 2021, we must acknowledge that last year international events had a substantial impact on the work of the Agency. This year, grave developments have been...

7 November 2022 Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, We are facing multifaceted, complex and interlinking crises. The General Assembly, as the central stage and a main vehicle for multilateral diplomacy, must respond. Crisis management and transformation are...

2 November 2022   Dear Mitch, Dear Excellencies, Dear colleagues, Friends None of us can deny that our planet faces risks never seen since the end of the Ice Age. Since human culture has been registered, we have not been in such a difficult situation of...

2 November 2022   Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues, I welcome you to the First Meeting of the Advisory Board on Gender Equality. I am honoured to follow in my predecessors’ footsteps in re-establishing this Advisory Board. For joining this Board, I...

1 November 2022   Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” These words from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights speak to the centrality of human rights as one of the three UN...

31 October 2022   “The hope of impunity is the greatest inducement to do wrong.” Ladies and Gentlemen, it was said by the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero 21 centuries ago. Apparently, the exemption of certain people from justice has been a problem for quite...

27 October 2022   President Donoghue, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, More than two hundred years ago, George Washington gave the following advice: “Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.” The International...

26 October 2022 Excellencies, Dear Water Friends, How rewarding it can be to cooperate on water! This impression is still fresh with all of us from the last two days. Yesterday, we agreed – you agreed – on the interactive dialogues of the 2023 UN Water Conference. We...

26 October 2022 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Many, many thanks for the opportunity to learn from you, which I always enjoy during these “Friends of…” groups. The most inspiring conversations usually take place in these setups. We are all very proud of our...

26 October 2022   Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, Excellencies, Dear Friends, Thank you for the opportunity to be with you, and to learning from you. The Agenda 2030 was and is a vision of transformation. This vision and this agenda needs peace. It has...

24 October 2022 Ladies and Gentlemen, You all are well aware of the different challenges we are facing to discuss the water pollution, failing flood protection system. We can easily state that we are in a watershed moment. Based on the scientific evidence it is...

24 October 2022 It is a great honor to greet you as the President of the General Assembly on the occasion of UN Day. I became the head of the General Assembly in New York during a difficult period. In recent years, we have experienced multiplying global crises, the...

17 October 2022 Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, Robert McNamara the then president of the World Bank said in 1968: “Within ten years, we can eliminate poverty from the world.” He was deeply convinced about it. I was 10 years...

17 October 2022 Excellencies, Dear Colleagues, As it is often pointed out, history is a vast early warning system. In a sense, it is true. Yet, we very rarely take history’s advice. We have learned that, when it comes to disasters, early warning saves lives. Yet half...

14 October 2022 Thank you for this opportunity to share some thoughts. We are at the verge on an unfolding water crisis. In fact, it has already started. The media used to bring epic pictures on disasters, on floods first and foremost, because those footages are the...

13 October 2022 Ambassador Afonso, Chair of the Sixth Committee, Distinguished Delegates, Let me offer to your attention a quote from Dame Hilary Mantel, the British author who died just three weeks ago: “When you are writing laws you are testing words to find their...