Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
Mr. Dennis Francis,
at the symposium hosted by the University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiatives
[as delivered]
14 February 2023
Dr. Kensuke Fukushi, Director of the Institute for Future Initiatives,
Professor Kiichi Fujiwara, Founding Director of the Institute for Future Initiatives,
Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of the United Nations University,
Ms. Kaoru Nemoto, Director of the United Nations Information Center,
Students of the University of Tokyo and the United Nations University and Faculty,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by expressing my deep gratitude to Director Fukushi and to the Institute for Future Initiatives for the generous invitation to address you today.
It is a great honour and pleasure to engage with you on my maiden visit to Japan, here at the world-renowned University of Tokyo; an institution known for its academic excellence as indeed for its esteemed graduates – from Prime Ministers and Corporate Executives to Nobel Laureates, Astronauts, and Field Medalists.
In recognition of Japan’s contribution to global leadership and, in particular, its long-standing commitment to international cooperation, I have come to Tokyo, for engagements with senior members of the Japanese Government, – including the Honorable Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Fumio Kishida as well as Her Excellency Ms. Yoko Kamikawa, Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is my understanding that Foreign Minister herself is also a distinguished alumna of this prestigious institution.
While here, I have also had the good fortune to visit Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Nara, to learn more about Japanese history and culture, and to experience first-hand, the ravages and unspeakable pain it suffered as a consequence of war; nuclear war.
In all of my interactions thus far, I have been both impressed and moved by the abiding respect for history and cultural tradition, as well as by the vibrant optimism animating Japan’s drive towards a shared future of peace and prosperity, based on human security. Bearing that philosophical approach in mind, my visit would well-nigh be incomplete without an exchange with you – the scholars, researchers, and thought leaders who are making transformational contributions to shaping the world of tomorrow.
Today, I look forward to hearing your perspectives on the role the United Nations and in particular, the General Assembly should play in fostering peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all – the four key pillars on which my Presidency is anchored, which I also firmly believe are supreme objectives currently preoccupying the international community.
Amid the extraordinary challenges of today – from war and conflict and climate change to food insecurity, debt distress, and multidimensional poverty – our world is, at an historical inflection point. The age-old apparatus for global decision – making appears to be crumbling before our very eyes as geopolitical tensions anchored in an exceptional scale of adversarial competition impede consensus – building in key areas including, most notably, international peace and security.
To surmount these challenges and other dynamics of division, we will need a diversity of perspectives and collaborative creativity – fostering inclusive debates and reflections in platforms such as my visit here today.
Recent experience has shown us that there can be no doubt that peace is the bedrock, indeed the centre-piece, if you will, upon which everything else is built. Without it, all else falters – including sustainable development and human rights – and, as we have seen, may even reverse.
Regrettably, we are seeing a worrying deterioration of peace around the world, perhaps nowhere more visible in its daily consequences than in the Middle East, where the war in the Gaza Strip has shocked our collective sensibilities and has defied repeated diplomatic efforts to bring the scourge to a halt. Naturally, we give our full support to urgent mediation efforts currently underway in Egypt, among other things, to hammer out a ceasefire.
Amid this crisis and the continued war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as violence and conflict in several other theatres across the world, sharp divisions in the United Nations Security Council have widened, paralyzing its ability to act on certain critical issues.
While the impasse in the Council remains deeply concerning, I am nevertheless gratified to advise that the General Assembly has fully embraced its role as a universal forum by invoking its statutory responsibility to consider issues of grave concern to international peace and security. Allow me to emphasize here, however, that these powers are only residual.
In that regard, the General Assembly has been active, ambitious and decisive recently, meeting in emergency special sessions and adopting strong resolutions on both the war in Gaza and in Ukraine – with support from the vast majority of United Nations Member States.
However, some may dare to question the significance and what difference, if any, such resolutions make, given that lacking the force of law unlike those of the Security Council, they cannot compel compliance.
I dare say to the sceptics, who seek either to downplay or dismiss the authority of the General Assembly on the one hand and its influence on the other, that these resolutions carry extraordinary moral and political weight, both influencing and at the same time offering a barometer of international public opinion. No state seeks or is comfortable with political isolation, which undermines its prestige and therefore its power. Thus, while resolutions of the General Assembly are not mandatory, the very fact of their existence reflecting the will of a preponderant majority of Member States, make them difficult to ignore.
In the context of both the war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza, I continue to call for the full and unconditional implementation of relevant resolutions of the General Assembly.
The Assembly also adopted the Veto Initiative – a mechanism that seeks to improve transparency in the Security Council’s actions and to ensure accountability in its decision-making.
Under the terms of this initiative, I am mandated as the President of the General Assembly to convene the plenary within 10 days each time a veto is cast in the Security Council in order to enable the wider UN membership the opportunity to hear from the veto casters and to comment on what informed their actions.
To date, six such debates have been convened – on Ukraine, Mali, and the situation in Gaza.
As you might imagine, these shifting dynamics within the UN have fueled stronger, more resounding calls to reform the Security Council – and these are legitimate calls we must heed.
It is counter – intuitive that we should expect to resolve complex problems of today with tools designed for, and to serve the interests of the past.
Certainly, we need a reformed Security Council – that is fully capable of discharging its primary role under the UN Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security. This remains an absolutely crucial dimension of the system and decisive action by Member States is paramount in this regard.
Alongside others, Japan has not sat on the sidelines in these critical debates – but rightfully added the country’s strong voice of reason, advocating for change.
Having met with hibakusha earlier this week, I stand before you reminded dramatically of the dangers of inaction and procrastination, to rid this world of any and all threats to Peace.
I was deeply moved by the accounts and humbled by the courage and compassion – but this reaffirmed my already strong conviction that creating a world free from nuclear weapons must remain a top priority of our times, even if to achieve this through pragmatic incremental steps.
Naturally, this includes nuclear disarmament of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – a significant area of focus for the General Assembly and the broader international community, along with issues of human rights, including abductions.
I am confident that Japan will continue to play an active role in addressing these matters.
My esteemed Friends and Colleagues,
We stand little or no chance of building a brighter future for all – and when I say ’for all’, we mean for all, as you know the mantra is: leaving no one behind.
But we stand little chance of [inaudible] if we remain divided over ideologies and values.
I, therefore, commend the Institute for Future Initiatives for its focus on harnessing human ingenuity to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
And I share Prime Minister Kishida’s belief that, with renewed attention to human dignity and human-centered international cooperation, we can in fact, stimulate and deliver transformative change.
This is particularly the case regarding gender equality.
It is alarming and entirely unacceptable that 1.1 billion people live in multi-dimensional poverty today – an undesirable burden borne disproportionately by women.
I have therefore made gender equality and women’s empowerment a priority of my Presidency – and I am committed to continue working with Japan and with all members of the international community to encourage, facilitate, incentivize and achieve the full, fair and uninhibited integration of women in all spheres of decision -making and productive activity for the better advantage and enhanced stability of society.
Beyond gender, we must reignite progress across the entirety of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs.
There is no justification, whatever, why eight per cent of the global population – or 680 million people – should be still facing hunger by 2030.
The sad reality is that we are woefully missing our targets for success – from the environment and health to the rule of law and access to quality education in most parts of the world.
But I draw inspiration in the fact that the world leaders who gathered in New York last September took a major step forward at the 2023 SDG Summit, by adopting a political declaration calling for scaled up investments in the SDGs; urgent reform of international financial institutions; and continued efforts to move beyond GDP to a more inclusive metric of economic wealth and well-being.
Our duty now is to build decisively on this momentum.
To that end, I will convene an inaugural “Sustainability Week” from 15 to 19 April at UN Headquarters in New York – featuring events that will highlight sustainable transport, tourism, energy, infrastructure connectivity, and a signature event on debt sustainability.
These events will adopt a sector-by-sector approach to sustainable development, in some of the most economically important – and societally integral elements of how we live, produce, and consume on this planet.
The activities of this crucial Week will lend further impetus to action on the SDGs and moreover, help pave the path to the upcoming Summit of the Future in September.
Dear Colleagues,
I wish to commend Japan’s leadership in fostering a shared understanding of human security – based on the country’s own experience, of an approach that emphasizes the empowerment of all people, and in turn, advances the 2030 Agenda’s promise to leave no one behind.
With a view to facilitating the widest possible engagement of the membership, I intend to convene an informal plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 2nd April to provide a platform for reflections on the Secretary-General’s recently issued report on human security – the first such report published in 10 years.
I trust that the reflections among Member States will bring us closer to realizing our promise of achieving inclusivity within the framework of a people-centered approach to sustainable development – as well as accomplishing our key mission, as the UN, that is, to re-ignite solidarity towards a shared future.
Our challenge now boils down to “how”.
How do we cooperate more effectively to deliver on our 2030 aspirations?
How do we renew trust and unite our family of nations?
Some of the tools within our multilateral toolbox simply must be refined.
To this end, we have set our sights on the Summit of the Future, where leaders are expected to forge a new global consensus on how to deliver more effectively for both people and planet.
The intergovernmental negotiations on the anticipated outcome – the so-called Pact for the Future – are well on the way and will soon be followed by parallel negotiations on the texts of the Declaration on Future Generations and the Global Digital Compact.
Taken cumulatively, these instruments will constitute a pact between the present and future generations.
For obvious practical reasons, the afore-mentioned processes and their outcomes require maximum possible engagement by young people like yourselves – who will carry on the work towards a brighter tomorrow.
I have made it a priority of my Presidency to engage regularly with young people – to hear their views on how we can craft policies that meet the needs and expectations of the future as they see it.
Just last week, my office received for training six Fellows – young diplomats from six developing countries, who will contribute to the substantive work of the General Assembly and gain an in-depth understanding of the UN system as well as the compelling issues and challenges being addressed.
Dear colleagues,
Let me close by recalling that, in my first days as President of the General Assembly, I was humbled to participate in the annual Peace Bell Ceremony at United Nations Headquarters – a treasured and time-honoured tradition championed by Japan to commemorate the International Day of Peace.
As you may know, the Bell was presented as a gift from Japan to the United Nations in 1954.
It was cast from coins donated by delegates from 60 nations – crafted in the spirit of bridging differences in ideas, principles, faiths, and nationalities to serve the universal and compelling ambition for peace.
I was both honoured and humbled to ring the Bell in the name of “Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the Global Goals” – a reminder of what we can do when we set our minds and unleash our enormous collective strengths and talents to work together in common cause, as the United Nations.
I thank Japan deeply for its noble contributions to human advancement through the decades and its inspiring efforts to build a world that is safer, more equal, and prosperous for all.
The symbolism of the Peace Bell is one we must lean on – in our heightened yearning for peace around the world. We must also bear in mind that peace is a decision; an individual decision. And we must nurture and cultivate Peace, so that it blossoms in our hearts and thrives in our civilization.
I thank you, once again, for the kind invitation to engage with you today; and I look forward to your invaluable ideas and insights.
ありがとう
Arigatō.
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