I send my warmest wishes to this first virtual Women’s Forum meeting, on shaping an inclusive response and recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From job losses to rising rates of domestic violence and a sharp increase in unpaid care work, the impact of COVID-19 has been devastating for women’s rights and gender equality.

Women are leading the response, keeping families, communities and economies running. Women leaders are winning praise for their decisiveness, competence and compassion.

It is a pleasure to greet the World Forum for Democracy at this critical juncture in world affairs. 

I welcome your focus on the perils facing the environment.  Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, we face a triple planetary emergency: a climate crisis, a nature crisis and a pollution crisis.  These are causing profound suffering – lost lives, lost jobs, rising hunger, declining health and widening damage from disasters.

Yet we have solutions.  We know what we need to do to reconcile humankind and nature. 

Je suis heureux de participer au Forum de Normandie pour la paix, dans une période aussi capitale pour la communauté internationale. 

La pandémie du COVID-19 a détruit de nombreuses vies et ébranlé les économies.  

Elle exacerbe et aggrave les inégalités et met à nu les fragilités du monde. 

Elle illustre également l’interdépendance des défis sanitaires, sociaux, économiques et environnementaux.