Europe

03 April 2018, Geneva

Remarks to the Pledging Conference on Yemen

Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen, 

Thank you all for being here today to show your solidarity with the women, men, girls and boys of Yemen. 

And I want to thank my co-chairs, the Governments of Sweden and Switzerland, for hosting this conference for the second year and for their continued humanitarian commitment. 

Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.   

03 April 2018, Geneva

Opening remarks at press encounter on the Pledging Conference on Yemen

Ladies and gentlemen from the media, thank you very much for your presence.  It is my pleasure to announce that this Pledging Conference represents a remarkable success of international solidarity to the people of Yemen.  The pledges announced represent more than $ 2 billion and if you compare with last year’s Pledging Conference, we reached $ 1.1 billion.  So practically, we have doubled the international commitment to Yemen from 2017 to 2018. 

15 March 2018, Rome

Remarks at Ministerial Meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon

Thank you for coming together in support of the people and institutions of Lebanon.
 
Allow me to begin by recalling my close ties with Lebanon and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of this International Support Group.
 
The need for such a partnership emerged during my years as High Commissioner for Refugees.
 
As the dramatic impacts of the Syrian conflict spread well beyond its borders, I saw first-hand the outstanding hospitality the Lebanese people extended to Syrians fleeing violence and destruction.
 

15 March 2018, Rome

Remarks at UNRWA press conference

I want to express, first of all, my very deep gratitude to the governments of Egypt, Sweden and Jordan for the extraordinary leadership that they’ve shown in mobilizing the whole of the international community in support of UNRWA’s actions, in support of Palestinian refugees. 

I do not recall many conferences in my long career where such unanimous support was given to one institution that provides remarkable services to Palestine refugees - services that need to be maintained at all costs. 

15 March 2018, Rome

Remarks at UNRWA donors conference

Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) addresses the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference Preserving Dignity and Sharing Responsibility: Mobilizing Collective Action for UNRWA. FAO/Pier Paolo Cito

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I thank Egypt, Jordan and Sweden for co-chairing this gathering.
 
I also welcome the high-level presence of the League of Arab States, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and the European Union.
 
I would like to start by recalling a memorable encounter I had last year with students at an UNRWA school in Gaza.
 

26 February 2018, Geneva

Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament

Madame President, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour to be here. I thank you for your work and particularly for the serious efforts you have made, including this year, to find ways to break the long-standing stalemate in this Conference. 

I welcome the decision you took ten days ago to take forward your substantive work. The most difficult part now lies ahead, as you work to translate [this] into the resumption of negotiations. 

26 February 2018, Geneva

Remarks to Human Rights Council

Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the High-Level Segment of the 37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Excellencies, 

As this is the first time I have the opportunity to address a UN body after the Security Council resolution of last Saturday on Syria, allow me please to say a few words in that regard.  

As you know I welcome the Security Council’s adoption of a resolution demanding a cessation of hostilities throughout Syria for at least 30 days.  

But Security Council resolutions are only meaningful if they are effectively implemented.  

16 February 2018, Munich

Address at the Opening Ceremony of the Munich Security Conference

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an enormous pleasure for me to be back since last year’s session. 

And if I remember well, last year, on discussing the global threats we are facing, I concentrated on, in the absence of power clear relations, on the multiplication of new conflicts and at the same time the fact old conflicts seem never to die, be it in Afghanistan, Somalia, or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

21 December 2017, The Hague

Opening remarks at press conference with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands

Thank you very much. I want to pay tribute to the Netherlands as an extremely reliable partner of the United Nations. The Netherlands is today a very important pillar of multilateralism in a moment in which multilateralism is put into question in different situations. The Netherlands have been leading in key aspects of the interests of not only the UN but the international community as a whole - in relation to climate change, in relation to development cooperation in humanitarian aid, in relation to peace and security, in relation to human rights.

21 December 2017, The Hague

Remarks at Closing Ceremony for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Your Majesty [King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands],
Mr President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
It is an honour to be here today to commemorate the closing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
And I wish to express my gratitude to His Majesty and the Government of The Netherlands for hosting us in this beautiful and historic Hall of Knights.