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Statements by Khalilur Rahman, President of the UN General Assembly, at its 81st Session. teleSUR
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00:00Now, as per the order, the President of the Assembly will provide also a speech.
00:05Let's listen to his statements.
00:09Ladies and gentlemen, 40 years ago, I stood in this very hall as a newly minted member of the Cabinet
00:18of the 41st President of the General Assembly, Mr. Humayun Rashid Chaudhry.
00:24At that time, he said, and I quote, in recent years, there appears to have been a crisis of confidence
00:33in the United Nations itself.
00:35There is a general feeling that the United Nations today needs revitalizing in a number of aspects in order to
00:43bring it into line with the priorities of a changing world.
00:48That was 40 years ago.
00:51Questions about multilateralism and the effectiveness of the United Nations, therefore, are not new.
00:59They have been part of this place since the first stone was led.
01:03Yet, through it all, the United Nations has persevered, not because it is perfect, but because it is irreplaceable, and
01:12because the alternative is simply unfathomable.
01:15The world of 1945 was in peril.
01:20The Second World War, the colossal devastation wrought by it, and the Holocaust left humanity bankrupt morally and fiscally.
01:29Something had to change, and this place was that change.
01:33It uttered in a long era of diplomacy, which continues, member states coming together to work through their problems, because
01:42they knew that the alternative, guns blazing and bombs dropping, simply was not an option.
01:48Perhaps the clearest evidence of its achievements is here in this very hall.
01:56In 1945, 50 nations participated in the San Francisco Conference.
02:01Today, eight decades later, the organization has 193 member states.
02:07The UN has brought together humanity under one roof.
02:11This is unprecedented in human history.
02:15The core promise of this institution is Khaisa de Atk, was and remains to prevent the unimaginable, a third world
02:24war.
02:24The fact that we have avoided such calamity is among the greatest achievements this institution could ever deliver.
02:34But survival alone cannot be our sole measure of success.
02:39Outside these walls, people are not asking whether the United Nations still exists.
02:45They are asking whether it works.
02:47Yes, there have been wars and conflicts that we could not prevent, and issues we could not resolve.
02:54The Palestinian issue continues unresolved for decades, as the Secretary General just alluded to.
03:02Wars and conflict and their aftermath are ravaging Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, and the Middle East.
03:10But even as those wars raged, the United Nations stayed and served.
03:15I have seen it up close in my own country, Bangladesh, where the United Nations country team in Cox's Bazar
03:22is striving to do more with less to support Rohingya refugees in the camps who are yearning to return back
03:29to Myanmar.
03:30Just recently, a representative from a war-torn nation said to me,
03:36your peacekeepers from Bangladesh were not just blue helmets.
03:39They built roads and communities.
03:42They fed children.
03:44They helped rebuild societies and put us on the road to proper governance.
03:49In Iraq, the United Nations system helped nearly 5 million people return home.
03:54It rehabilitated hundreds of schools, electricity stations, and water treatment plants.
04:00And right now, in Haiti, the entire United Nations family is delivering amid immense security and governance challenges.
04:09These stories rarely make headlines.
04:12But we should never lose sight of what it is that is working.
04:17At the same time, let us not turn a blind eye to where we have fallen short, particularly in a
04:24world where challenges seem to multiply by the day.
04:27And newer challenges appear every day.
04:30The war in Gaza has left over 70,000 people dead, including thousands of children.
04:37Humanitarian support has been a fraction of what is needed.
04:40The ongoing wars across Middle East and Europe have consequences far beyond their front lines.
04:46And the heartbreaking natural disaster in Nepal and China was not just an isolated event, but yet another horrible climax
04:55to our collectively insufficient response to climate change.
05:00The circumstances and the politics of this crisis differ.
05:05But our commitment under the United Nations Charter do not.
05:09The principles of multilateralism, international law, international humanitarian law, the protection of civilians and humanitarian access cannot be applied selectively.
05:21Not if we want the world to trust us.
05:24It is precisely at such times that we must honestly confront our setbacks, however profound, not with blame, cynicism, or
05:34blind hope,
05:35but with action, sober reflection, clear-eyed realism, and pragmatism.
05:42This is how we charred these turbulent waters.
05:46And this is what we need to rebuild trust in this institution, the central focus of this session and my
05:52statement.
05:53So how do we build back trust?
05:56Trust is not given.
05:58It is earned.
05:59And we earn trust, I believe, in three ways.
06:02First, by being unapologetically realistic about where we are falling behind.
06:08Second, by taking a foundational look at the reforms of the United Nations to deliver better.
06:15And third, by making our work inclusive and engaging all relevant stakeholders from all parts of our society.
06:25Let me elaborate.
06:27On my first point, we must be frank about where the challenges lie and what needs to be fixed, even
06:34when the necessary changes may prove painful.
06:37Consider peace and security one of the pillars of the organization.
06:41Under the UN Charter, the Security Council bears primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
06:50Yet, when the Council is unable to act, member states turn to the General Assembly.
06:56We saw this as early as 1950 with Uniting for Peace Resolution, and we have seen it more recently through
07:03the Assembly's veto initiative.
07:05These two principal organs of our organization are complementary, not competing.
07:12The Charter provides for an appropriate balance between them.
07:15Both chambers must do their respective part.
07:19To be fair, the Security Council, when it acts, proves its strength and effectiveness.
07:25It helped liberate Kuwait, ended civil war in El Salvador, supported Namibia's independence, led rebuilding of Colombia, Cambodia, and stabilized
07:36conflict-affected countries through peacekeeping.
07:39Yet, when the Council is unable to act on important matters, the effectiveness of our organization as a whole is
07:47called into question.
07:48In 1945, humanity placed its trust in the Council in good faith, giving it the extraordinary responsibility of maintaining international
07:59peace and security.
08:00The Council accepted that responsibility and entered into a compact.
08:05It must now hold up its end of the bargain.
08:10This is what the people of the world expect.
08:12And in their eyes, when the Security Council works, the United Nations works.
08:17The promise of 1945 still binds us today.
08:22I call on the Security Council and all of its members to step up, to lead as we need it
08:27to lead, and to act when we need it to act.
08:32Linked to this is the question of Security Council reform.
08:35I will support General Assembly-led intergovernmental negotiations in its work to make the Council more representative, transparent, and reflective
08:45of the geopolitical realities of our time.
08:48Ensuring fair representation for underrepresented regions must remain a priority.
08:54As the Secretary General has said, nowhere is this more important right now than in Africa.
09:00After eight decades, the largest region by number of member states and a key focus of UN peacekeeping remains underrepresented
09:09on the Security Council.
09:11Africa needs to be at the table, not on the menu.
09:14Africa cannot be asked to wait indefinitely for the rightful place on the Council.
09:19Ending Africa's underrepresentation now is a question of fairness, justice, and ultimately the credibility of this organization.
09:30Turning to the development pillar, and particularly the sustainable development goals, we are right to focus on the challenges.
09:37Last year, OECD donors spent about $175 billion on development assistance, a whopping 23% drop year on year.
09:49And yet, military expenditures approached $3 trillion, capping 11 straight years of growth.
09:55All the while, progress on the SDGs stalled at just over a third of targets,
10:01and developing countries are now paying the price for supply chain disruptions they did not cause and cannot cure.
10:10The contrasts could not be more stark.
10:13We must better prioritize on how we spend our resources by augmenting development assistance,
10:21addressing debt burdens, reforming the international financial architecture,
10:25fulfilling our Sevilla and Paris commitments,
10:29and implementing the programs of actions for least developed countries,
10:34landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states,
10:37as well as African Union's Agenda 2063.
10:42Because where we have done so, the results are clear.
10:46Over the past decade, nearly 1 billion people have gained access to safely managed drinking water.
10:53Electricity now reaches 92% of world's population, very close to universality.
11:01And internet access has risen from 40% to 74%.
11:06Behind these numbers are healthier children, more resilient communities,
11:11greater opportunities for women and girls, and renewed hope.
11:14These gains show that accelerating the SDGs is possible when developing countries and the development partners
11:24work in concert, and this is indeed a shared responsibility.
11:29Developing countries must also intensify their own events through domestic resource mobilization
11:34and plug any leakage or corruption, including capital flight, a plague,
11:39that until recently undermined development in my own country under a repressive and authoritarian regime.
11:48Turning to human rights, we should acknowledge that these are central to the other two pillars.
11:55They can promote peace.
11:56There cannot be peace without rights, and advanced sustainable development.
12:02And we recognize one of the most urgent assaults on human dignity today,
12:08hate speech that incites violence.
12:11It is a growing threat to regional and global peace, and it is on the rise.
12:17Hateful narratives are spreading like wildfire across borders and into homes at unprecedented speed and scale.
12:25They target women and girls, minorities, migrants, refugees, and persons with disabilities, often for political gain.
12:35New and emerging technologies are used to amplify lies, manipulate public debate, spread hatred,
12:43and give incitement to violence faster and farther than ever before.
12:48We must choose dialogue and tolerance and foster a culture in which human rights are respected,
12:54not only in law, but in our daily interactions.
12:58And we must stop cherry-picking of those rights that fit our respective cultures or politics of the day.
13:05Whether it is Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny, it's all the same.
13:12Hatred, repackaged, and relabeled.
13:14Let us use the tools of our age, not to deepen fear, but to widen understanding and advance human dignity
13:21for everyone, everywhere.
13:25My second point, making the United Nations fit for the future, which requires a more foundational approach to reform.
13:32The UN-80 initiative is a constructive start.
13:38Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, for this.
13:40But it is only a start.
13:42Moving positions on a budget sheet may deliver savings.
13:46Marging or renaming bodies may reduce duplication.
13:49Streamlining structures may improve efficiency.
13:52These steps are important and often essential for good housekeeping.
13:57But they are not enough.
13:59We need to dig deeper to address the problems beneath the superstructure because the United Nations' reform challenges are chronic
14:07and fundamental.
14:10On 24 November 1949, barely four years after the founding of the United Nations,
14:16this assembly adopted Resolution 310, Roman IV, entitled Problem of Proliferation and Overlapping of Programs of the United Nations and
14:28of the Specialized Agencies.
14:30It urged member states, and I quote,
14:33to refrain from initiating new projects other than those which are urgently required and which can be effectively carried out.
14:40Yet, we have not paid sufficient attention to our own decision.
14:45We have since created thousands of mandates, of which 4,000 are still active,
14:51irrespective of whether they were required or could be effectively carried out.
14:55We cannot continue treating a chronic ailment with temporary painkillers
15:00when what we need is a deeper diagnosis and a more profound plan for transformation,
15:06even if that plan proves painful.
15:09And here I must be equally candid.
15:12This will happen only if member states take charge.
15:15Time and again, we say that United Nations reforms must be member-led,
15:21which looks like a tacit admission that they are not.
15:27Too often, we member states fail to take the wheel.
15:31Passive ownership is not enough.
15:33If we do not claim proactive ownership of this place, we cannot expect it to self-heal.
15:40So let us engage, let us take charge, fix our own house, respect sovereignty of member states,
15:46and together deliver the transformation we need.
15:50As we decide what must change, we must also recognize what already works.
15:56Again and again, member states tell us that the United Nations works well at the country level,
16:02emergency situations, and in keeping and building peace.
16:06We should build on that success.
16:08We should strengthen the United Nations' work in these areas
16:11and draw increasingly on local capacity,
16:15including qualified national institutions and individuals,
16:19including women and young people.
16:21We should ensure that all activities at the country level,
16:25from development, support, to peacekeeping,
16:28and are properly integrated and produce the highest synergy.
16:32We should ensure avoidance of turf battles among different parts of the UN
16:37and exercise care to select the leaders at the country level that are fit to lead.
16:43We want to have full value for money.
16:45Let us remember, the organization's financial viability remains a chronic concern.
16:57We must ensure that it receives sufficient resources on a sustained basis
17:03and that all countries paid their dues on time and without conditions.
17:09We should also recognize that dues to the United Nations
17:12come from hard-working places all around the world.
17:16Every penny must therefore be properly accounted for.
17:21Every penny must be invested to achieve impact on the ground for the people we serve.
17:27The role of the member states, supported by the secretariat,
17:30is essential to delivering our work, but not sufficient.
17:34This brings me to my third point,
17:36building a more open and inclusive United Nations.
17:40We know that the United Nations of today and the world it serves
17:45are profoundly different from those of 1945.
17:49Know where the pace of change is more evident today than in artificial intelligence.
17:56AI can be a powerful accelerator of human progress.
18:00Therefore, we must not close the door to innovation.
18:03At the same time, we must address AI's potential harms,
18:07including job losses and widening of the digital divide.
18:11We cannot also rule out the possibility that AI,
18:14particularly Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI,
18:18could affect the very human survival.
18:21That demands prudent and reliable guardrails based on scientific evidence
18:26to safeguard the global public interest while allowing innovation to go forward.
18:32Governments must remain at the heart of this endeavor,
18:35but governments do not have a monopoly on expertise, capital, technology, innovation, or influence.
18:41Much of that experience and capacity already lies with businesses, innovators, civil society, and others.
18:49We need to keep the doors of United Nations unlocked to those developing and using AI, not someday, now.
19:00And we are falling farther as we are falling farther behind each day.
19:05AI differs from earlier proliferation challenges in one critical respect.
19:09It is already embedded in nearly every facet of our lives,
19:14in our water systems, electricity grades, economies, and militaries.
19:18We cannot allow an arms race for control of AI to carry us over the precipice.
19:25There is clear precedent for the United Nations engagement with world-changing developments.
19:31We did so on nuclear non-proliferation through the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer,
19:37and with the United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning in 2005.
19:42We need experts, innovators, industry leaders, scientists, civil society, and academia,
19:49all working together with member states on these issues of our times.
19:56Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we have an opportunity in this session
20:00to show that we have learned from what works,
20:03that we are prepared to confront what does not,
20:06and that we can build a United Nations capable not simply of surviving change,
20:11but of shaping change.
20:13To seize that opportunity, we must be realistic enough to confront hard truths,
20:18bold enough to reform,
20:19and inclusive enough to bring the right people to the table.
20:23That is how, in my view, we will renew trust in our organization
20:27and make it fit for future.
20:29The task is not easy, nor can it be done overnight.
20:33Then, we must persist over the long haul.
20:3681 years ago, President Truman expressed the hope
20:39that the United Nations would endure for nine decades.
20:43Here we are at the beginning of the UN's ninth decade.
20:46Let us dedicate ourselves to the task of rebuilding trust and confidence
20:51in the United Nations so that it lives up to the incredible potential
20:56for many decades to come.
20:59I thank you.
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