acceptance speech of president of the un general assembly

8/12/2019 Acceptance Speech of President of the UN General Assembly

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UGANDA_ _ _ w . . . .Permanent Mission of Uganda Tel : (212) 949 - 0110To the United Nations

New York Fax : (212) 687 - 4517

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

BYHON. SAM K. KUTESAMINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLICOF UGANDA

ON THE OCCASION OF HIS ELECTIONAS PRESIDENT OF THE SIXTY-NINTH SESSION OF

THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLYNew York9June 11, 2014 Please check against delivery


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Mro PresidentSecretary-GeneralExceUenciesLadies and Gentlemen9Almost seventy years ago, this organization, the UnitedNations, was founded, inter alia: to save succeedinggenerations from the scourge of war; to reaffirm faith infundamental human rights; and to promote social progressand better standards of life in larger freedom. ThisOrganization has since remained central to global efforts tofind solutions to problems which challenge humanity,through the common endeavor of all states.

52 years ago, Uganda joined the United Nations family. Weare an active and fully committed Member to theorganization, moreso to the work of the General Assembly.

I am therefore honored, and truly grateful to you all, forunanimously electing me as President of the sixty-ninthsession of this august Assembly. This is not only a sign ofyour collective trust and confidence in me, personally, butalso recognition of the contribution made by my country,UgandaI would like to thank, in a special way, my region, Africa,for endorsing my candidature and for the unwaveringsupport I have received.

Mr. President, I thank you for your leadership and settingthe stage' during the current session A number ofintergovernmental processes are on-going, and will feedinto negotiations on the Post-2015 development agenda.


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I also appreciate your willingness to facilitate transitionand continuity in the Office of the PGAoMr. Secretary-General, I thank and commend you for yourpersonal commitment, dedication and tireless efforts inadvancing the agenda of the United Nations. I look forwardto working with you all on our organization's priorities.Mr. President,As we gather here today, our world continues to beconfronted with different challenges of global reach andimpact. They include poverty and hunger; underdevelopededucation and health services; unemployment; poor andinadequate infrastructure in many developing countries;insufficient and expensive energy; climate change andrising sea-levels; armed conflicts; and emerging threats topeace and security, such as transnational organized crime,terrorism, piracy and human trafficking.Collectively, we must continue to take concerted action toaddress these challenges. This is what has made theUnited Nations a strong, unique and indispensableorganization.Fourteen years ago, world leaders adopted the MillenniumDeclaration, committing to achieve eight MillenniumDevelopment Goals by 2015, with a focus on socio-economic development issues like poverty, health andeducation. While significant progress has been made insome areas, it has been uneven across goals, countries andregions.

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As we work on a post-2015 development agenda, we mustensure that the Sustainable Development Goals beingformulated build on the foundation laid by the MDGs. It isalso essential that we develop an agenda that istransformative, with eradication of poverty and hunger,and promotion of sustained and inclusive economic growthas its overarching objectives. The agenda should beholistic, action-oriented, and universally applicable, whilepaying due attention to the different regional and nationalrealties as well as levels of development.

As part of the Post-2015 development agenda, we shallhave to address the means of implementation, in terms offinancial resources, technology development, transfer andcapacity-building. This will require a strengthened globalpartnership, one that will foster partnerships between andamong governments; provide for an increased role of theprivate sector; ensure a fair international trading regime;and foster national and foreign direct investments.Our ultimate objective should be to formulate atransformative agenda that supports global solutions,guides national development efforts, and empowers peopleto improve their livelihoods and determine their ownfuture.

Climate change, which continues largely unabated, is oneof the defining global challenges of our time. Its adverseeffects are evident in persistent extreme weatherconditions, floods, extended droughts and rising sea-levels.No doubt, these effects threaten humanity's very existence.Small Island States, in particular, are becomingincreasingly vulnerable.

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To preserve Planet Earth for ourselves and succeedinggenerations, we have an obligation to combat climatechange, through, inter alia, mitigation and adaptationmeasures. Climate change financing and technologytransfer will be particularly central to this cause.It is therefore important that during the 69th Session, weprovide appropriate impetus and momentum to the on-going process under the UN Framework Convention onClimate Change {UNFCCC), to reach a global agreement onclimate change in 2015.Mr, PresidentThe coming year will be of historic significance, as it willmark the seventieth anniversary of the United Nations.Today, the world is vastly different from what it was in1945. While the principles of the organization remain solid,the changing world necessitates that, we adjust to the newand changing realities. Central to this, is the continuousrevitalization of the General Assembly; and reform of theSecurity Council and other relevant UN bodies. TheIntergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) process on SecurityCouncil reform has not yet made the desired progress. I willbe working with all of you, Member States, to make furtherprogress on this important issue.

At operational level, experience has shown that fosteringcooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regionalorganizations, positively contributes to development, andmaintenance of peace and security.


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We have seen many successes in different parts of theworld, especially Africa, where the UN and differentregional organizations, have utilized their unique andcomplementary capacities to resolve conflicts. I amconvinced that this cooperation has yet to reach its fullpotential and should be substantially strengthened. I alsobelieve that we should strengthen cooperation andcoordination among regional organisations themselves toaddress common challenges.

We need to exert greater efforts and initiatives towardspeaceful settlement of disputes, as envisaged in Article 33of the UN Charter. Conflict prevention is a cheaper andmore sustainable option. In post-conflict situations, weneed to step up peacebuilding efforts, and supportcountries to build effective national institutions. This isessential in avoiding a relapse, and enabling thosecountries to move towards sustainable peace,reconstruction, economic recovery, and development.

We should also strengthen our collective resolve to counterthe forces that fuel polarization and extremism. Manytimes, this tension has manifested itself in violent terroristattacks, serving as a constant reminder of the threat ofextremist ideology.The United Nations Alliance of Civilization is an importantinitiative, aimed at improving tolerance, understanding andcooperative relations among nations and peoples acrosscultures and religions. I will support further enhancementof the Alliance's role in this regard.


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Mr, President,I will focus on further advancing gender equality andempowerment of women in the 69th Session in which wewill mark the 20th anniversary of the ground-breakingBeijing meeting, which provided a framework and roadmapfor achieving gender equality and women's rights.Since 1995, the UN and the international community havemade significant progress in advancing gender equality,but there still remains a lot of work to be done. Thisreminds me of the experience of Nabanja, a married womanand mother of four children in Kashongi village, in myparliamentary constituency who acquired land with herhusband in 2010. Two weeks ago, Nabanja told me that herhusband had sold the land without her knowledge, leavingher and her children with no home and means of survival.There are several such examples which put in sharp focusthe need to seize this historic opportunity to galvanizeaction and to mobilize all actors for accelerated andeffective advancement of gender equality and empowermentof women, under the leadership of UN Women.I will be sharing with you, in due course, my proposals onhow to effectively move all the above priorities forward, withyour support.

Mr, President,I am proposing the theme for the 69th session to be:Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015

Development Agenda.


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The theme builds on the important work and progressbeing made in the current Session. It underscores theneed to focus, not only on delivering or agreeing the post-2015 development agenda, but also, and most importantly,on ensuring its effective implementation.I am motivated by putting people at the center of everythingwe do. I am motivated by the need for socio-economictransformation. I look forward to working with you all todevelop an agenda that will eradicate poverty and hunger,create sustained and inclusive growth, employment andbetter livelihoods for all.In this endeavour, we can all draw inspiration from thewords of former President Nelson Mandela, who, in hisspeech at the Make Poverty History campaign in Londonin 2005 said, and I quote:

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is anact of justice. It is the protection of a fundamentalhuman right, the right to dignity and a decent life. Whilepoverty persists, there is no true freedom . End quote.

We truly have a once in a generation opportunity to buildthe Future We Want. Fifty-one years ago, in 1963,President John F Kennedy in his address to the GeneralAssembly said, and I quote:

Never before has man had such capacity to control hisown environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquerpoverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massivehuman misery. We have the power to make this the bestgeneration of mankind in the history of the world - or tomake it the last. End quote.


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If this applied to his generation 51 years ago, it is evenmore applicable to today's generation, The scale and reachof most of the challenges we face, coupled with the limitedcapacity of many of those worst affected, requires that weaddress them collectively, The United Nations exists to findsolutions through our combined efforts,I will endeavor to guide the work of the Assembly in aneffective manner, My pledge to you all is my firmcommitment to be accessible, transparent, fair andbalanced, and I count on your support and cooperation,

I thank you for your kind attention.

acceptance speech of president of the un general assembly

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