General Assembly: 116th plenary meeting, 80th session

Good morning. The 116th plenary meeting of the General Assembly is called to order. I give the floor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Antonio Guterres.

Madam President of the General Assembly, Mr. President-elect, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for joining us. Today we close the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. This Assembly took place at a moment of profound challenge for humanity. We have seen the destruction, death, and displacement of multiplying conflicts, the inequalities, injustices, hunger, and poverty that result from a system that is stacked against those who are most vulnerable, another year of record-breaking heat as our climate shoots past the 1.5 degree limit, the possibilities and perils of world-changing technologies like artificial intelligence, and the wide financing gap that impedes progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. And the United Nations was created precisely for moments like these. And by yielding the timeless tools of diplomacy, debate, and dialogue, this 80th General Assembly came together to develop solutions. For our extraordinary efforts across this work, I want to acknowledge the leadership of the outgoing president of this 80th session, Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock. Throughout her presidency, she has been a formidable champion of our founding document, the UN Charter, and the three pillars of our organization: peace and security, human rights, and development. Against the backdrop of the milestone 80th anniversary of this organization, she took every opportunity to remind Member States that they cannot cherry-pick which aspects of the Charter they want to follow. All Member States have an obligation to ensure that the force of law prevails over the law of force, that peaceful means are the only way to settle disputes, and that all States, large and small, act in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, always, without exception. Throughout your tenure, Madam President, you reminded us that we can work better together. And I thank you for your work to rebuild trust in the multilateral system through the implementation of important actions contained in the Pact for the Future. For your commitment to reform through the UN80 Initiative process, in particular, Workstream 2 around mandates. For organizing the selection process for the next Secretary-General, strengthening transparency and inclusivity throughout. and for being a powerful and consistent voice for women's rights globally. Your leadership has helped advance a more effective, responsive, and accountable United Nations. And I look forward to collaborate with your successor, President-elect Khalibu Rahman, as we continue building solutions through solidarity. Excellencies,

81 years After the organization's creation, our founding principles are more essential than ever. In these troubled times, all countries must present a common front, work hand in hand, and find solutions together. As we close this session, and prepare to open the following one, let us remain true to the spirit of collaboration and the shared ideal that have guided this organization from the very beginning. And let us never doubt what we can achieve when we stand united. I thank you.

I thank the Secretary General. I will now make a statement as a President of the General Assembly. Excellencies, Mr. President-elect of the 81st session of the General Assembly, Mr. Secretary-General, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. Today, I stand before you for the last time as President of the General Assembly of this 80th session. And I leave this office with mixed emotions, moved by the determination of so many inspiring colleagues, proud of the work that we accomplished, and convinced more than ever of the importance and necessity of our United Nations. And to those out there who argue that the UN is irrelevant or failing, especially in these new geopolitical realities, I would simply say, consider just for one minute the alternative, a world without the United Nations. Consider the millions of children who would not be in school without UNICEF. Consider the women who only dare to walk out of their homes without fear of being raped because UN peacekeepers are deployed. Consider the thousands of families around the world receiving humanitarian assistance, including right now in Nepal and China. Make no mistake, in spite of its shortcomings, Not a single day, not a single country would be better off without the United Nations. Our challenge, though, is that in a world where hate gets six times more clicks, these positive examples can easily go unnoticed. The war that did not happen, thanks to UN peacebuilding, does not make headlines. The famine avoided because of the World Food Program will never make the news. And for sure, there are some out there who are currently trying everything they can to weaponize these not-told good stories, to question whole peacekeeping or the work of the UN agencies themselves. Others try to take advantage of these geopolitically fragmented times to try and block the whole 80th session. to grind our work to a halt. And, dear Excellencies, dear friends and colleagues, thank you that we took a clear decision together at the beginning of this 80th session, when standing at that crossroads, to not allow these cynics the lack of consensus and the rise of a world in which might makes right, to paralyze this, our organization. But instead, to redefine our daily work, to leave the comfort zone of business as usual, defining new forms of leadership, a renewed commitment to the UN Charter and a true willingness to confront long overdue questions of UN reform as a key priority of this session. First and foremost, this meant addressing the elephant in the room, the issue of consensus, and whether we would allow the de facto introduction of a veto into the General Assembly. The vast majority of Member States, you, gave a clear answer after some hard but healthy lessons in late fall to not allow compromise to become compromising. Through our many processes and Better Together dialogues, we underlined that seeking consensus should always remain our ambition. But at the same time, the Assembly left no doubt that this should not and never come at the expense of progress, nor of sacrificing the UN values and principles. Indeed, in the 80th session, only a few intergovernmental processes ended by consensus. But this did not mean that the GA was as polarized or fragmented as many had predicted. Quite the opposite. Many votes, with less than a handful or even only one against, underline that the power games of our times and the direct attacks on this dear institution have, in many ways, brought the vast majority of this General Assembly closer together throughout the 80th session, making the GA more united and even stronger than before. Over the course of the last year, we convened 18 high-level meetings, 26 mandated intergovernmental processes, held 116 formal plenary meetings, and adopted 317 resolutions. And we opened a whole new chapter for the UN in defining the global topic of our time, the governance of artificial intelligence. And that did not happen by coincidence. It required initiative, ownership and leadership, your leadership, especially of those who spearheaded draft resolutions and carried forward the daily work of these organizations as chairs of committees, as co-facilitators, as vice presidents And I would also like to seize this opportunity to thank my great OPGA team, which included many of you, seconded diplomats, and our PGA fellows, as well as all those behind the scenes from DGACM, translators, security, and cleaning personnel, elevator operators, among so many more. It took all of us every single one in this house, leaning into the spirit of better together to make the successes of the 80th session possible, besides what's happening around the world. But as the Secretary General underlined, this 80th session also made it clear that without deep reform, this organization will not last. In this regard, I wish to commend you, dear Secretary General, for having the courage to put forward concrete proposals through the UNAD initiative, already in the 79th session, together with my predecessor, Philemon Young. Thank you for a powerful and especially trustful partnership, Mr. Secretary-General. It has been a pleasure to work with you and your whole team across all three reform workstreams and to uphold the UN principles. Over your 10 years, you have defended the House of Diplomacy and its charter every single day with your steadfast personal commitment. And I know some wondered why, instead of having our own new priority events, we as the OPGA made UNAD our first and especially our joint project and priority. And the answer is simple, even if frankly speaking, painful. Because if we are not capable of freeing this organization from overlapping structures and mandates, as well as a heavy bureaucratic mentality, it will erode over time. Therefore, whether it was implementing limits on speaking times, reducing the number of high-level meetings during the high-level week, the landmark decision under work stream two to reduce mandates thanks to the amazing work of the co-chairs or even deciding on the first merger of UN system staff college and unita during the last days of this 80th session actually last week we did it together taken individually these measures can sound technical budget mandates dashboard structures and configurations but as a whole They underscore a willingness to let go of what no longer serves us and to make the difficult changes necessary to better serve the people who depend upon us. But while the way we work must evolve, the principles that guide us must not. Even more, Reform is all about protecting the principles through better, more effective delivery, especially at a time like this, when this organization and the very idea of multilateralism it represents has come under direct attack. As the United Nations and its charter can only be as strong as those willing to stand up for it. Which brings me to our second priority of this 80th session, defending the Charter. As we have seen throughout this session, not only in Ukraine or Gaza, but in Sudan, Myanmar, and elsewhere, wherever the UN Charter or international humanitarian law are violated, civilians pay the price. And if borders can be changed by force, If sovereignty can be set aside when inconvenient or upheld only when politics allows, then no member state can sleep peacefully anymore. In this regard, I want to recognize the strength of the General Assembly in stepping up when the Security Council was unable to act, convening two veto debates in relation to war in the Middle East and Gaza, a high-level meeting right at the beginning of this session, and continuing its emergency special sessions on the war against Ukraine. As well as for defending the history of the Charter and the fact that all its three principles are interconnected, that peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights are inseparable. Throughout the 80th session, the vast majority of member states made clear that there won't be lasting peace without development, and that if women are not safe, no one is safe. So in the next session, some might argue again that human rights or women's rights are something woke or new. Just flip through the black and white historic material and footage. as we did when we celebrated the UN's 80th anniversary. Those images from back in time, that history underlines that human rights, the right to development, and yes, indeed, women, and all the three interconnected pillars have been there from the first second on. To all these principles, 193 member states recommitted to again in this 80th session by assigning each of us the charter poster out there in the corridor. Though, as we have also seen, not only through CSW, but also within different resolutions pertaining to SDGs, be it on health, climate, or justice, these principles are not written in stone. They depend on individuals willing to stand up for them in every resolution, every single day, especially in the last minutes on floor, right in this hall. And one of the biggest events of this year, the football World Cup, offered us a useful reminder, never give up before the game is over. How many matches, some of them we looked and watched together, looked lost and were turned around in the 90th minute or just after? And the same is true for the Sustainable Development Goals. Indeed, we have only four years left. But as we underlined at the high-level political forum, simply admiring the problems and shortcomings in delivery will get us nowhere. From the 81st to the 84th session, we have roughly 1,460 days to get more children into school, more villages connected to electricity and clean water, and more families free from hunger. In football, one goal at the right moment can change everything. And 17 goals pursued with the same determination can change the world. Yet, as you also know, I'm no fan of sugarcoating. Therefore, the headwinds during the 80th session have been strong, and indeed, they may become stronger even in the 81st session. So, dear President Rahman, I wish you strength as you take on this responsibility with all your experience, and I wish you success as you carry forward the process to select the next Secretary-General, which was our third priority of this 80th session. And I hand over to you this process today, not only by handing it over, but also using this opportunity by thanking the different presidents of the Security Council for their, for your engagement in this joint endeavor between the Council and the General Assembly. Since the process began last October, we have worked to deliver on the strong call of the membership for transparency and inclusivity, especially through the eight interactive dialogues and the town hall with the candidates. We all know that there are slightly different views between the two bodies. which I think is quite normal given the complementary yet different roles the Charter applies to each. The role of this General Assembly is to never lose sight of whom this process ultimately serves. The United Nations does not belong to its secretariat, its president, or even its member states alone. It begins, as our Charter does, with we, the peoples. And the person chosen to lead it will be more than its chief administrative officer. She will be a guardian of its principles, a voice for its values, and to 8 billion people around the world, a symbol of what this institution represents. So the decision the Security Council and the General Assembly will take in the 81st session will define if the UN practices what it preaches, to give its best to defend humanity every day. Indeed, it might be the credibility test of this institution for this decade, as there are still millions out there who look to the streaming blue flag of our United Nations for hope, and for some assurance that tomorrow can be better than today. In Gaza, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in Haiti, in the Middle East, and the devastated valleys and towns of Nepal and China, in the rising seas of the Pacific, our peoples everywhere expect us to do better, because they need our world to be better. better together. I thank you. We are now coming to the end of the 80th regular session of the Assembly. May I invite representatives to stand and observe one minute of silent prayer or meditation. I thank you. And now, I invite His Excellency Khalilur Rahman, President-elect of the 81st session of the Assembly, to take an oath of office in accordance with resolution 70/305 of September 13, 2016.

I'm all right. I solemnly declare that I shall truthfully perform my duties and exercise the functions entrusted to me as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations in all loyalty, discretion, and conscience, and that I shall discharge these functions and regulate my conduct with the interest of the United Nations only in view and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the Code of Ethics for the President of the General Assembly, without seeking or accepting any instruction in regard to the performance of my duties from any government or other source external to the Organization. Thank you.

I thank the President-elect of the 81st session. I invite the President-elect of the 81st session to meet me at the side of the rostrum for handing over the gavel after I adjourn the meeting. I declare closed the 80th session of the General Assembly. It has been an honor. The meeting is adjourned.