Secretary-General Guterres, Excellencies,
Dear Members and friends of the UN family,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The United Nations was established to save future generations from grave suffering and endless wars. When it comes to worldwide cooperation, the United Nations is the main instrument for it. Such institutionalised cooperation is what provides relative stability, security and predictability. If this cooperation fails, the number of conflicts, including aggressions and grave violations of human rights would increases.
This global cooperation has improved the human condition on every measurable front over the past century. UN family such as UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, OCHA, WHO and UN Women, to name a few, have helped millions out of poverty, and provided shelter, nutrition, healthcare and education. They have helped to eliminate smallpox and continue to play an essential role in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and most recently COVID-19.
Many of these accomplishments are thanks to the courageous and devoted staff of the UN family, who dedicate themselves to humanitarian principles and work tirelessly in the most dangerous places—where they are needed the most.
Despite all these efforts and success stories, we are still living through turbulent and uneasy times. During the past decade, we have witnessed new armed conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. There are ongoing violations of sovereignty and territorial integrity also in Europe – in Ukraine and Georgia.
Maintaining peace depends also on how states treat their own citizens. This is the road to a less violent world. Unfortunately, we are still witnessing how civilian populations are subjected to mass violence, either by their own government or by non-state armed groups. Yet again, Europe has not been left untouched by these developments, as we are witnessing massive state violence against peaceful protesters in Belarus.
As we meet, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage our world.
We are learning about the devastating impact the coronavirus has had – in just a few short months, decades of global progress on poverty, healthcare and education have been reversed. It is estimated that we will see the first rise in global poverty since 1998.
Excellences, ladies and gentlemen,
COVID-19 has made it crystal clear – closing the global digital gap is an important way to protect our communities and economies against future shocks. And here I am speaking from my own experience. Estonia is the world’s first digitally transformed state, where all public services run online. This helped us significantly to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic when most of us were teleworking and kids were being homeschooled via video screen.
The crisis highlighted serious gaps in digital transformation and preparedness worldwide. And we also saw it within international organisations. This is why Estonia and Singapore introduced the Global Declaration on the Digital Response to COVID-19. I am glad to announce that close to 70 states have endorsed it so far. The declaration remains open for all countries to join.
Rapidly changing times demand that we constantly reinvent our working methods. Thus, ongoing reforms by the Secretary-General are important for a more agile, effective, and accountable organisation. The three pillars of the United Nations – peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights – are equally important and interdependent. All three are needed for the existence of peaceful, healthy and free societies.
Estonia is committed to standing for international law, including in cyber space and human rights, working towards conflict prevention and fighting impunity, including by supporting the International Criminal Court. These are our points of departure as a member of the UN family. These are also the guiding priorities for Estonia’s current membership in the UN Security Council.
Allow me to end with the words of the former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “Peace is not an accident. Peace is not a gift. Peace is something we must all work for, every day, in every country.”