once upon a time the United Nations was
the epicenter for the hopes and dreams
of millions of people around the world
some salt recognition as a nation
protection of their sovereignty and
human rights another is just a general
improvement in their circumstances both
nations and people brought their
problems to the UN in the belief that
since it was founded to protect
fundamental freedoms it could provide
solutions relevant to their everyday
lives and problems as a historian of the
UN I believe that it has many problems
but the main one is that people don’t
believe in it anymore
we’ve lost faith in internationalism and
we’ve lost faith in the United Nations
at the same time we’re living in an
increasingly globalized world
interconnectors where the problems we
face are global in scale and our
national governments seem largely unable
to solve them we need the UN more than
ever we need to reimagine what it is and
what it could be we need to rediscover
its potential and we need to find again
that belief in the United Nations and
its relevance for our everyday lives if
I was to ask you what you think of when
you think of the UN most people say blue
helmets or peacekeepers and indeed
Ireland has a proud record of
peacekeeping with the United Nations and
peacekeeping is indeed one of the most
visible functions of the UN but it’s
also often associated with the darkest
days of the United Nations history such
as in 1994 in Rwanda when UN
peacekeepers failed to prevent the
slaughter of almost a million Tutsi
people by their neighbors the Hutu as
images of slaughtered men women and
children haunted our TV screens people
vowed never again and the UN was largely
held responsible
for not doing enough to save lives so on
the one hand we often immediately
associate the UN with blue helmets and
with peacekeeping but on the other hand
in the next breath we often associate it
with not doing enough when atrocities
occur such as today in Syria the problem
is that this misconception leads to an
overall negative view of what the UN is
and what it does when I was 16 I was
lucky enough to go to Washington DC to
participate in the future were a leaders
summit which is an international
relations seminar for young people there
I met young people from countries all
around the world in which the UN is much
more visible and it has a much more
positive image and there I understood
that the UN is a matter of perspective
so while it doesn’t have a stellar
record on big controversial political
peace and security questions it achieves
huge things in the humanitarian sector
so for example the UN World Food
Programme feeds 80 million people in 76
countries around the world every day the
UN Development Programme has provided
access to clean drinking water for 2.6
billion people around the world
and the World Health Organization
another UN agency has slashed child
mortality rates by 62% since 1945 so I
think you would agree that these are
hugely important humanitarian
achievements and they’re relevant to all
of us so for example the World Health
Organization doesn’t just work in poor
places very far away
it’s actually based in Geneva and their
doctors and scientists lead worldwide
research into infectious diseases
including one that you might be familiar
with here in Ireland which is influenza
so those doctors and scientists tracked
the outbreak of the flu tried to predict
where pandemics might occur and advised
national governments on immunisation
strategies and prevention
but even if the fear of getting the food
doesn’t keep you awake at night another
area in which we clearly need the help
of the UN is climate change I think
you’ll agree that the summer of 2018 in
Ireland has been remarkable and we’ve
all enjoyed the number of days without
rain and the number of hours of sunshine
but it’s also a sign that our climate is
changing and this change doesn’t just
mean we’ll have more days at the beach
it means rising sea levels less crop
growth more severe severe storms and yes
even more rain than we’re used to
in Ireland so here we don’t need the UN
to provide access to clean drinking
water because we have plenty of water or
access to food but we do need the UN to
tackle these big global challenges
through programs like the sustainable
development goals the sustainable
development goals is a range of targets
agree between countries to create a
sustainable and substantially better
world for everybody not just the 1/6 of
the world’s population who live in the
West it works by encouraging countries
to agree joint policies and strategies
to achieve these aims in a range of
areas from climate change to the
reduction of poverty to peace and
security issues crucially this is not
some unattainable fantasy but it’s a
roadmap for national governments and
local municipalities to implement change
to achieve these ambitions however it
depends on people engaging with these UN
driven ideas and it depends on people
getting involved with national and local
projects for change if we do this we can
change the UN from the local level
upwards and this will allow us to change
the image of the UN from being a fast
gray Alesis
monolith very far away in New York to
something that’s dynamic and an
inclusive force field that brings
together global communities around these
areas of progression and developments
and allows us to pursue collective aims
together Ireland’s leadership role
historically at the United Nations on
peace and security issues on human
rights and on development shows the
important role that small nations and
their people play in changing the UN and
what it does the United Nations Charter
begins with the preamble we the people
we are the people of the United Nations
and from reading the archives of people
all over the world I know that the UN
used to be once at the center of their
lives
not because it’s populated by big men
but because it’s populated by big ideas
and because ordinary people believe in
the relevance of those ideas to improve
their everyday lives so the next time
you get your flu job think you in and
the next time we’re battered by a severe
storm think we need the UN this is the
moment that we need to retake control of
the United Nations from the local level
upwards and transform it once again into
a fountain of dreams [Applause]
the epicenter for the hopes and dreams
of millions of people around the world
some salt recognition as a nation
protection of their sovereignty and
human rights another is just a general
improvement in their circumstances both
nations and people brought their
problems to the UN in the belief that
since it was founded to protect
fundamental freedoms it could provide
solutions relevant to their everyday
lives and problems as a historian of the
UN I believe that it has many problems
but the main one is that people don’t
believe in it anymore
we’ve lost faith in internationalism and
we’ve lost faith in the United Nations
at the same time we’re living in an
increasingly globalized world
interconnectors where the problems we
face are global in scale and our
national governments seem largely unable
to solve them we need the UN more than
ever we need to reimagine what it is and
what it could be we need to rediscover
its potential and we need to find again
that belief in the United Nations and
its relevance for our everyday lives if
I was to ask you what you think of when
you think of the UN most people say blue
helmets or peacekeepers and indeed
Ireland has a proud record of
peacekeeping with the United Nations and
peacekeeping is indeed one of the most
visible functions of the UN but it’s
also often associated with the darkest
days of the United Nations history such
as in 1994 in Rwanda when UN
peacekeepers failed to prevent the
slaughter of almost a million Tutsi
people by their neighbors the Hutu as
images of slaughtered men women and
children haunted our TV screens people
vowed never again and the UN was largely
held responsible
for not doing enough to save lives so on
the one hand we often immediately
associate the UN with blue helmets and
with peacekeeping but on the other hand
in the next breath we often associate it
with not doing enough when atrocities
occur such as today in Syria the problem
is that this misconception leads to an
overall negative view of what the UN is
and what it does when I was 16 I was
lucky enough to go to Washington DC to
participate in the future were a leaders
summit which is an international
relations seminar for young people there
I met young people from countries all
around the world in which the UN is much
more visible and it has a much more
positive image and there I understood
that the UN is a matter of perspective
so while it doesn’t have a stellar
record on big controversial political
peace and security questions it achieves
huge things in the humanitarian sector
so for example the UN World Food
Programme feeds 80 million people in 76
countries around the world every day the
UN Development Programme has provided
access to clean drinking water for 2.6
billion people around the world
and the World Health Organization
another UN agency has slashed child
mortality rates by 62% since 1945 so I
think you would agree that these are
hugely important humanitarian
achievements and they’re relevant to all
of us so for example the World Health
Organization doesn’t just work in poor
places very far away
it’s actually based in Geneva and their
doctors and scientists lead worldwide
research into infectious diseases
including one that you might be familiar
with here in Ireland which is influenza
so those doctors and scientists tracked
the outbreak of the flu tried to predict
where pandemics might occur and advised
national governments on immunisation
strategies and prevention
but even if the fear of getting the food
doesn’t keep you awake at night another
area in which we clearly need the help
of the UN is climate change I think
you’ll agree that the summer of 2018 in
Ireland has been remarkable and we’ve
all enjoyed the number of days without
rain and the number of hours of sunshine
but it’s also a sign that our climate is
changing and this change doesn’t just
mean we’ll have more days at the beach
it means rising sea levels less crop
growth more severe severe storms and yes
even more rain than we’re used to
in Ireland so here we don’t need the UN
to provide access to clean drinking
water because we have plenty of water or
access to food but we do need the UN to
tackle these big global challenges
through programs like the sustainable
development goals the sustainable
development goals is a range of targets
agree between countries to create a
sustainable and substantially better
world for everybody not just the 1/6 of
the world’s population who live in the
West it works by encouraging countries
to agree joint policies and strategies
to achieve these aims in a range of
areas from climate change to the
reduction of poverty to peace and
security issues crucially this is not
some unattainable fantasy but it’s a
roadmap for national governments and
local municipalities to implement change
to achieve these ambitions however it
depends on people engaging with these UN
driven ideas and it depends on people
getting involved with national and local
projects for change if we do this we can
change the UN from the local level
upwards and this will allow us to change
the image of the UN from being a fast
gray Alesis
monolith very far away in New York to
something that’s dynamic and an
inclusive force field that brings
together global communities around these
areas of progression and developments
and allows us to pursue collective aims
together Ireland’s leadership role
historically at the United Nations on
peace and security issues on human
rights and on development shows the
important role that small nations and
their people play in changing the UN and
what it does the United Nations Charter
begins with the preamble we the people
we are the people of the United Nations
and from reading the archives of people
all over the world I know that the UN
used to be once at the center of their
lives
not because it’s populated by big men
but because it’s populated by big ideas
and because ordinary people believe in
the relevance of those ideas to improve
their everyday lives so the next time
you get your flu job think you in and
the next time we’re battered by a severe
storm think we need the UN this is the
moment that we need to retake control of
the United Nations from the local level
upwards and transform it once again into
a fountain of dreams [Applause]
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