Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA), speaks at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept. 22, 2020. The General Debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday with the theme of "The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism -- confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action." (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The General Debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday with the theme of "The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism -- confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action."
Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, presided over the opening of the debate.
In his opening remarks, he called on world leaders to reaffirm multilateralism in face of the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19. He also called for the strengthening of UN agencies, including the World Health Organization.
"Rarely has the whole of humanity faced such an imminent and common threat. Today, we must leave our differences and disagreements aside. Today, we must renew our collective commitment to multilateralism. Today, we must combine our efforts to address this global problem and we must make sure that no one is left behind," he said.
Multilateralism is essential to fulfilling the core mandates of the United Nations prescribed in its Charter, said Bozkir. "To do that, we must continue to seek ways, in order to establish and consolidate trust and cohesion, among members, groups of countries and other stakeholders."
He warned that the world is seeing rising levels of mistrust and rivalry between major powers.
International institutions succeed when they manage to mediate such tensions. The United Nations was born with this in mind, he said. "It is in the interests of the world, our economies and our people that, these tensions are managed and do not spiral out of control. The forum provided by the UN is critical to reinforce cooperation and consensus."
Bozkir named multilateralism, the humanitarian agenda of the United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and gender equality as his priority in his one-year tenure, and called for support from member states.
"As we commemorate the UN's 75th anniversary, we must recommit to and strengthen multilateralism and acknowledge its achievements. The UN is the world's foremost forum to address issues that transcend national boundaries, maintain international peace and security, promote sustainable and inclusive development and protect human rights."
He promised to advance the UN humanitarian agenda, in view of the unprecedented level of humanitarian needs, which are caused by prolonged and new conflicts, as well as natural disasters around the world. "Our efforts must ensure that the most vulnerable are protected and able to live in dignity, as set out in the UN Charter."
The Sustainable Development Goals are the most transformative set of objectives, yet they cannot be achieved without strengthened global partnership, he said. "We must ensure that our efforts to recover from the pandemic are fully aligned with the implementation of the SDGs."
Gender inequality remains deeply entrenched in many societies. Women often lack access to decent work, equal pay, quality education and adequate health care. They suffer from violence and discrimination and are often under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes, he noted.
"As we recover from the pandemic, we must build back better, to improve the lives of women and girls. We must renew our commitment to protect women's rights and make women's participation in peace, security and humanitarian action meaningful and sustained."
As this General Assembly session marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Bozkir called on member states to draw strength from the founders of the world organization, who demonstrated fortitude at a time of crisis.
"They chose to trust one another and unite in pursuit of a better world. Together, we have overcome adversity and challenges. Let us draw strength from those who have persevered in the past. When we have worked together, humanity has prevailed," he said. "This Assembly has the power to create a better world for all."
This year, world leaders are unable to travel to New York for the high-level week due to COVID-19. Instead, their pre-recorded statements are played in the General Assembly Hall. While the hall can hold some 2,500 people, only about 200 delegates are allowed to be physically present. Enditem
