A Commemoration of the UN’s 80th Anniversary

Nations in ruins.

More than 70 million dead.

Two world wars in a single generation.

The unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.

And 72 territories still under colonialism.

This was our world 80-years ago.

A desperate world grasping for any sign of hope.

Courageous leaders gave that hope through our Charter of the United Nations.

When signed, on 26 June 1945, it was more than yet another empty political declaration.

It was a promise from leaders to their peoples, and from nations to one another, that humanity had learned from its darkest chapters.

It was a pledge - not to deliver us to heaven - but to never again be dragged into hell by the forces of hatred and unchecked ambition.

An acknowledgment that our failures came, not from a lack of power, but from complacency.

And the strong belief that our world could be better; that we could be better, together.

In the darkest moments of history, our grandmothers and grandfathers had the humility, grace, and – dare I say – good sense, to put aside their differences, their self-interests, and their resentments, and agree to work together.

When faced with a crossroads, they chose the right path – the path of hope.

But, hope is not blind optimism.

It is not the guarantee that everything will work out.

It is the deep belief that what we are doing the right thing, regardless of whether we succeed.

Today, the hours indeed feel dark once again.

We stand at a similar crossroads.

We see children without parents, searching for food in the ruins of Gaza.

The ongoing war in Ukraine.

Sexual violence in Sudan.

Gangs terrorizing people in Haiti.

Un-filtered hatred online.

And floods and droughts all over the world.

Is this the world envisioned in our Charter?

Do we really need to re-learn the hard lessons.

Today is not about celebrating.

It is about remembering those hard lessons and drawing on the courage to once again agree to find hope instead of resignation.

To find the spirit, from 80 years ago, once again.

To choose the right path, not because of any guarantee, but because of the conviction that it is the right thing to do.

Allow me to thank the artists, especially the young artists, for their wonderful performance, which has set the tone for our event.

Today, as we mark 80 years of our United Nations, we are once again standing at a crossroads.

We cannot take the easy path and simply give up.

We have to choose the right path; to show the world that we can be better together.

Not because the last 80-years were perfect, but because, for 80 years, we have tried.

For 80-years this building has stood as a monument to our shared hopes for a better future.

Yes, we have disagreed.

We have struggled.

But we have also triumphed.

For 80 years this institution has driven progress on sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights.

Today’s commemoration is not the story of an institution.

It’s the story of thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – of people who have tried to turn hope into something real.

The people who stood between war and peace… and chose peace.

The people who are risking their lives to deliver food in Gaza.

The people who are supplying education materials to girls in Afghanistan.

The people who, not only wear the symbol of the United Nations, but are out there on the ground, showing how we are better together.

This is why this is the theme of this 80th session: better together.

It is more than a motto; it is a hard-won truth.

It’s our commitment for the next 80 years.

Our commitment to not only hope for problems to vanish, but to find the courage to confront them.

Better together, means to act where action is hard, to choose dialogue and diplomacy when division is easier,

Hope - at this 80th anniversary - means that this session is remembered not only for its milestone year, but as the moment when we called on extraordinary resolve equal to the extraordinary challenges we face.

We owe this to the people – to the men and women, boys and girls – who are not giving up, even in the darkest hours of war, who look still to the streaming blue flag for hope.

The flag of our United Nations.

Not perfect.

Not finished.

But always better together. 

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