It is my singular honour to offer, on behalf of a proud nation, our congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Abdulla Shahid on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session. I would also like to extend our hearty congratulations to the Secretary-General on his reappointment.
Fifty-six years ago, right after our independence, we made haste to seek to become a Member of the United Nations. However, our entry was not guaranteed. It was the age of decolonization and self-determination, when numerous new nations came into existence. It was the age when humankind shook off the shackles of the past for the sake of civilization and progress.
As the story goes, the matter of allowing entry to small States, such as ourselves, was fiercely debated. It was a question of whether or not a small island would qualify to meaningfully contribute to world affairs. Today, 56 years later, as President of the Republic of Maldives, I address the presidency of the General Assembly in our mother tongue. Our mother tongue, Dhivehi, the language in which we take pride and is close to our hearts, is a language that is most familiar to the President of the General Assembly at this session. The Maldives may be small in size. Maldivians, however, are large in their rich culture and heritage. This is indeed a great honour for our nation.
It is highly apropos that your tenure, Mr. President, at the helm of the Assembly is entitled the “Presidency of Hope”, because indeed hope is a highly desirable commodity in these difficult times. It is surely what led to the formation of the United Nations. It was hope for a world devoid of the ugliness of wars and famine. It was hope for the equality of all peoples to prevail; hope for justice, human rights, self-determination and democracy to reign supreme; hope for a world where people oppressed under the yoke of colonial rule and other forms of oppression were rendered free. It was hope that we would preserve our planet, its resources, ecosystems and wonders for generations yet to be born.
For the past 76 years, we have gathered in this great Hall every year to deliver speeches that inspire us to scale seemingly insurmountable odds and resolve the various problems that afflict our global community. Yet for all our achievements and successes, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has pushed our progress back years. The adverse impacts of climate change are increasing. The steady growth of the world’s population is also increasing the presence of famine. The threat of terrorism remains one of the biggest challenges we
face today. It is an ever-present blemish on our common humanity. That is why my duty today would be, first and foremost, to call on the world community to resolve to back up our hopes with effort. I believe the five rays of hope offered in the manifesto of the President of the General Assembly offer great hope in and of themselves.
From our small island nations to the Powers spanning continents, the consequences of COVID-19 have been the same. It has laid bare, in the starkest of terms, what we have all already known, namely, that, in today’s world, we are bound together. We must work together in solidarity and unity to achieve our ambitions together.
For the Maldives, as was the case the world over, the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge without precedent. Our economy relies on welcoming tourists to our shores. We import nearly everything — from food to medicine to the materials with which we build our shelter. Having closed our borders, we were faced with catastrophic outcomes. Tourists stopped arriving, foreign currency receipts dropped, and businesses collapsed. The lockdown hindered social well-being and set back years of schooling for our beloved children.
Our task back then was to determine the best course of action. The decision to close our borders was neither desired nor welcomed. Left with no choice, we closed our borders. We acquired all the resources needed to upgrade our health-care system. At the time, a vaccine was a distant dream. Throughout that plight, we firmly abided by strict standards. We successfully managed the pandemic by adhering to the instructions provided by our health-care professionals. Employees, agencies and volunteers willingly lined up. Food, medical supplies and other necessities were stockpiled. As a result, we were able to tackle the pandemic.
We have vaccinated 95 per cent of all school children and 85 per cent of all residents in the Maldives. Schools and businesses have resumed. Our borders have reopened, thereby opening the doors to our resorts. The Maldives is ready to welcome the world. The Maldives has again become the sunny side of life. Come visit us.
COVID-19 will persist so long as it is not defeated everywhere. The key is vaccines. Vaccinating the world as soon as possible is the way we overcome it. Vaccine equity is of paramount importance in that regard. Eventually, as the world recovers from the COVID-19 menace, we must all collectively resolve to make sure that such a catastrophe is not repeated. Our citizens are banking their hopes on all present here to ensure that we pool our resources, efforts, knowledge, skills and discoveries to prevent the next world pandemic.
Managing the virus is one aspect of recovery from COVID-19. Equally important is the task of rebuilding our economy, restoring livelihoods and a return to normal life. COVID-19 is an urgent call to action.
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that the climate emergency could be catastrophic to humankind. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report entitled Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, published just a few weeks ago, was a shocking reiteration of what we have long known. It is shocking because of the starkness of its pronouncement that we have simply brushed off the reality of climate change for far too long.
I wish to highlight one important aspect of the report — that the past five years have been the hottest on record since records started in the mid-nineteenth century. The rate of sea-level rise has tripled in comparison to the period 1901 to 1970. We have already caused a 1.1 °C increase in global warming. The recommendations are alarming given their urgency. Global emissions need to be reduced by 45 per cent by 2030, and reach net-zero by 2050, if we are to limit warming to 1.5°C. “Existential threat”, “cease to exist”, “climate vulnerable”, “risk of disappearing”, “loss of identity” and “environmental refugees” are all phrases commonly tossed around to describe the plight that the people of the Maldives and other island States like us would face if current trends continue unabated. The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees is a death sentence for the Maldives. One overarching fact remains — the state of environmental ruin that small island States endure now will, without a doubt, catch up with larger nations sooner rather than later. There is no guarantee of survival for any nation in a world where the Maldives ceases to exist.
I come here today with messages that resonate closer to the heart than the cold facts presented by science. I carry in my hand the words of young Maldivian children who have written to me asking me to share their pleas for our world’s climate with the General Assembly. These are pleas to protect the vulnerable environment that they call home, in which they will grow up and hope to achieve their dreams. This is the collective calling of generations to come. We must listen.
Yet we remain hopeful that the day is not lost. Addressing the climate emergency requires a break from the lacklustre business-as-usual practices that currently dominate the global climate-change regime. It requires countries to adopt more stringent measures to halt their emissions. It needs the world’s wealthy nations to help smaller nations receive the necessary support — in the form of capacity-building, technology transfers and financial resources — to ramp up their defences in the climate fight. It also requires us to give up our addiction to fossil fuels and adopt cleaner, smarter technologies for our energy use.
We are determined to not passively wait on the climate front. We aspire to be more than another cautionary tale of what happens when nature and the destructive forces it can unleash are not respected. We have put forward an ambitious plan to reach net-zero by 2030, which we hope to achieve with international support.
When we speak of pressing global issues, addressing terrorism and violent extremism remains on the agenda. We cannot be complacent to the growing threat posed by extremist interpretations of religious texts. The Maldives has always prided itself on being a moderate Muslim country in which a pluralistic and rationalist Islam prevailed. But we are not immune from the threat posed by radicalized extremists. On 6 May, we suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks on our soil — the targeted assassination attempt on our Speaker of Parliament, former President Mohamed Nasheed. We will not stand idly by while more cowardly attacks are planned and more young minds are poisoned by false and violent interpretations of religion. We condemn terrorism in all its forms everywhere and reiterate our steadfast commitment to work with the international community to address terrorism in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
Our Government and the people of the Maldives stand firmly and resolutely with the Palestinian people. Despite decades of United Nations efforts, the Palestinian people have yet to see justice. We continue to bear witness to Israel’s wanton and ever-escalating violations of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Generations of educated youth around the world are standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people. They are standing up in protest against the unjust and inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people. Despite the many resolutions of both the General Assembly and the Security Council, the rights of Palestinians are minimal or non-existent. As the Head of State of a small country, I am able to stand here and speak to the Assembly today because my country is recognized as a State. What has the world got to lose by fully recognizing Palestine as an independent State? On behalf of the Maldivian people, I want that privilege extended to millions of my Palestinian brothers and sisters — for them to be fully recognized by the United Nations and their individual liberties protected. I want to see a fully recognized Palestinian State with all the benefits and opportunities that membership confers. The Maldivian people will continue to fight for the full recognition of Palestine as an independent State.
As a neighbour in the wider South Asia region, we are also concerned about the long-term peace and stability of Afghanistan. We want to ensure the safety of the people and the protection and realization of the rights of women and girls. We also want to ensure that steps are taken to form an inclusive and representative Government for the people. Through these steps, Afghanistan can demonstrate its commitment to building a peaceful, durable and thriving country.
I believe that the United Nation still offers the best hope for humankind. The Organization still represents the pinnacle of what concerted diplomacy can achieve and continues to embody the hopes of all — irrespective of status, class or gender — who believe in peaceful dialogue to solve global problems. From farming to pandemics to terrorism, the United Nations is the most important global platform for deliberative decision-making to solve the world’s most important challenges.
I thank the international community for its support for the Maldives candidature for the presidency of the General Assembly. I wish this Assembly every success in its work.