This spring, after a year in the grip of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we looked forward to the summer. We were full of hope and anticipation. Despite our concern for our loved ones and our economies, there was a light at the end of the tunnel thanks to the scientific community, which developed vaccines in record time, offering a way out of the crisis. Defeating the virus seemed like only a matter of time. The summer of 2021 would be the summer of freedom regained.
But in fact it became a summer of worry. It is true that, in the most affluent parts of the world, vaccination campaigns are well under way. Globally, vaccination coverage is growing by the day, but it is not growing fast enough and is not growing everywhere — not by any means. What is more, the virus hit back and the Delta variant took hold. The pandemic itself is far from over, let alone the long-term consequences of the crisis.
There were other major concerns too. Different parts of the world were battered by extreme weather and devastating natural disasters, from heavy flooding in Africa, China and Western Europe to forest fires in North America and the Mediterranean and hurricanes in the Caribbean. Using hard science and clear statistics, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed what we could see with our own eyes: climate change is happening now. It is impacting us all and is hitting us hard.
On top of all that, this summer a tragedy unfolded in Afghanistan. None of us will forget the heartbreaking images of the violence, the people trying to flee, the desperation and the humanitarian need. Right now it is hard to predict the consequences of those recent developments, but I am sure that we all felt powerless and despondent. There was a sense of fighting a losing battle, a feeling that the negative forces were winning over the positive and a fear that our efforts were futile.
I understand those feelings, but at the same time I want to appeal to everyone here: let us not give in to cynicism and fatalism. That is my message today — especially today and especially here. This place, the United Nations Headquarters, this beacon of international cooperation, has proved in the past that we can find solutions together even if our problems seem too big or too complex. One has only to think back to the start of the United Nations over 75 years ago, when much of the world lay in ruins. At the very point when the world faced an impossible task, countries united and got to work. Although the starting points are very different, we need the same approach now.
As Secretary-General Guterres wrote in the summary to his recent report Our Common Agenda,
“In our biggest shared test since the Second World War, [humankind] faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough. [...] The choice is ours to make; but we will not have [that] chance again.”
It is therefore up to us to make the right choices. I see it as our solemn duty to bring about that breakthrough and to work together, with people from all walks of life and with non-governmental organizations and business, on solutions to the major problems of our time for today’s generations and for generations to come.
Today I would like to focus on three critical developments — three crises, in fact — that have dominated our attention this summer. The first is the fight against the coronavirus disease and the road to post-pandemic recovery. The second is the disruptive impact of the climate crisis and what we need to do in response. And the third is the situation in Afghanistan.
Let me start with the most acute challenge we face: finding a way out of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have to realize how dependent we are on each other, because the reality is that no one is safe until everyone is safe. COVID-19 will remain a threat as long as a large part of the world is not fully vaccinated. Global solidarity is therefore not simply the right thing to do; it is the only thing we can do to end the pandemic. To that end, we need to put all our effort into stepping up vaccine production and sharing the available doses fairly so that we can vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is fully committed to that goal. For example, we have contributed €172 million to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator of the World Health Organization. For every vaccine dose we administer in the Netherlands, we aim to give one away. By the end of the year, we hope to have donated more than 20 million vaccines to countries in need via the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility.
Together with the public health crisis, COVID-19 has also led to a shadow pandemic. Staying at home under the lockdowns has shown to be especially dangerous for women, as domestic violence has increased dramatically. More broadly, the most vulnerable segments of society are the ones that have been hit hardest by the crisis. The impact on young people, women and girls has been enormous.
Young people have not been able to attend school and faced other obstacles in their development. Many women lost their jobs in global supply chains like the clothing industry. What is more, some Governments have used anti-COVID-19 measures as a pretext to restrict fundamental human rights, such as the freedom of expression. Many human rights defenders and civil society organizations have suffered as a result.
Given all that, it is essential that we work to achieve a socioeconomic recovery that benefits everyone and that we get back on course to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Together with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the SDGs are our guide towards a sustainable recovery in an uncertain world. In order to support that objective, the Kingdom of Netherlands has become the second- largest donor, after Norway, to the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to bolster countries’ socioeconomic resilience. We also support valuable initiatives like the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents, which aims to lessen the impact of the pandemic on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
In short, the breakthrough we need requires a two- track approach: first, getting the virus under control around the world and, secondly, working towards an economic recovery that benefits everyone and is green and sustainable.
That brings me to my second point, which is the disruptive impact of climate change. That is no longer a theoretical doomsday scenario; for many, it is now a stark reality. We felt it this summer. Every part of the world experienced extreme weather and devastating natural disasters that are clearly the result of climate change caused by humans. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was not spared either. The six low-lying islands of the Caribbean that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands live with the constant threat of sea- level rise, drought and tropical hurricanes, like much of the global South.
In Europe, the Netherlands and its neighbours were hit by extreme rainfall this summer. Tranquil rivers transformed into raging torrents that destroyed everything in their path. Elsewhere in the world, extreme temperatures had devastating impacts, including severe forest fires that forced many people to flee their homes. Clearly, we need to collectively embrace climate action, and we need to do it fast. It is therefore more vital than ever that the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in November, succeed.
Together we must find a way to reduce harmful emissions to net zero by 2050, and we must ensure that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C degrees remains within reach. We cannot allow political tensions among countries to get in the way of achieving those goals. We cannot saddle our future generations with the problem. And limiting emissions is not the only challenge. Climate adaptation is at least as important because the impact of climate change is already a threat — one we have to arm ourselves against now.
For the Kingdom of the Netherlands, that is not new. For centuries, we have been battling the elements — from North Sea floods to Caribbean storms. Climate adaptation is in our DNA. That is why we hosted the online Climate Adaptation Summit at the beginning of this year. The event saw the launch of the Adaptation Action Agenda, which aims to turn words into deeds.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands understands that we not only need to get our own house in order but we also have to help others do the same. We therefore provide expertise and financial support to protect vulnerable areas against the elements. We have increased our public climate financing, and we support Secretary-General Guterres’ call to spend at least half of it on adaptation. In fact, in recent years the Kingdom of the Netherlands has spent almost 70 per cent of its public climate financing on adaptation.
Of course, it is not a matter of either/or. We need to step up our efforts on both adaptation and mitigation and help one another do so. We are all facing the same storm but we are not all in the same boat. That means developed countries have a responsibility to help developing countries take the necessary measures. Only together can we turn things around.
Thirdly, this summer we saw a tragedy unfold in Afghanistan. The situation is desperate. We cannot
abandon the millions of Afghans who are in need of urgent humanitarian aid and whose rights are being trampled, especially the rights of women, girls and minorities. Various United Nations organizations are doing all they can to provide such aid. The people of the United Nations are our eyes and ears on the ground. Even more important, they are the helping hands reaching out to those in need of aid and protecting the weakest in society. We must support and facilitate that good work.
To that end, at the donor conference held on 13 September, the Netherlands pledged an additional €13.5 million for the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund and the Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee Preparedness and Response Plan. The people of the world, and the Afghan people in particular, are counting on the United Nations.
Over the past 20 years, the international community, including my country, has worked very hard in Afghanistan. Many countries, together with the United Nations and the Afghan people, have tried to ensure a better future for all Afghans in which everyone has opportunities, regardless of their gender, ethnicity or beliefs. And it is important to note that we have definitely taken steps in the right direction.
The Netherlands would like to express our thanks and appreciation to all the military personnel, diplomats and aid workers — as well as the many brave and determined Afghans themselves — who made that possible. We will never forget the many people, including 25 Dutch military personnel, who paid the ultimate price. Thanks to their courage and commitment, a generation has grown up in Afghanistan with better opportunities, child mortality has fallen by 60 per cent, more girls and women have been able to get an education and life expectancy has risen by 16 years.
Those are statistics that matter, but the harsh reality is that we have to pause those efforts now. The question is whether all the hard work of the past 20 years will be undone by recent developments. It is too soon to tell. There continue to be many possible outcomes for Afghanistan, but we must be mindful of the Taliban’s track record. Whatever happens, we will continue working to push developments in Afghanistan in the right direction, however difficult that may seem right now. That is because ultimately, we have to continue defending the international legal order and universal human rights in Afghanistan and around the world.
For the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this is especially true in the context of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17. Together with the other countries of the MH-17 Joint Investigation Team, we continue doing all we can to ensure that justice is done. At the moment, family members of the victims are getting the opportunity to share their stories in court, and the emotional impact of that is enormous. One of them said, “We will never be able to come to terms with our loss as long as those responsible refuse to accept responsibility”. I therefore once again call on all countries to cooperate fully with the investigation, in line with Security Council resolution 2166 (2014), so that justice is served and responsibility accepted.
Mr. Salovaara (Finland), Vice-President, took the Chair.
In recent months, we have been confronted with our own vulnerability and that of the world around us. I began my remarks by urging everyone not to give in to cynicism and fatalism because, as the philosopher Karl Popper once wrote,
“We are all responsible for what the future holds in store. Thus it is our duty not to prophesy evil, but rather to fight for a better world”.
Please be assured that the Kingdom of the Netherlands will continue working with full conviction to that end, together with all Member States.