Nadia Murad was born in Iraq. Nadia Murad is Yazidi, and on 15 August 2014 her life changed: jihadists attacked her village. Six of her brothers were murdered before her eyes. That day she would see her mother for the last time. She would be captured to become a sex slave and would suffer the most horrible abuses. She eventually escaped. Today Nadia Murad is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and fights tirelessly for the rights and dignity of women.
From this rostrum I want to quote what she said just a few days ago:
“Today we see the price of conflict marked on women’s bodies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Tigray and so many other places ... So much potential is lost when the power of women in preventing conflict and rebuilding communities is ignored.”
I met Nadia Murad. I saw in her eyes all the strength of humankind. I heard in the softness of her voice an absolute determination. She has decided to draw from the tragedy and endless suffering an unshakeable strength to transform the world. It is because of Nadia Murad’s inspiration that I address the General Assembly today.
The European Union (EU) was forged by Europeans, like an irrepressible surge of dignity and freedom after two bloody world wars. Today we face another turning point in human history because we are entrenched in another war — a global war. That global war has no opposing sides and no armies and no land is lost or conquered. Yet that war destroys lives and brings countries to their knees and unimaginable suffering to families.
I am talking about the war that we humans have waged against nature. We have tortured our planet and abused our natural resources. We have committed acts of war against our environment, and now nature is fighting back, bringing us back to our senses and back to humility.
No one can say “I did not know”. For decades, scientists have sounded the alarm, but their warnings have fallen on deaf ears. We turned away so as not to see, and today the shock is brutal. We are reaping what we have sown — the fires that have devastated Australia, the droughts that have ravished Africa, the floods that have scarred Europe and the hurricanes that have battered the United States.
There is another scourge that has afflicted our planet for nearly two years, which was also predicted by science — the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It has killed 4.7 million people and shattered the lives of billions more.
But the pandemic has also led us back to the essential — life and human dignity. To safeguard those, we have taken exceptional measures — massive confinement that has brought our economies, our social lives and, most seriously, our freedoms to a near standstill.
The pandemic has opened our eyes to the obvious — our lives and our health are inextricably linked to the health of our fields, forests, oceans and fauna. We share our planet with other living beings, and it is time. It is time to stop waging war against nature. It is time for humans to sign an armistice with nature — a peace treaty with our planet — for the generations to come.
It is time for us to transform the world, just as the previous generation did after the most recent world war. Inspired by the vision of the signatories of the Charter of the United Nations, it is time to get back to basics — reason and good judgment. Inspired by those principles, they left us an international order based on rules to promote peace. They built liberal democracies to guarantee the dignity of each individual. They championed the development model based on the freedom to trade and to pursue economic opportunity to ensure prosperity.
Those choices have ushered in progress and greater stability. But the world of yesterday is not that of today, and even less the world of tomorrow.
Brutal unilateralism too often elbows out multilateralism. The ambition to dominate creates new dependencies and leads to tensions and conflicts. Democracies are under pressure, both from within and from without. Authoritarian regimes — openly or not — meticulously undermine the principles of freedom at home and even beyond their borders.
Finally, our model of economic development has run its course. Its flaws are increasingly visible — the extreme exploitation of resources and
increasing inequality. We must escape that vicious circle. We are indeed at an inflection point. We must ask ourselves: What world do we want for tomorrow?
We want a world inspired by reason, a world that trusts in science and guarantees the dignity and freedom of every human being. We want a fairer and a safer world. We want cooperation rather than confrontation, solidarity rather than isolation, transparency not secrecy. And we want loyalty — honouring our word when our word is given.
The international community can count on the European Union to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, with full confidence in Secretary- General Guterres.
A fairer world is one in which we are all protected from COVID-19. The European Union has sought to provide comprehensive support for research and has developed significant vaccine production capacities. We have exported 700 million doses to 130 countries and have invested €3 billion in the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility. But we must recognize that the vaccination gap with developing countries is unacceptable. We need to take even more vigorous action.
We have launched concrete projects, investing €1 billion to develop pharmaceutical production capacities, including for vaccines, in several African countries. We are also ready to support partnerships in Latin America.
Finally, we know now it will not be enough to defeat this pandemic. We must prevent future ones and strengthen the resilience of the entire world. That is the goal of the international treaty on pandemics that we proposed in partnership with Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus. I encourage everyone to support the launch of negotiations as soon as possible.
A fairer and safer world is also a world free of the climate threat. We need to set ambitious targets. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was a major step to that end, and the European Union played a major role. Unlike others, we stood firm to defend it and, two years ago, the 27 Heads of State and Government of the European Union led the way by committing to climate neutrality by 2050. Others are following our example. In the same ambitious spirit, the European Union subsequently revised the target date to 2030.
Of course, we must also make progress in international cooperation. We believe we should move towards carbon-pricing. The EU began such an initiative with the Emissions Trading System because we believe that approach stimulates innovation, produces results and encourages a circular economy.
We must also stimulate investment in the greening of the economy. We hope to be able to develop global strategies to establish a regulatory framework for green financing.
Finally, we all know that not everyone is equal in the race against the clock for global warming. Developed countries have a particular responsibility to support developing countries. Despite the 2009 and 2010 pledges to mobilize $100 billion annually to finance the international fight against global warming, few have kept their word.
From 2013 to 2019, the European Union and its member States contributed €127 billion, one third of the total. We urge the other partners to keep their promises as well. It is a matter of trust and equity.
A fairer and more secure world is also a peaceful world. At this very moment, women are being brutalized and raped because they are women. That weapon of war is used in the Horn of Africa.
In Ethiopia, we call for a ceasefire and an immediate end to the ethnic violence. Access to humanitarian aid must be guaranteed without hindrance.
Poverty and radicalism are two mutually reinforcing scourges. Education, basic services, health and infrastructure are the best remedies against instability and its concomitant dangers. In the Sahel, the European Union and nine of its member States are working with the population to help with security, defence and development aid. Restoring the authority of the State and ensuring governance are essential to achieve lasting results.
The new situation in Afghanistan is a failure for the international community, and we must learn from it. But one thing is certain — the end of military operations does not mean the end of the European commitment to the Afghan people. We want to avoid any kind of humanitarian catastrophe and to preserve as far as possible the achievements of the past 20 years, especially with regard to the rights of women and girls.
In the Indo-Pacific region, the European Union is the largest investor and one of the most important trading partners — 40 per cent of our trade passes through that region. We have decided to significantly strengthen our cooperation there. That is the reason for the current strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Security and the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean must be guaranteed, in accordance with international law. The European Union will fully assume its responsibilities in that regard.
The European Union will never turn a blind eye to human rights violations. The rule of law, non-discrimination and respect for minorities — including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex rights — are cardinal values. That is the purpose of our ongoing human rights dialogue with many countries around the world. We firmly defend our values, but we are also ready to engage in dialogue to address global challenges such as climate, biodiversity and the fight against pandemics.
Peace is much more than the absence of war. Peace can never be taken for granted. It is shaped on a daily basis. It is nurtured by the mutual connections among our societies. The more interests we share, the less conflict we have. Economic, scientific, cultural and intellectual exchanges are powerful forces for stability. That requires regional or continental integration projects as well as major partnerships between those new integrated areas — whether in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia or Africa.
With our African brothers, we are working hard for a new alliance with the African continent. Listening, mutual respect, taking into account the specifics and realities on the ground, transparency and good governance must be the hallmark on both sides. We will mobilize the private sector to invest in infrastructure and new technologies. We will support all efforts to promote education, which is the best way to ensure a better future. Our common interests can greatly enable the success of our new partnership.
The European Union and our member States are one of the world’s leading economic Powers. We are also the primary sponsor of peace and sustainable development. We fund one quarter of the regular budget of the United Nations, 30 per cent of the total peacekeeping budget and half of global development aid. It is a deliberate choice that is consistent with our vision of an open and interconnected world. We have values to promote, citizens to protect and interests to defend. It is in that spirit that we are developing the European Union’s strategic autonomy, including in our security and defence capabilities in order to be less dependent, strengthen our positive influence and consolidate our Atlantic alliance, which is rooted in our democratic values and is an unshakeable pillar of our security and stability in the world. Stronger allies make a stronger alliance in transparency and loyalty.
Of course, we want to deepen our positive influence in our immediate neighbourhood. That is the reason for our Eastern Partnership, which is a longterm commitment with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan. That is also the reason for our support for the people of Belarus and our firm stance towards the Lukashenko regime, in particular when it attempts to use migrants as a hybrid weapon to destabilize members of the European Union. Finally, that is why we are working to strengthen ties with the countries of the Western Balkans.
The recent upsurge in violence in the Middle East is yet another reminder of the absolute necessity of resuming peaceful dialogue towards a two-State solution between Israel and Palestine.
To transform the world, make it more just and secure and guarantee the dignity of everyone — that is the pledge of the United Nations. Let us all live up to that promise for all the Nadia Murads of this world and for the generations to come. The international community can count on the European Union.