I congratulate you on your election, Mr. President, and extend our full support for your priorities — to recover sustainably from the pandemic, uphold human rights and revitalize multilateral organizations, namely, the United Nations. I thank the outgoing President, Mr. Volkan Bozkir, for a historic General Assembly session.
As I said here in June, I congratulate the Secretary- General for his exemplary first term. I thank the General Assembly for the confidence it placed in the right person at the right time. I fully support the call for a global ceasefire, the reform process of the United Nations and the Call to Action for Human Rights. I equally support the priorities chosen — a United Nations 2.0 and an agenda focused on persons — to respond to the pandemic, seek international peace and security, galvanize climate action, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the Decade of Action, ensure the centrality of human rights, promote gender equality and address the challenges of digital transformation.
The pandemic, the resulting economic and social crises and the recent developments in Afghanistan provide us with pieces of evidence that we cannot and must not ignore.
First, the world is multipolar. No country, no matter how powerful, can face, on its own or with only a few partners, climate change, pandemics, economic and social crises, terrorism and misinformation and also promote the safe and orderly movement of persons, the protection of the most vulnerable and human rights.
Secondly, the governance of a multipolar world requires commitment and agreement among nations, and that means multilateralism.
Thirdly, multilateralism, faced with challenges that go beyond borders and require joint responses, must be based on international law, the values of the Charter of the United Nations and the strengthening of international organizations, starting with the United Nations and its specialized agencies.
Fourthly, whenever we hesitate on multilateralism, whenever we question international law and the role of international organizations, we fail. We witnessed it in the response to the pandemic and to emerging crises and in the promotion of peace and security. Our common agenda and the innovative ideas put forward in the Secretary-General’s recent report (A/75/1) are our best road map.
Fifthly, we need to enlarge, deepen and accelerate reforms at the United Nations — in the areas of management, peace and security and the development system. We also need to move forward on the reform of the Security Council in order for it to reflect the realities of the twenty-first century, at the very least with African representation among the permanent members, as well as representation from Brazil and India. But these reforms require additional financial means. Affirming the role of the United Nations while struggling with reforms and denying resources implies, in practice, weakening multilateralism and fostering crisis situations, with negative effects for everyone.
Portugal has always been and will always be on the side of consensus that solves crises. Portugal and the European Union stand with multilateralism, the United Nations, a rules-based international order and human rights. Portugal is committed to reforming the World
Health Organization, supporting an international treaty on pandemics and guaranteeing that vaccines are a global public good. Portugal is also committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the relief of external debt of the most vulnerable countries and, as a Champion country, the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
In Lisbon in 2022, Portugal and Kenya will host the second United Nations Ocean Conference, an essential dimension of climate action, and Portugal supports the international recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
Portugal participates in peacekeeping operations. My country supports the European Union-Africa dialogue and international action for the stabilization of the Sahel, maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea and the cooperation with Mozambique in its fight against terrorism.
Portugal has never changed course. That was demonstrated during our presidency of the Council of the European Union, in our participation in the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, which is now celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, and in the global projection of the Portuguese language, spoken by almost 300 million persons. We also demonstrated it through the bold initiative of President Jorge Sampaio, who passed away a few days ago, of the Global Platform for Syrian Students, now extended to Afghan refugees. We do not change our principles, and we will hold this course if we are entrusted with a term in the Security Council five years from now.
We believe that the most pressing concerns of our time, like climate change, pandemics, economic and social crises, wars and insecurity, as well as migration and refugees, only confirm that isolationism, protectionism, unilateralism, intolerance, populism and xenophobia inevitably lead to dead ends.
The Secretary-General’s message is clear, insightful and forward-looking. It is an appeal not only to Member States but to all the citizens of the world. There is no planet B — for climate or anything else. Either we, throughout the world, are all aware of that or political leaders will be tempted to forget, delay, stall and waste time. Twenty years after 9/11, six years after the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and a year and a half after the beginning of the pandemic, we need effective multilateralism more than ever. We need actions, not speeches. There really is no more time to waste.