Speech by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar: National Statement for the General Debate - 22 September 2023

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President of the General Assembly,

Distinguished Heads of State and Government,

Secretary-General,

Excellencies,

A chairde, friends,

One hundred years ago, on Monday September 10th, 1923 - a year after our independence - Ireland was admitted to the League of Nations.

It was an early signal of what would become our unwavering commitment to multilateralism.

One hundred years on, we are facing a moment of exceptional crisis.

The threat of famine and food insecurity persists. Increased conflict, insecurity, and violence, affects the most vulnerable people on this planet.

The devastating effect of climate change is contributing to increasing numbers of humanitarian crises, with record numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance.

We are experiencing serious gender inequality, with more than 130 million girls out of school and less than 20% of the world’s landowners are women.

We have seen the stalling – and, in some cases, the reversal – of progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals we collectively agreed to implement.

The Goals represent a high point for international cooperation and the promise of a world that we can securely pass on to the next generation.

Ireland is deeply proud of the role we have played.

In 2015, with Kenya, we led the negotiations that created the Sustainable Development Goals.

And this year - at the half-way point – we worked with Qatar to bring about the SDG Summit’s Political Declaration; the Declaration that we unanimously approved in this Hall earlier this week.

President,

Delegates,

It is beyond time for us to demonstrate that the Sustainable Development Goals are more than a set of aspirations.

It is time for all of us - to turn our collective commitments into reality.

In July, Ireland presented our second Voluntary National Review to the UN High-level Political Forum. 80% of our SDGs are fully achieved.

In respect of our international contribution, I am proud to confirm Ireland’s commitment to provide at least €225 million annually in climate finance for developing countries by 2025. This year alone, we will spend €149 million on climate finance.

Recalling our own Great famine, our particular focus on food, agriculture, and nutrition will also see us provide almost €300 million for programmes in these areas in 2023.

We allocate over 90% of our country-specific humanitarian expenditure to the most severe crises.

And we have increased our expenditure on global health by over 15% in the last three years.

And we are consistently amongst the top three donors in the proportion of our official development assistance allocated to promoting gender equality.

President, Excellencies

Earlier this year, the UN Secretary General spoke of the world ‘hurtling towards a disaster, with eyes wide open’.

We know that it is those who have done least to cause the climate crisis that are the most vulnerable to its effects.

It is also clear that much of this is irreversible, particularly in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.

In responding to this crisis, we cannot leave behind those who are already at the frontline. Adequate levels of finance for adaptation are urgently needed.

And it is essential that the discussions this week on the Loss and Damage fund make real progress. We need to be ready to take a definitive step at COP28 in Dubai later this year.

President, Excellencies

From our admission to the UN in 1955, Ireland has committed to unequivocally uphold the UN Charter and to maintain a position of independence in the UN.

Our term on the Security Council in 2021/2022 saw grave breaches of that Charter; none more flagrant than Russia’s imperialist and brutal invasion of Ukraine.

It was an act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression by an expansionist, revanchist power against its neighbour.

The brutality of Russia’s actions in Ukraine has caused unfathomable suffering for the people of that country.

And, as I stand on this most global of stages, I am deeply conscious of the wider suffering it has caused, increasing global food, energy and economic insecurity.

Russia’s inexplicable decision last month to collapse the Black Sea Grain Initiative has only made this bad situation worse.

For many, including some here today, the war on Ukraine might seem like a European problem – a conflict in which there is little at stake for the rest of the world.

But, have no doubt, each of us in these United Nations has a deep interest in ensuring that Russia’s attempt to move borders by force does not succeed.

For when one aggressor prevails, their peers elsewhere take note and are emboldened. We know this from history.

When Europeans draw attention to the profound injustice of what is happening in Ukraine, there can be criticism, some of it justified, of the developed world’s failure to respond with the same intensity of feeling and action to conflict and suffering elsewhere.

But, while we can acknowledge that we have fallen short, the people of Ukraine should not be the ones asked to pay the price.

They have done nothing to bring down this war on their heads.

They deserve the right we all claim - to determine their own future, in peace and security.

They deserve the unqualified support – and the action to back it up - of every single Member State of these United Nations.

Equally, the Russian Federation and its Leaders deserve our utter condemnation for what they have done and are continuing to do.

They must be held accountable.

This week, the Irish Government announced additional humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and for Moldova, bringing our total so far this year to almost €40 million.

A Uachtarán, a Dhaoine Uaisle,

Is ábhar mór bródiul é do mhuintir na hÉireann gur sheasamar go daingean - go comhsheasmhach, go neamhspleách, agus go neamhchlaonta – ar son chearta an duine, prionsabail dhaonnúla agus comhionannas inscne le linn ár dtéarma ar an gComhairle Slándála.

Tá imní orainn faoi na bagairtí leanúnacha ar oibríochtaí síochánaíochta. Feicimid agus údaráis naisiúnta fiú ag iarraidh choimeádaithe síochána na Náisiún Aontaithe a chur amach as a gcuid tíortha go bhfuil siad ag cur slándáil a ndaoine féin i mbaol agus ag cruthú tuilleadh coimhlinte.

Téann na cinntí sin díreach i gcoinne an chomóradh a bheidh muid ag ceiliúradh i mbliana - Dearbhú uile-choiteann chearta an duine.

Cúig bliana is seachtó ó shin a chruthaíomar an dearbhú. Dearbhú é seo a thug aitheantas do dhínit bhunúsach agus do chearta doshannta gach duine. Tá sé de dhualgas orainne go léir sa seomra seo an dínit sin a aithint, agus béim a choimeád uirthi agus muid ag cruthú polasaithe.

Ní mór don tsochaí shibhialta a bheith rannpháirteach go gníomhach chun an dualgas seo a chomhlíonadh. Agus muid ag ceiliúradh cúig bliana is fiche de Dhearbhú na Náisiún Aontaithe ar chosantóirí chearta an duine, tá Éire ag impí ar gach tír timpeallacht shábháilte, ar an idirlíon agus sa ghnáthshaol a chur chun cinn don tsochaí shibhialta.

President, Excellencies,

It is a matter of real pride to the Irish people that Ireland stood firm - consistently, independently and impartially - in defence of human rights, humanitarian principles, and gender equality during our time on the Security Council.

We are concerned at the ongoing threats to peacekeeping operations. We see with even national authorities seeking the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers, compromising the security of their own people and creating further conflict.

These decisions fly in the face of the anniversary that we mark this year – that of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

75 years ago, we created the Declaration, which recognised the inherent dignity, and the equal and inalienable rights of all persons. All of us in this room have the duty to recognise that dignity and keep it at the heart of policy making.

And we need the active engagement of civil society to fulfil this duty. As we mark the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Ireland urges all States to promote a safe environment, both online and offline, for civil society.

President, Excellencies

Among the many horrors of the situation in Ukraine has been Russia’s threat - indeed its multiple threats – to use nuclear weapons.

Such threats are, in themselves, outrageous.

Russia knows, as we all do, that their use would result in devastating humanitarian and environmental disaster.

Ireland has long been committed to a world free of nuclear threats - but we see a world in which their place in security doctrines is growing, rather than diminishing.

This must be reversed. The stark alternative is a new nuclear arms race. That must not pass.

The devastation on innocent civilians of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas cannot continue to echo down generations.

That is why Ireland led negotiations on a Political Declaration to respond to the humanitarian consequences arising from their use. We are pleased that 83 states adopted the Declaration in Dublin last year.

And we urge all states here to join.

President, Excellencies

As we look at today’s world, there are, sadly, too many areas of conflict.

But there are few in respect of which we, the international community, have failed so recurrently as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It should not be so - we have known for decades the parameters of the only just solution: a two-State solution, with a viable Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel, whose right to exist should be accepted and respected by all its neighbours.

We have affirmed and reaffirmed this many times. Yet, day after day, developments take us further from this vision and make a two-state solution harder to handle.

We see acts of terrorism perpetrated against Israeli and Palestinian civilians; increasingly dangerous and provocative rhetoric; and clear violations of international law.

The political and civic space for those who seek to promote peace and reconciliation is diminishing. And the consequences are stark.

My country, along with many others, wholeheartedly agreed with the Resolution passed by this Assembly, seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from Israel's prolonged occupation. Alongside many here today, we have submitted a statement to the Court.

To those who argue that having recourse to the Court undermines the search for a political solution, I can only ask how the clarification of international law can do anything other than strengthen international peace and security.

A just and sustainable peace can only be based on international law, on accountability, human rights, on the principles and purposes of the UN Charter.

President,

Excellencies,

During Ireland’s recent term on the Security Council, we saw first-hand the positive effect that its work can have. But we also saw its efforts stymied, its mandate undermined; crucial decisions and actions blocked by the use of the veto.

Our future requires a UN with a reformed Security Council - without the anachronism of the veto. It has no place in the 21st century. We also need a UN Security Council that properly reflects the world’s demography and politics as it is now not in the 1940s.

We know what can be achieved through cooperation at the UN. We have seen it. We have lived it and participated in it. This is our institution and system that has real value.

My country is proud to hold the longest unbroken record of service in UN peacekeeping missions. We are proud that the women and men of the Irish Defence Forces who work to protect civilians and sustain peace around the world - in UN, EU and NATO led missions -operate with the mandate of this organisation.

Some pay the ultimate price.

We remember today Private Séan Rooney who was killed in Lebanon last December. We think too of his family and his comrades, and of all the women and men who have lost their lives in the pursuit of peace.

President, Excellencies

No one can doubt the need for UN and multilateral system reform.

Ireland fully backs the Secretary General’s ‘Our Common Agenda’ process. We have contributed ideas and have listened to those of others.

Our Common Agenda can be successful if we collectively make it so. I urge the Secretary General to keep our ambition high and to challenge us as Member States as we prepare the Summit of the Future next September.

This year also marks the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the agreement that helped secure peace in Northern Ireland.

It was the culmination of years of brave political leadership in Northern Ireland, of the Irish and UK Governments working in partnership, of steadfast backing from friends and partners internationally, and of a sustained commitment to peace by the people of Northern Ireland.

An entire generation on the island of Ireland has now grown to adulthood free from the shadow of violence.

We know that peace is hard won and can never be taken for granted.

We do not presume to know the solutions to the conflicts faced by many nations around the world.

But we strongly believe that this body that we all belong to – this body that encapsulates hope and ambition; compromise and dedication – has given us the ability to build peace; just and inclusive peace.

Thank you.