‘We have to work together’

Remarks of UN Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez at the virtual UN Philippines celebration of the 75th anniversary of the UN.

Good afternoon dear partners, colleagues and friends, First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the Department of Foreign Affairs for coming together with us, in this celebration of UN Day. A special “thank you” to Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin for joining us.

Since January, we are living exceptional moments with a pandemic that has affected our daily lives and unveiled our vulnerabilities.

What started as a localized health crisis, has unfolded as a global human crisis.

The pandemic has shown that the systems on which we depend—health, food, trade, climate—are not only increasingly interdependent, but increasingly fragile.

For the first time in 30 years, poverty is rising.

Human development indicators are declining.

The crisis demonstrated that we failed in anticipation.

It also demonstrated we were not well prepared to recognize the simple fact that global challenges are better addressed with collective solutions.

Someone said that in a globalized world, “the future of any organization relies on its capacity to learn and transform.” This is the time where lessons from the pandemic should inform our vision and support our action.

… and learning from this experience is not just preparing for future shocks, but also paying tribute to those who lost their lives as a result of Covid-19 and to those who are exposing their lives, every day, to win this battle.

… and I take this opportunity to commend—on behalf of the UNCT— the millions of Filipino health workers, transporters, teachers, members of the security forces, and many others, for their strong commitment in this fight.

One of the most important lessons from this crisis is perhaps the most obvious: we have to work together. No country can do it alone. And we need inclusive collaboration, drawing on the critical contributions of civil society, business, foundations, the scientific community, local authorities, cities and regional governments.

As we say, anniversaries are not about celebrating the past; they are about looking ahead.

The present troubles can’t stop us reflecting on the proud history of the UN. The values of the United Nations— peace, justice, equality and dignity—are more needed than ever.

The Organization we celebrate today, emerged only after immense suffering.

It took two world wars, millions of deaths and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law.

That commitment produced great results.

A Third World War has been avoided.

And down the decades, we had other historic accomplishments, including: Peace treaties and peacekeeping Decolonization Adoption of Human rights standards

The triumph over apartheid Humanitarian aid for millions of victims of conflict and disaster The eradication of key diseases Landmark pacts to protect the environment and our planet

And most recently, the unanimous support for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change provided an inspiring vision for the 21st century.

The recent attribution of the Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme is another demonstration of the key role of the UN in tackling hunger and malnutrition.

When I was appointed as UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, a senior official from New York told me: “You can’t understand the UN, without knowing the role of the Philippines in the organization”. Now, with just a few months in the country, I realized that this person was not exaggerating.

The Philippines is one of the 51 founding members of the UN, signing the United Nations Charter in San Francisco back in 1945 and as we know, the Philippines continues to be a very active Member State.

We have recently seen this engagement on a number of occasions, such

as the participation in the Global Compact for Migration; in the Global Compact on Refugees; in the participation last year in the High-level Political Forum of ECOSOC, where the Philippines presented its second Voluntary National Review on progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.

We have also seen another example of such engagement in the recent Human Rights Council where the Philippines and an important number of Member States agreed—jointly with the Un—to set up the first-ever UN Joint Programme on Human Rights.

Two years ago, the United Nations Country Team and the Philippines signed the Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development, which reflects the strategic support of 17 UN entities to the Philippine Development Plan.

Most recently, as a result of Covid-19, the UN Country Team in the Philippines has been working on 3 fronts:

Firstly, the implementation of a large-scale health response, guided by the World Health Organization ( WHO). This intervention has allowed to support the Department of Health to carry out infection control and contact tracing, support public health communication to protect and avoid further spread while also advising on well-being and mental health. Through the COVAX Facility, the UN and the Government are collaborating to ensure effective access to vaccination against Covid-19.

Secondly, we mobilized a robust network of national and international non- government organizations, UN agencies and the private sector around the Philippines Humanitarian Response Plan, to address the most immediate needs of 5.4 million of Filipinos. This plan, which gathers the capacities of more than 60 humanitarian partners, is a concrete demonstration of a close partnership between government institutions, national and international NGOS, the private sector and the critical support of the international community.

Thirdly, we have started—since my arrival in June—a review of the existing programming and plans to better realign our support to the government in the recovery phase of the Covid-19 crisis. We are at the final stage of this process and will shortly launch an innovative 3-year “UN Socioeconomic and Peacebuilding Framework for Covid-19 Recovery” which will mobilize the whole UN Development System in support of Government’s Recovery Plan.

The framework will make the most of the capacities of 21 UN entities. It will harness the potential of innovative partnership with international financial institutions and the private sector. It will promote South-south and triangular cooperation, it will increase funding from SDGS global funds and will make sure that the country benefits from regional knowledge platforms.

I also take the opportunity to express our appreciation to the bilateral partners of the Philippines, who channel contributions through the United Nations and make our work here possible. Please keep those resources coming, your engagement matters a great deal.

As we see, we face a foundational moment.

Those who built the United Nations 75 years ago had lived through a pandemic, a global depression, genocide and world war.

They knew the cost of discord and the value of unity.

Today, we face our own 1945 moment.

If we are to emerge from this crisis stronger, better prepared to meet other crises and build more resilient futures, we must be united. We must act in solidarity to ensure that no one is left behind.

This is the reason we celebrate UN Day every year.

Thank you very much for being here with us tonight.

United Nations! Philippines!