Statement by the High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the 70th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter
Brussels, 24 October 2015
Seventy years ago, representatives of 51 countries agreed the United Nations Charter which entered into force on 24 October 1945; today, 193 countries are members of the United Nations. We have succeeded to build a global community and indeed we need it.The challenges we face today are truly global in nature and an effective world governance has never been so crucial.
The European Union and the United Nations were both born as projects for peace, after the worst war in human history. But we share even more than the desire for peace. We are forward looking, promoting a positive global agenda that works towards peace, the respect for human rights and development for all.
The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development this year was a landmark achievement: the whole world has acknowledged that we can only move forward if we move together. At the Paris Climate summit in December we must take the next step. Climate change is having disastrous consequences in many countries and we need an ambitious and legally binding international agreement; we need it for future generations and we need it for ourselves.
At 70, the United Nations cannot afford to rest. No power alone – no matter how big – can take today’s world on its shoulders. Global challenges call for a global common effort: they will be tackled multilaterally or they will not be tackled at all.
At 70, the United Nations should also reflect on how to be fit for the next seven decades. The world has witnessed all too painfully where inaction can lead.
Robert Schuman – a founding father of our European Union – said that “world peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.” Collectively, we must be more creative than ever to fulfill the ambition that the founding fathers of the United Nations envisaged seventy years ago.
The European Union will keep such ambition high. We will try and make sure that the United Nations can provide the global tools the world so urgently needs. After seventy years, our common work has only just started.
Source: European External Action Service (EEAS)
