Key note speech by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ms. Coumba D. Sow
Your Excellency Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, African Integration and Togolese Abroad, Professor Robert Dussey,
His Excellency Mr. Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, Former Prime Minister of the Togolese Republic,
Your Excellency Mr. Ambassador of the Republic of Niger, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, ambassadors, consuls, and honorary consuls,
Mr. Vice President of the West African Development Bank representing the President,
Mr. Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Distinguished heads of international organizations, dear technical and financial partners, Ladies and gentlemen, executives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dear agency heads and colleagues from the United Nations System,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a privilege for me to speak before this august assembly of women and men who embody the noble art of diplomacy.
It is also a responsibility to speak and reflect with you on a crucial question: how can the United Nations, 80 years later, continue to play its role in a world that is constantly evolving?
Allow me, at the beginning of my remarks, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres, to thank the President of the Council, His Excellency Mr. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, the entire government, and the people of Togo, for their hospitality on this land since 1961, the year of the opening of the first office of a United Nations agency in Togo, namely the WHO. Sixty-four years of growing and uninterrupted presence. Sixty-five years that Togo has been a member country.
I thank you, Mr. Minister, for making room for us within the framework of the LomĂ© Diplomatic Club, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. This is yet another proof of your hospitality and support. The United Nations is proud to be your partner on the path to optimizing the country’s resources—whether human, financial, social, cultural, tourist, or environmental—for sustainable development that leaves no one behind.
Mr. Minister
There is a fabric that a Nana Benz had named “Koffi Annan’s Brain” upon his appointment as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I firmly believe that hospitality and welcome are genuine when a country’s cultural heritage celebrates you. This year, a daughter and granddaughter of Nana Benz reissued a fabric of her grandmother’s from nearly 50 years ago and called it “All Peoples United” in honor of the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. It is the fabric I proudly wear today, which features designs of people connected by their heads, symbolically through their minds.
Excellency, Mr. Minister,
I also take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to your ministry for the strong partnership with all United Nations agencies, the very recent and successful organization of the LomĂ© Peace and Security Forum, in which two Special Representatives of the Secretary-General participated, is a tangible example. I would also like to acknowledge the consistency of Togo’s foreign policy. Togo has always been a staunch advocate of multilateralism and United Nations action, 65 years ago, when 80 nations were claiming their sovereignty, and Togo participated in all the debates.
But Togo is also a strong advocate for peace and dialogue on the African continent, from the Sahel to the Great Lakes, including Chad, Liberia, and many others, in perfect alignment with the United Nations Charter.
Even more recently, Togo, acting as a mediator of the African Union in the Great Lakes region, convened a summit for peace and humanitarian issues together with France, to which, once again, two Special Representatives of the United Nations Secretary-General were invited. In this divided world, where geopolitical divisions themselves pose a threat to the peace and security of each country and all, it is important to show courage and always stand on the right side of history.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The United Nations was born from the ruins of World War II, with a clear mission: to protect future generations from the scourge of war, to promote human rights, and to establish an international order based on common rules. The UN succeeded in accomplishing its first major mission: helping to resolve deadly conflicts around the world and in Africa, including those in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mozambique, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burundi, through peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions.
She also managed to prevent the chaos of a third world war and a nuclear attack.
Moreover, since 1945, the UN has carried out missions that were unimaginable at the time. Each year, the UN provides vital food and humanitarian aid to over 150 million people and supports countries in protecting refugees and migrants. It provides vaccines to 45% of the world’s children.
And it supports elections in dozens of countries. It is the pillar of international law – a framework of more than 80 conventions and treaties covering all areas, from anti-personnel mines to biodiversity, from agricultural chemicals to freedom of the press, and even access to drinking water. Thirty years ago, in Beijing, on the occasion of the Fourth World Conference on Women, more than 30,000 activists and representatives from 189 countries gathered thanks to the UN to discuss the measures needed to ensure gender equality. Together, they developed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which to this day remains the most comprehensive program regarding gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The proportion of women in parliaments worldwide has doubled since 1995. Here in Togo, a woman has been President of the National Assembly, and a woman has served as Prime Minister.
The establishment of gender parity within the United Nations system has become a priority and has led to 44.2 percent of professional and higher-level staff being women.Today, there are 62 women around the world representing the United Nations Secretary-General.We have established the Codex Alimentarius, which develops food standards, definitions, and criteria applicable to foods, helping to harmonize them and thus, in particular, to facilitate their processing, safe consumption, and international trade.When a disaster occurs, it is the UN that coordinates the global humanitarian response.
Together, we have:
Contributed to the decolonization of 80 nations, with Togo playing a frontline role;
We have begun the regeneration of the ozone layer;
And offered the world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Over eight certainly tumultuous decades, the United Nations has reinvented itself, proving that cooperation can prevail, even in humanity’s darkest hours.
In the face of these changes, the Member States you represent have made it clear to us that the UN must remain a beacon of stability, but also become a laboratory for innovative solutions.
The UN indeed remains the ultimate custodian of a body of values and norms that we have all adopted together:
1. The United Nations Charter, which places peace and cooperation at the heart of our relations, as eloquently described by the President of the Council in his video projected in New York during the celebration of the adoption of the United Nations Charter.
2. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which continues to inspire every movement for freedom, equality, and justice.
3. The Sustainable Development Goals, which embody a shared vision of a fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable future, renewed through the Pact for the Future.
In a world where some question the relevance of multilateralism, the UN must remind us that peace is never guaranteed, that human rights are never permanently ensured, and that international solidarity is not a luxury but a necessity.
We are living in an era where divisions – geopolitical, economic, technological, and social – are deepening. There is a great risk that nations will turn inward, as we have experienced in this region of West Africa.
Our world has entered an era of profound and rapid changes
.• The democratic space is shrinking.
• Conflicts are intensifying.
• And the global climate is deteriorating.
But the United Nations General Assembly remains the only truly universal space, where 193 States, even when there are concerns that they might no longer attend, continue to come together on an equal footing to engage in dialogue, confront their views, negotiate compromises, and sometimes prevent irrevocable consequences. From the General Assembly to the specialized Councils, the UN embodies the belief that cooperation is always preferable to confrontation, and that diplomacy is always more fruitful than silence or violence. The UN must not be merely a forum for discussion.
As I mentioned earlier, it must be a catalyst for solutions. And we have the capacity for that. Three examples can illustrate this capacity:
1. The fight against climate change: The Paris Agreement was made possible by the multilateral platform that is the UN. Even today, it supports countries in energy transition and adaptation to climate change. An army or an algorithm cannot stop rising temperatures. All nations together can!
2. The response to health crises such as HIV/AIDS, where we have accomplished remarkable work that we must consolidate, or the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrated how the UN, despite its limitations, played a vital role in coordination, alerting, and global solidarity. No single country could have managed it alone. All nations together, yes!
3. Reforms of global finance and digital governance: through ongoing discussions since Seville on development financing, particularly concerning multilateral banks and a fairer management of debt, especially for the least developed countries. The signing of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime – a key global treaty to protect people in the digital world and the first criminal justice treaty in over twenty years to make cyberspace a safe and secure place for everyone.
The UN thus offers a unique framework for thinking about the rules of tomorrow, all together.Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear diplomats,Without your commitment, none of this is possible. Everything I have just described was conceived by technicians, negotiated and adopted by diplomats within the United Nations.You are the architects of trust, the mediators of differences, the facilitators of compromise.In this world where truths clash and narratives oppose each other, diplomacy remains the art of building bridges, and the United Nations is the privileged space for erecting them.You have the responsibility to translate into concrete commitments the vision of a renewed multilateralism, capable of inspiring peoples, particularly the youth, who seek to believe in international cooperation.
Ladies and gentlemen
Allow me to add here a reflection on Africa’s central role and the work we are doing with its institutions. Too often perceived as peripheral, the continent is actually at the heart of global solutions.
Africa represents nearly a quarter of the UN member states. It holds 60% of the world’s untapped arable land, making it a decisive player for global food security. Its youth, the largest and one of the most dynamic in the world, is its strength and a unique driver of innovation and transformation. Through the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which the United Nations supports, Africa demonstrates that multilateralism can also operate at the regional level. For the UN, supporting Africa is not an act of solidarity; it is a strategic investment in the future of humanity, in our humanity. In Togo, all the United Nations of which you are members have shown this international cooperation by supporting the Togolese Government in achieving significant levels for the SDGs.
The United Nations agencies from Lomé to Cinkassé have worked hand in hand with the Togolese authorities and the population, for example:
- In reducing poverty with the improvement of Togo’s Human Development Index (HDI), reaching 0.571 and thus moving into the category of countries with medium human development.
- In the field of Education, with a net enrollment rate of 97.8% of children.
- In the field of Health, for example, 87% of children vaccinated and the zero-dose campaign that tracks and updates children who may have missed vaccination.
- Access to energy is now nearly 70%, compared to 50% just 5 years ago.We thank you, dear member countries, dear partners, for your constant support and your commitment to the United Nations agencies.
Your Excellency Mr. Minister,
We cannot discuss the ongoing role of the UN without mentioning its reform. The Secretary-General, Mr. AntĂłnio Guterres, recalled a little-known episode: in 1946, a New York worker named Paul Antonio, tasked with making the first ballot box for the Council, had slipped a note inside: “May God accompany every member of the United Nations and, through your efforts, bring lasting peace to all the peoples of the world.” “This note reminds us why the Security Council exists: for the people.”
For 80 years, the Security Council has shaped the UN and the course of history. A pillar of peace and security, it still reflects the geopolitics of 1945. Just over a year ago, Member States adopted the Pact for the Future – a roadmap aimed at adapting our international institutions to current realities. This pact includes reforming the United Nations Security Council so that its composition more closely reflects the current world order. Similarly, the United Nations development system must become more agile, closer to local realities, to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and support just, green, and digital transitions. Reform does not mean giving up.This means adapting the UN to a new world, without losing the essence of its mission. Reinventing the UN also means: Reinventing its language, to communicate with the new generations, including Gen Z, with whom Minister Professor Dussey had extensive discussions in a great atmosphere during the Lomé Peace Security Forum.
- Reinvent its methods to include more women, civil society, the private sector, local communities, and people living with disabilities.
- Reinvent its structures so that every region of the world – particularly Africa – is fully represented in global governance.
Excellencies, dear colleagues,
The UN is 80 years old this year. Some see it as an aging institution. I, born nearly 35 years after its creation, see it as proof that an idea born from the will of the people can endure through the decades, evolve with the times, and continue to embody hope. The ongoing role of the United Nations in a constantly changing world is precisely that:
- Offer a compass when landmarks become blurred,
- Offer a space for dialogue when divides widen,
- Offer solutions when challenges seem insurmountable.
And for this, we need an Africa at the heart of multilateralism and a reformed UN to better reflect today’s realities, and Togo is already playing a leading role in this.
Antonio’s ballot in the urn 80 years ago, Ayaba Yvette’s cloth today represent the hope that people carry within us. We have a duty – as diplomats, as international officials, as citizens of the world – to renew this contract of universal solidarity. It is the price to pay for peace, for dignity, for the planet. And it is worth the cost.
Thank you.