President Donald Ramotar has lauded the work of the United Nations, including recent initiatives in peace-keeping, climate change and education.
Ramotar did so at the launch of the UN Guyana Country Team website at an exhibition held on Wednesday, to mark the 67th anniversary of the United Nations or UN Day.
Subsequent to the launch, the president was escorted to the exhibition, held on Main Street, by UN Resident Representative Khadija Musa and UN AIDS Country Coordinator Dr Roberto Campos, a press report from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
In his remarks, Ramotar reflected on the global circumstances that influenced the formation of the UN and its mandate to promote world peace and conflict resolution. He said UN Day is an important day in world history.
“This day came about after the second World War when some 56 million people lost their lives and it was so shocking to the human conscience that the leaders of that time decided to come together to work together to see that something like that never happened again… the fact that since then we have not had global configuration is testimony to the work the United Nations has been doing,” he said.
Ramotar also touched on climate change which has been engaging the UN at the level of the United Nations conference on sustainable development (RIO+20). The president also sits on a committee spearheaded by the Secretary-General to oversee the successful implementation of the ‘Education First’ initiative, aimed at increasing access to and the quality of education for children worldwide and for which US$1.5 billion has been garnered.
A message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was also aired at the function.
The Secretary-General described the UN as not just a meeting place for diplomats, but a “peacekeeper disarming fighters, a health worker distributing medicine, a relief team aiding refugees, a human rights expert helping deliver justice.” He also acknowledged the “profound turmoil,” “transition and transformation,” “insecurity, inequality and intolerance” being experienced globally, including the ongoing unrests in Syria and Palestine.
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared October 24, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, “to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for” its work.
