The President of Club de Madrid, Danilo Türk, joined Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland; Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly; Aya Chebbi, African Union Youth Envoy and Michèle Griffin, Policy Advisor of the UN Secretary to discuss how to bring about the commitments of the UN75 Declaration, a push to “reinvigorate multilateralism”.
President Türk talked about “solidarity” as a fundamental value for the future of the United Nations and the global community. In the view of Club de Madrid’s President, “vaccine nationalism” exemplifies this lack of solidarity and increases the gap between rich and poor countries.
“The world needs a people’s vaccine— not a profit vaccine”, said Türk. For this, the former President of Slovenia urged regulators to prevent monopolies, pharma companies should make prices affordable and states must guarantee a free distribution of the vaccine.
During his intervention, President Türk also addressed the need to speed up commitments to Sustainable Development throughout the Decade of Action that we just entered. To that end, the President of Club de Madrid proposed a World Social Summit by 2025 to rekindle consensus around development and Agenda2030. Read more in Club de Madrid’s Call to Action ‘Multilateralism Must Deliver’.
Fulfilling the Promise of the UN75 Declaration
Speakers:
-Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
-Danilo Turk, President of Slovenia (2007-2012)
-Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence, Ecuador
-Aya Chebbi, African Union Youth Envoy
-Michèle Griffin, Executive Office of the Secretary-General
Moderator:
-Ilona Szabo de Carvalho, Executive Director, Igarapé Institute
Background
On 21st September 2020 Heads of State from all corners of the world adopted the UN75 Declaration, recognizing that global challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, can only be addressed through “reinvigorated multilateralism”.
Now is the time to discuss ways to bring about this commitment. To that end, Coalition for the UN We Need (formerly known as UN2020 campaign) and Together First will launch a series of events to discuss the future of global cooperation. Danilo Türk, President of Club de Madrid and former President of Slovenia, will speak at the first activity organized by Coalition of the UN We Need in partnership with Club de Madrid and The Elders.
Since the beginning of last year, Club de Madrid has been leveraging the extensive international experience of its Members to advocate for an “equitable, secure and sustainable system of global cooperation”, as stated in the Call to Action of our 2020 Policy Diaolgoue ‘Multilateralism that Delivers’. Members of Club de Madrid have also supported the UN75 initiative, a global conversation to pursue a renewal of multilateral institutions, which resulted in the UN75 declaration. See our UN75 advocacy actions.
As the United Nations embarks on the Decade of Action, ten years that will be paramount to achieving Agenda2030, this activity will discuss how an inclusive and networked multilateralism can help to fulfil the commitments made in the Declaration and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
