Eighty years ago today, fifty nations gathered in San Francisco to sign the UN Charter.
In doing so, they proved that rights could triumph over force; that hope could triumph over despair.
The United Kingdom is proud to have helped shape that vision.
Eighty years on, “we the people” are an international community of 193 Member States; of 8.2 billion people around the world; from megacities to rural plains, from rainforests to deserts, from islands to landlocked nations.
Together, the Charter remains one of our greatest accomplishments.
Let it unite us now, as it did then, in the pursuit of peace, security, development and human rights.
In pursuit of the Charter’s enduring principles of sovereign equality, peaceful dispute resolution and the dignity and rights of all people.
We look to the UN as the touchstone of those rights and hopes.
But today, we see war and conflict stalling the progress that perhaps once felt inevitable.
But progress is not inevitable. It takes resolve. It takes hard work. It takes negotiation and compromise.
So on this 80th anniversary, let us turn towards the Charter and remind ourselves of the hard-won gains and the hard-learned lessons of the past.
The UK will work with the Secretary-General and Member States to deliver meaningful reform at UN80 for a more efficient and effective UN – that delivers what the Charter promises and that allows every one of us to realise our enshrined rights and hope for a better future.
