MESSAGE OF THE UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR, MR. ANDREW COX, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 24 OCTOBER 2010, 3:00 P.M. AT THE UN BUILDING

H.E. V.P. Dr. Waheed, Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Colleagues in the UN system, Partners and Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the UN system in the Maldives, I would like to welcome you to the UN premises and thank you for joining this afternoon’s commemoration of the founding of the United Nations.

As you are aware, the United Nations was established, in the aftermath of a devastating war, to help stabilize international relations and give peace a more secure foundation.  Sixty-five years hence, the United Nations is much more than a peacekeeper and forum for conflict resolution.   The United Nations and its family of agencies are engaged in a vast array of work that seeks to improve people’s lives around the world. 

The UN has been working in numerous areas of development and emergency/disaster preparedness in what is a growing field, while guided by core principles and values. 

These may sound like abstract concepts to some of us.  But the core of the UN’s work is in the final analysis about improving the conditions of individual women and men, regardless of race and religion to lead productive lives and live in dignity.

The UN system’s strategy has been to strengthen the capacity for good governance and to develop partnerships internationally and among national stakeholders. UN member-states are “being called to unite to strengthen the rule of law, recognize and address the needs of the poor, restrain man’s brutality and greed, conserve the resources and beauty of nature, sustain the equal rights of men and women, and provide for the safety of future generations.”[1] This guides the work of the UN system agencies in every country. This cannot be done by an individual country or organization, or even a group of a few like-minded people; the pursuits of these values require everybody’s commitment, perseverance and compromise.

This brings me to the theme of this year’s UN Day celebrations in the Maldives.

The ratification of a new Constitution and the smooth transition of political leadership in the Maldives have been acclaimed as a model for democratization by the international community.  In recent months, however,  the UN and other development  partners of the Maldives have watched with concern as  political disagreements have threatened to put the nation’s long-term interests at risk. The resulting damage has been considerable, with a growing sense of disillusionment with politics and perhaps with democracy itself amongst the general population.