The Stories that Deserve Attention During the UN General Assembly
By Kathy Calvin, President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation
If you ask Gatluak Ramdiet why the United Nations matters, his answer is simple: “If the UN didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be here today.”
For nearly half of his childhood, Gatluak and his brother relied on humanitarian assistance to survive while living in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. “All of the people on the ground at these refugee camps are true heroes … I know this firsthand from my own experience,” he said recently. “The work of the UN is often the only stability that most refugees know.”
Next week, thousands of diplomats, activists, journalists, humanitarians, and industry experts will convene at the United Nations for the start of a new session of the UN General Assembly. While much of the focus will fall on a handful of world leaders, we cannot forget the day-to-day work of the UN and its impact around the world. The courage and dedication of UN staffers is too often overlooked, while those affected by this work — people like Gatluak — too often go unheard.
“If the UN didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be here today.”
It’s easy to think of the UN as a big, impersonal institution. Our challenge is to put a face on its work and to share the stories of the UN’s very real impact: the stories of aid workers like Shirin Aktar of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), who assists Rohingya families in Bangladesh in what has become the largest refugee camp in the world, or Anjali Sen of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), who works with women and girls in Yemen, now home to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The UN is filled with stories of unsung heroes who answer the call to service, not just for their countries, but for the world: peacekeepers who put their lives on the line to stabilize communities, community workers who travel rough terrain to vaccinate children from deadly diseases, helping cut child deaths by more than half in a generation; scientists who analyze the health of our planet, giving us the information to act; and experts who make us safer by verifying the destruction of weapons, from biological threats to explosive devices.
These are the stories of the UN that we should focus on and support at the General Assembly.
While some have argued that the UN is no longer relevant, I say the opposite is true: It has never been more relevant. Our economies and our lives are more connected than ever before. Our problems don’t require passports. We share global challenges like climate change and conflict that can only be solved through global solutions.
“More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny”
Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said: “More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that is why we have the United Nations.”
The UN is the world’s platform to mobilize collective action — and it is working. It’s working on a large scale: the international community has cut global poverty rates in half, eradicated deadly smallpox, and fixed the hole in the ozone layer. It’s also working for countless individuals like Gatluak, who find food, peace, and hope with the UN.
Progress can only happen when we unite. While serious challenges remain, the answer is to come together instead of turning away from each other.
This is why the UN exists. To find common ground and spur collective action. To help the most vulnerable among us in times of crisis. To allow everyone, everywhere to fulfill our potential.
