“The UN Charter at 75:  Multilateralism in a Fragmented World” High-Level Forum was held online on June 10. The event was organized by the Forum of Small States (FOSS) chaired by Singapore, the UN75 Office and UN The Elders. The opening remarks were delivered by Vivian Balakrishnan, the Foreign Minister of Singapore, Tijjani Muhammad Bande, President the United Nations General Assembly, António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and Mary Robinson, the Chair of UN The Elders.

In his remarks Minister Mnatsakanyan thanked the Foreign Minister of Singapore  Vivian Balakrishnan for this initiative dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Charter. Minister Mnatsakanyan underscored that 193 member states of the United Nations and the smaller states amongst them are the manifestation and materialization of the rights of all our peoples to self-determination, to be a sovereign voice in international relations, and to work together towards materializing what is in the charter of the UN, to speak on behalf of “we the people”, on behalf of the people.

“In 75 years, the UN has created extraordinary examples of multilateralism. Extraordinary examples in many ways, in every area - whether     it is in security, in development, or in Human Rights, in other areas, which require cooperation, which require collective action, which require multilateralism. 

75 years has also made it more than obvious to all of us that we depend on each other. The global pandemic has brought suffering to many in the international community, no one has been spared, but it is also a reflection on our vulnerabilities, a reflection on the shrinking space: of humanitarian space, global solidarity and trust in multilateral institutions.

This is a sort of call for action, this is the test of our resilience, the test of our collective capacity.”

Minister Mnatsakanyan expressed gratitude to the present UN Secretary General António Guterres for his resilience against the pressures on multilateralism, the pressures on the United Nations. Underscoring the need to consolidate support to the Secretary General of the UN, the Minister highly appreciated his call for the global ceasefire as an extremely timely step and an urge for responsibility.

“There are many examples of good multilateralism. Over 75 years we have created considerable foundations for cooperation, legal foundations, including through many conventions and through many other instruments which bind us together. 75 years on, we still refer with full confidence to the powers of the Charter of the UN as the absolute global constitution for all of us. 

The 75th anniversary of the UN Charter stands as an important reminder about the collective powers of “we the people” and the faith in human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person.  Collectively, we should do more to help mitigate situations of crisis where the basic human rights are increasingly challenged. This necessitates a reinforced emphasis on the capacity of multilateral institutions to deliver adequate response.”

Concluding his remarks Zohrab Mnatsakanyan noted. “We - as Armenia, over two decades have been carrying a duty, we have taken upon ourselves a duty, together with other partners and also a moral imperative to help consolidate international efforts aimed at prevention of genocides, mass atrocities, strengthening early warning capacities to prevent future atrocities. The UN resolutions initiated by Armenia within the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council serve as the purpose of elaboration of strategies for the prevention of genocides, war crimes, crimes against humanity, which we are convinced are an important manifestation of effective multilateralism with consensual and substantive outcomes.”