YouSaid · the spoken record

Kersti Kaljulaid

lines on the record: 76
first: 2017-09-24
most recent: 2021-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We were also able to draw attention to the ever-deteriorating situation of children in armed conflicts, which has been further amplified by COVID-19. But we know that is by no means enough. Tangible action is needed more than ever. The United Nations relies on cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character. However, solidarity is achieved in practice only if we follow the principles of solidarity every single day. There is great potential for solidarity in the United Nations, regardless of the problems we are collectively facing. If there is a will, there is always a way. We remain ready to serve the United Nations.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“There can be no democracy, security or development without half of humankind. When looking at the future, we need to talk about the rights and protection of children, particularly in situations of conflict. In Afghanistan, at least 45 per cent of the population is children under 15 years of age. They need protection, access to education and health care, or we will add to the never-ending cycle of conflict. Estonia, as an elected member of the Security Council, has placed special emphasis on the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace processes and on the fight against sexual and gender- based violence. We have tried to give a voice to women human rights defenders by inviting them to brief the Security Council.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“As an elected member of the Security Council, we continue to keep the issue of Russia’s aggression in the Donbas and the illegal annexation of Crimea on the Council’s agenda. That is also why we must talk about migration flows affected by instability and unrest in different continents. That is why Estonia supports the idea of a summit for democracy, hosted by President Biden. That is why Estonia, for its part, is hosting the next Global Conference for Media Freedom in order to boost the synergies of the Internet and media freedom in a context where journalists and media workers are more and more dependent on Internet freedom and modern technologies. Advancing media freedom also goes hand in hand with combating disinformation. That is why we continue to support the rights of women and girls around the world.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Countries are exporting what they actually are and what happens inside their own country. Countries that repress their people also spread fear to other countries and societies. That is why we have to talk about the repression in Belarus. We must stand in solidarity against the aggressive and destabilizing behaviour of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and continue to believe that the will of the Belarussian people should be the main guideline for shaping the future of the Republic of Belarus. That is why we cannot forget about the occupied Crimean peninsula or the situation in Eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has our strong and unwavering support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the non-recognition policy of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. Security is indivisible. Ukrainian security is also ours.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“As an elected member of the Security Council, we were pleased to host the Council’s very first official discussion on cybersecurity earlier this year (see S/2021/621), which enabled us to raise awareness on threats to international peace and security stemming from the malicious use of cyberspace and to create momentum for the implementation of our existing framework. Discussions on cybersecurity and cybercrime must ensure that we make a concentrated effort to implement the rules of the road that we already have. We cannot go down that road without bringing companies and civil society along. Legal frameworks are of the utmost importance, but laws alone do not protect us. We also need empathy, democracy, the rule of law, good governance and the flexibility to adopt changes caused by COVID-19, among other things.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“The framework articulates the common vocabulary, interests, values, principles and standards we need to safeguard democracy and ensure that democratic countries respond to the global demand for physical and digital infrastructure by offering an alternative of a higher quality and higher standard to those connectivity providers that do not share our love of free societies. Estonia has been among those working to create a normative framework for responsible State behaviour in cyberspace since its early days. At its heart is international law, including the Charter of the United Nations in its entirety, international humanitarian law and human rights law. As the host nation of the independent Tallinn Manual, which is starting its third run, we emphasise that wholeheartedly.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Instead, we have to help those that want to use digital tools for the benefit of their citizens, not their detriment and oppression. It is important for Estonia that the basis of our cooperation is formed by shared values, principles and interests, all of which fundamentally hinge on trust, especially trust created through digital means. At the recent Tallinn Digital Summit, we discussed how to utilize trust, transparency and the free flow of data to make large-scale, cross-border infrastructure investments trustworthy. The collective concern of Governments and international organizations demonstrated the need for a shared framework to underpin our cooperation — Trusted Connectivity.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“The digital transformation and the integrated data economy present one of the greatest opportunities for our future and can make our countries more efficient. That is particularly important for small countries with limited resources. There is also another important aspect of digitalization that we can never forget, which is digital technologies as an equalizer. Last year, in order to prevent the emergence of digital inequality and division, Estonia and Singapore co-sponsored a global declaration on the digital response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, entitled “Close the Digital Divides: the Digital Response to COVID-19”. Of course, the value we can extract from tools is contingent on their utility — the manner in and the purpose for which those tools are used. We must not help repressive States become more efficient.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“In the nineteenth century, the importance of a nation was based on its natural resources and territory. In the twentieth, it was based primarily on military force. Today, a country’s main resource is its people — not merely as tools of production, but as individuals with rights and freedoms, as well as their unbounded imagination, ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Only truly free people are creative enough to thrive in the twenty-first century, and only democracies can give their people that freedom. That is why democracy, human rights and the rights of nations are the most important tools for peace and prosperity. Long-term peace and prosperity can be born only of respect for basic rights. In Estonian minds, the technological transformation cannot be separated from respect for those basic rights and freedoms.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“The strategy foresees the development of common data standards and an increase in the quality of environmental data. It also aims to foster cross-border data-sharing and interoperability and improve countries’ environmental monitoring capacities and data analysis methods. To support the process, Estonia is launching a global alliance—the “data for the environment alliance”—that will bring together countries interested in improving the quality and accessibility of environmental data and developing digital solutions. Since environmental problems cross national borders, we should do away with all borders when using environmental data. The alliance will be launched during the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly in February 2022. Every country can make a difference, regardless of its size.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“We are all responsible for the future, and we all have to do our part. On 17 September, Estonia, together with our Baltic friends Latvia and Lithuania, celebrated our thirtieth anniversary of joining the United Nations. Thirty years is a bit more than one human generation. Today Estonia is an elected member of the Security Council. Over the years, we have not only been consumers of security but also responsible security contributors in various regions of the world, from the Sahel to Afghanistan to Iraq. In March 2019, as the president of the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, Estonia led the adoption of a ministerial declaration whereby countries all over the world agreed to create a global environmental data strategy by 2025.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“For example, we were not on track to reach our Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030. The data gathered by the H6 Partnership institutions, with which I work as United Nations Global Advocate, predict that we will have to rethink many of our development strategies in order to gain the ground lost in pandemics and then some. The shadow pandemic of starvation and the lack of access to education and medical care will continue, at least until we manage to vaccinate the global population, and then it will take yet more time to reverse the negative trends. Estonia is contributing at least 900,000 vaccine doses. Almost every adult in Estonia who gets a shot donates one to someone else globally. Without vaccinating the global population, there will be no way to even start the recovery from the shadow pandemic.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“As the United Nations Global Advocate for Every Woman Every Child, it makes me sad that the progress seen during the past two decades in Afghanistan could be reversed so quickly. While despairing for Afghan women’s right to participate in society in any normal way, we must not forget that the opportunities for women and children globally have been hard hit by the pandemic. Even the most developed countries are not exempt. The statistics on women’s participation in the workforce and their proportion among the unemployed, the number of women unable to receive ante- or postnatal care and the number of children deprived of school meals are the silent testimony, a dark shadow, of the pandemic — the shadow pandemic. The situation was not good even before the coronavirus disease hit.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Those who suffer the most continue to be the most vulnerable in our societies — women, children and adolescents. When I visited Afghanistan in April, I had the opportunity to meet people who had grown up in a society of reconstruction and hope for the future. The women worked as midwives and had the chance to go to school and work, take care of their own families and assist others with their knowledge and experience. Today, their future looks grim, to say the least, as does the situation in the whole country. Their humanitarian needs are enormous. Approximately half of Afghanistan’s population, more than 18 million, is in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, including women and children.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“World Clean Up Day, launched by Estonians in 2008, is now one of the largest civic movements of our time, uniting approximately 160 countries around the world for a cleaner planet. The simple act of cleaning has become a force that binds together people and groups who would otherwise never dream of working for the same goal. It is a great example of the grassroots power of people united by technology and the will to do something themselves to save our planet. But while our people can organize themselves and do much by and for themselves, they may not be able to do it all, because conflicts still ravage many countries and new ones have emerged. Wars continue to be fought from Ukraine to Syria. Authoritarian regimes such as Belarus, for example, have come up with new hybrid tools to attack democratic societies with innocent people.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“From that point on, they can hope that the planet will slowly get better again. If we can now stop climate change by following the attitudes of more supportive Governments towards the weak in societies and finding the same fervour that we all had in the quest for vaccines, future generations will recognize this decade of this century as the great recovery. If we fail, it will be seen as the beginning of the end. I hope it will be the former, but even if that hope is justified, there are many other urgent problems that we need to focus on while keeping the big picture in the forefront of our minds. Last Saturday, people in more than 160 countries across the globe united to clean up the world. In the past three years, more than 50 million people across the world have joined that initiative.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“If we truly concentrate our financial and scientific efforts globally on a problem, we can overcome it, but only if we really feel its urgency. I feel encouraged about the fight against climate change, which is at least as dangerous to the human race as a pandemic. That urgency is now widely accepted. We will overcome climate change someday. The day will come when humankind will be able to look back and find that we have reduced the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That will not be the day when we see planet Earth calming down. The unexpected storms, the heatwaves in places with otherwise moderate temperatures and the snow in regions that are not used to its cold bite will continue even when we have stopped the trend of rising emissions. However, it will be the day we give back hope to our children.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Kenya will not turn back, because even when travel is safe again, why should someone make a trip of hundreds of kilometres to be heard? That is an encouraging example. Through the tears we have shed for our lost ones and from the despair and devastation, solutions have emerged that will enable our societies to become better and more egalitarian. I hope all Governments that have seen the benefits of online service provision will continue down that avenue. It helps people from rural areas and women with small children who are unable to go and queue at Government offices. It helps people with special needs have better access to what societies can offer them. There is another positive takeaway from the pandemic.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“I am so sorry that we have not been able to meet together for so long. I feel especially sorry that the conversations we started with many of those here on digital development and digital underdevelopment have been discontinued. But brainstorming sessions, hackathons and similar events have continued online, in particular delivering fresh ideas at lightning speed on how to best overcome or circumvent the circumstances into which we were all suddenly thrown. I am proud that we all rushed online globally to reach out to each other, provide educational support, develop e-court services and to the extent that we could, deliver via contactless systems. My special acknowledgement goes to the Chief Prosecutor of Kenya, who has made sure that Kenyan people can turn to the courts and receive verdicts even when they are unable to travel or meet.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“There is no better option than the UN, and we remain responsible and active partner to all other UN members during this crisis and beyond.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“Overall, the pandemic has even reinforced some of the consequences of conflicts, for example the health and well-being of the most vulnerable — the children, women and adolescents. The pandemic has been used as a pretext to lift sanctions or restrict humanitarian aid. New divisions have emerged. This, my friends, is unacceptable. My dear UN family, We are 75 this year. The UN is and remains the cornerstone of our multilateral world order. There is no alternative to it. It is the best possible forum to address global issues from peace and security to new emerging threats. It’s a forum where everybody has a voice. From here in Estonia, I can promise you that we shall continue standing for multilateralism and international law, imperfect as it feels for those impatient to resolve the crisis’ of our world.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“But digital development comes also with its vulnerabilities and risks that is associated with cyber security. As an elected member of the UN Security Council since January this year we have kept our campaign promise to bring it to the formal table of the Security Council. Which we did already in March and continued in May. Because Estonia has the habit of keeping its word. Dear colleagues, As we tackle the global pandemic, conventional and unconventional threats have not disappeared. The world around us is as unpredictable and unsecure as it was before. Take the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Syria. Or the conflict in Sahel and the recent devastating disaster in Lebanon. As well as the grave human rights violations in Belarus.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“By digitalising these problems we can only make things worse, unless we simultaneously rise transparency and straighten out our processes. Thus digitalisation can make our states more efficient and bring closer to our people. Digital technologies also serve the fight against climate change. Smart grids, matching power supply and demand, developing digital solutions for that, is big part of CO2 neutral economy to come. Green energy production is intermittent. We must balance this by not only developing reserve capacities like pump storage or hydrogen, but also to even out peak demands by smart consumption management. In a way the pandemic and its aftermath gives us an opportunity for a great global technological leap. Digital solutions can make our societies more equal, more resilient, more accessible and sustainable.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“Estonia, as a late industrialiser, serves as a role model for countries looking to leapfrog with the help of technologies. We are contributing to development of e-services globally, notably in Africa through digital memorandum between Estonia and African Union. This year we will also organise a Global Digital Business Summit together with the United Arab Emirates. Our small and medium sized enterprises are building e-services to other nations, cooperating with local partners to achieve tailor-made solutions and increase resilience of the digital ecosystems. Because we know — every digital state will preserve its identity and culture also online. This is an advantage, but also a catch. Leaders globally must understand that digital services do not by themselves rid any country from fat bureaucracy, corruption or inefficiency.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“We saw less scramble than any other country to move everything online which previously ran on paper. High penetration rates of digital technologies in society, equal access to digital services promoted by both public and private sector over various age groups and different societal groups combined with strong, legally protected digital ID has helped a lot. We want the same for the rest of the world. We want equal opportunities for people globally to work from distance wherever they are. We want equal opportunities for people with special needs and homebound women to be able to work through digital means, intermittently as their schedule allows. We want global free labour market, which does not necessitate people to migrate, but stay where they want. 30 per cent of jobs in Estonia are doable from distance.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“Bitter worry about the survival of the humankind and constant hard work in multilateral organisations to make sure we avoid global fights over limited resources. A lesson about the need to avoid restricting human rights and freedoms for the survival of the fittest. A lesson about the importance of technology and digital solutions, both to avoid health related risks and to stop unnecessary pollution of our planet. A lesson about fair burden sharing in fighting the climate change, fair access to technology to promote more equal opportunities for people globally, fair and transparent means to control that technology is not used to harm our societies. Estonia is the world’s first digitally transformed state, where all public services run online. Disruption by pandemic was limited to upscaling e education and distant working.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“Honoured President of the General Assembly, Secretary General Guterres, Dear Members of the UN family, My Brothers and sisters, French author Albert Camus has written: “There have been as many plagues in the world as there have been wars, yet plagues and wars always find people equally unprepared.” Last year we all gathered in New York for the traditional UN General Assembly that now seems to be in a distant past and the occasion itself to belong to a world that doesn’t exist anymore. The pandemic that gave a thorough shock on our way of life also taught us a lesson. A lesson about what does climate change mean in reality — loss of diversified ecosystems, risks of the co-habitation of people and all other species in crowded towns.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“This tool has to be sharpened, it has to be supported by new technologies, and it has to be connected to civil societies through digital means, allowing individual efforts to join with global movements; but it can never be replaced.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“I would encourage us all to take the 12 months leading up to the birthday party as an opportunity to think about what we can do, both individually and jointly, to safeguard and strengthen the United Nations and multilateralism. The reality is simple; this global, interlinked and globally warming world cannot survive unless our goodwill and positive actions go beyond the artificial limitations created by the various fragmentations of global society, which from the viewpoint of humankind as a whole are artificial — fragmentations that have dogged us and keep dogging us. It is the lack of true multilateralism and of true and idealistic thinking for the benefit of humankind as a whole that continues to undermine the positive effects of our global efforts. We must overcome this obstacle, and the United Nations is our tool to do so.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Instead, it is more efficient to use wood for making products, which is not only carbon-neutral but carbon-positive, as such products store carbon for their entire lifetime. We in Estonia appreciate this, and every fourth wooden house exported globally is made by Estonians. Climate change and environmental degradation is an area where we need to share collective responsibility. In this battle we are all on the same side; that is the only way we can win. We have one good example from the past where our collective efforts once paid off. It was back in 1987, when we agreed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out numerous substances that were responsible for its depletion. As a result, the ozone hole in Antarctica has been slowly healing. Next year we will be celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Security issues related to climate change are addressed further by the Group of Friends on Climate and Security, in which Estonia participates. Science tells us that climate change is happening and imminent, and it also indicates the best practices to tackle it. In our quest for the best solutions, we must rely on science. There is a common perception that replacing fossil fuels with biomass is carbon-neutral, whereas science has told us that this is not entirely correct. Renewable energy is not necessarily carbon-neutral. In fact, burning wood can actually increase carbon dioxide emissions and would make it even harder for us to reach climate-neutrality goals by mid-century.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Many people across the globe are already experiencing threats regard to their livelihoods and, indeed, lives. The Himalayan glaciers have been melting at double the rate since the turn of this century, threatening water supplies throughout Central, South and East Asia. Arctic permafrost is melting decades earlier than even worst-case scenarios had predicted, threatening to unlock vast amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Many people in small island developing States live in constant fear of inundation by rising seas. The situation will only get worse unless we address it now, with ambition and urgency. Yet our efforts and progress are far from being sufficient to avert the obvious adverse effects of this global crisis, a crisis that no country can solve alone.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“It is an obstacle to making each and every microgrid globally rely on renewables and to developing access to electricity among those who currently have none. Only the United Nations can help us overcome this fragmentation. We welcome the first global Climate Action Summit as a sign that the United Nations is ready for this challenge. Climate change remains the greatest existential challenge that the world is facing. In this light, it is disturbing to note that we still keep subsidizing, to the tune of trillions of dollars, its source — the fossil fuel industry. The destructive force of climate change is not evenly distributed around the world. Some places are more vulnerable than others. However, no place on Earth will be untouched, and none of us can escape it.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We need these civic movements, among other things, to encourage policymakers to see that idealism and a readiness to act for the benefit of humankind today and the children yet to be born still exists. That allows us politicians to set aside resources for stopping climate change, which will inevitably reach and probably exceed 1 per cent of the global gross domestic product. The main reason we are not globally efficient in putting existing technologies for green energy production into practice is due to the fragmentation of our actions. It is an obstacle to global grid development and it is an obstacle to harnessing solar energy for the benefit of us all, even though we know that a surface smaller than the territory of Spain is all we need to cater for the global energy needs of us all.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Sometimes we associate their ability to change our world only with the negative — closed bubbles, an antagonistic debate style, disruption of work patterns and risks to our social service provision by allowing a global jobs market incompatible with our industrial era tax models. But this ability can also be used to mobilize the masses for good, making a real difference. Estonia’s pledge to become climate neutral is open to all start-ups and other green-minded companies ready to support grass-roots movements to save our planet. I urge everyone to join. Today, one week after initiating the process, the number of signatories has already more than doubled and spread beyond Estonia, now covering more than 70 companies across Europe.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Nowadays, with the help of technology, we can shoulder this responsibility and feel the serious global effect of the action of each and every person. World Cleanup Day took place just last Saturday, when for the second year in a row the civil movement born in Estonia spread to 179 countries and territories, including Antarctica, and involved over 20 million people and counting. Encouraged by this, the Estonian start-up sector underwrote a memorandum with global ambitions, promising to be climate neutral in all their actions by 2030. They bring some serious market power and start-up thinking to the table, including their ability to quickly and globally mobilize masses of people.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We also strive to use our own development resources, leveraged by those of the European Union and the United Nations, to suggest State-building based on digital solutions, seeing the potential of the Internet and mobile access even among the poorest. It allows States to provide for their people, starting with population registries, effortless access to online birth registration and online learning tools for those whose access to classical schooling is limited by geography, ongoing conflict, social stigma or disability. We see the Internet as a wonderful tool for educating girls and offering jobs for women globally, thereby reducing global population growth by emancipating women. We support the view that saving our planet is also the civic responsibility of each and every one of us.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We support the thematic consolidation of United Nations actions and regional focus on its aspirations, such as the High-Level Steering Group for Every Woman Every Child, or the better common management of United Nations actions in various countries. We also support those, like the African Union, that say they want to be much more independently responsible yet supported by the United Nations in taking steps towards a collective regional approach to long-standing problems. Through the United Nations Development Fund, UNICEF and other United Nations bodies, we participate in resolving global miseries.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Estonia has already declared its own intention to apply national and international law where cyberspace is concerned. We invite all nations to do the same in order to clarify how international law applies in the digital sphere. We support and also actively participate in the reform efforts of the United Nations, led by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. We want the United Nations to be ready to lead in the twenty-first century, fully benefiting from the technological advances of humankind that have made it much easier for those who are not big and powerful — the majority of United Nations Member States — to follow and contribute to the Organization’s various bodies and numerous discussions.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We have a lot of long-standing and painful issues to tackle, such as the fate of women and children in conflict zones, but we also have new, emerging challenges related to new technologies. Estonia is to this day the world’s only digitally transformed nation, running its Government totally online, but many are following us into the cybersphere. New threats to our sovereignty are emerging, related to cybercrime, as well as cyberspace as the new military domain. While Estonia contributes globally to the leapfrogging efforts based on e-governance, we also recognize our responsibility to protect cyberspace as well. Hence, we are striving towards a better application of international law in the digital space, as well as in our work in the Security Council.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We are ready to serve our electorate and all others, too, as true service for humankind in a multilateral system always demands. We will talk with countries, not just about them. Respect for the international rule of law and the efforts made by those who preceded us in implementing it will guide our actions, our decisions and our debates. We have nothing but respect for varied yet sincere positions and opinions on how to resolve the pressing issues we are facing to support our decision-making. Those steered by compassion for humankind and for the planet we inhabit can always rely on Estonia. The moral authority of the United Nations as the global carer for humankind is dear to our hearts.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We care about nations facing famine and famine-induced disturbances due to climate change. We care about nations depending on this multilateral cooperation, based on the rule of law, which is the United Nations. We care because we know that true harmony for humankind — which has not yet been achieved — depends on our capacity to show compassion for the fate of others. Multilateralism is nothing but showing compassion for the fate of others. Compassion was shown to us when we regained our independence and rebuilt our State. We are now ready to return this compassion shown to us. We are ready to take an elected seat for the period of 2020-2021 behind the most difficult table of international cooperation — the Security Council.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“This year, Estonia celebrates the fortieth anniversary of the Baltic Appeal by undertaking a responsibility that we could not even dream about during the occupation — becoming an elected member of the Security Council of the United Nations. We took this responsibility because we care. We care about the weaker and the weakest among States and within societies. We care about those whose voice needs amplification by the multilateral world in order to be heard. We care about nations facing genocide and we care about their women and children. We care about nations facing long-term conflicts and suffering from terror and we care about their generations of boys for whom the only known profession is that of a soldier. We care about nations facing extinction through a slow weapon of mass destruction — the climate catastrophe.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Forty years ago, forty years after Europe had been divided between those with power — between those who never hesitated to use their power to the benefit of their own nations and to the detriment of others — 45 people from the Baltic States sent out an appeal to the United Nations, the European Union and the countries involved. Their appeal, later known as the Baltic Appeal, carried the hope that multilateral cooperation based on the rule of law could deliver for the small occupied States located between the two global blocs — the liberal democratic world and the Soviet Union. Just 12 years later, the three Baltic States rejoined the world of free and independent States. This was a victory for democracy and multilateral cooperation.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Words are important, but they are not sufficient if they are not followed by concrete action. Wars and conflicts continue, global warming is speeding up and the piles of litter around us just keep growing. We all have equal responsibility to be more proactive in preventing and meeting the challenges of our times. When we are feeling helpless, it is sometimes best to do the little thing we know we are able to do. Globally, if we all do our bit, things can only get better. Our globe cannot take any more free-riding; any more hand-wringing and saying “we cannot”; any more inaction; any more hiding behind our current comforts — so let us just get up and go get things done.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We stand to protect what the developed world has achieved, what the World Trade Organization stands for, and what aspiring regions and bodies have set out to achieve — for example, freedom of trade and work in Africa through legal space-setting by the African Union. We wish them speedy success, and we stand by them to help where we can with our own leapfrogging experience in digital technologies. Empathy starts at home. If we want to care about others, we need to care about ourselves and about the people and environment around us. Being connected and dependent on each other more than ever, we simply cannot afford to be self-centred and ignorant. We all need to see the bigger picture. Empathy can easily be translated into efficiency if we really wish to get things done.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“New technologies should always be seen as enablers. They create equal opportunities if supported by proper policies. The risks related to them should not be ignored, also because they do not replace but rather enhance most of our conventional risks. But well-set international legal space should be able to deliver for humankind and avoid Armageddon scenarios. No new technology can thrive in a fragmented world. Now more than ever, we need global free trade as an essential element of fostering long-term development and growth. Estonia, as a small, export-dependent country, is an advocate of free trade, including through creating better market access for developing countries and improving business conditions for investments. Trade and economy are closely linked with security, as history has so often demonstrated.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Furthermore, we unwaveringly support the proposal of President Emmanuel Macron of France, together with Mexico, the Netherlands and other States, that in the face of great human suffering, the permanent members should voluntarily refrain from the use of their veto. Furthermore, with respect to efficiency, information and communications technology can revolutionize entrepreneurship, education, employment in general, and even health care. Digital online services provide economic growth, bring down unnecessary barriers between citizen and State, as well as between businesses and sectors, and transcend geographical limits. Estonia has shared its knowledge with many nations of the world and will continue to do so, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, the African Union and all those interested and willing.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“On Security Council reform, we need to win more space for common ground. Peoples and States, both big and small, should feel that the Security Council acts in their best interests. Too often, the Council falls victim to its internal differences and clumsy procedures. However, it should not be rendered powerless, especially when mass atrocities are being committed. We, together with the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) group, have called for Security Council members to feel the responsibility and be held more accountable if they block action against breaches of international humanitarian law. It is telling that 117 States have already signed the ACT group’s code of conduct.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“I wish to demonstrate how many good ideas there are around the world — ideas that have already been found and tried, but only on a small, scale, and that help someone, somewhere, waiting to be discovered and up-scaled in order to help as many in the world as possible. I hope to provide recognition, but also the dissemination of best practices, which are often the same thing. That is how I can personally get something done. In terms of efficiency — and that is my third key word — nothing is more important than truly effective multilateralism. Due to its inclusiveness, the Organization holds great legitimacy and, due to its high standards, it is a moral force. International law should be the primary yardstick of national interest. Those not so powerful, small States, understand that well.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)