As a country experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change firsthand, Mongolia has remained steadfast in contributing to global collective efforts to protect and preserve our natural environment. In this regard, Mongolia is successfully implementing a series of national policies and initiatives, including the Billion Trees, Food Revolution, White Gold, Blue Gold and Healthy Mongolian aimed at restoring degraded land, expanding forest resources, protecting soil, water and pasture land, ensuring food supply and security, and supporting sustainable rural development. Mongolia's Billion Trees national movement goes far beyond tree planting and afforestation. It is a comprehensive, nationwide initiative aimed at combating desertification and land degradation, scaling up land restoration, expanding forest resources, protecting soil fertility, water resources and biodiversity, mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change, improving food supply and creating employment opportunities. Furthermore, the United Nations General Assembly resolution initiated by Mongolia proclaiming 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, provides a new opportunity to raise global awareness of the importance of rangeland ecosystems, support the livelihoods of pastoralists, strengthen sustainable food systems, conserve biodiversity, and preserve the cultural heritage of nomadic peoples. In this regard, Mongolia, with its millennia old tradition of nomadic pastoralism, took the initiative to convene the Global Pastoralist Gathering and Conference in Ulaanbaatar. The gathering brought together around 400 herders from 57 countries, whose opinions and fruitful discussion of challenges and solutions culminated in the adoption of Ulaanbaatar Declaration. Moreover, in August, Mongolia successfully hosted the 17th session of the conference of the parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar under the theme Restoring Land, Restoring Hope. Restoring Mother Nature to its pristine state and creating conditions for future generations to live in a healthy environment with confidence and contentment, must be a noble duty of humanity. Mother nature and healthy soil are the guarantee of humanity's existence and the foundation of food and water resources, livelihood and sustainable development. Healthy soil means healthy food and healthy food means healthy people. Therefore, desertification, land degradation and drought should not be viewed merely as environmental issues, but should be addressed holistically in connection with food supply and security, water resources, livelihoods, sustainable development, and global peace and security. In this spirit, as the presidency of UNCCD COP17, Mongolia has advanced the Steppe Action Agenda built upon three interconnected flagship initiatives the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, the Water Land Nexus Initiative and the Nature based Solutions for Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative. Particularly, we regard the Rangelands Flagship Initiative as a landmark global movement that opens a new chapter in the history of rangeland conservation. This initiative is special in raising global awareness that the protection, sustainable management and restoration of rangelands are of strategic importance for building resilience to climate change, ensuring food security and maintaining balanced ecosystems. The nomadic way of life that we Mongols have inherited and carried forward over thousands of years embodies a comprehensive set of values and wisdom for living in harmony with nature and preserving it in its pristine state.

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Last year at this rostrum, I noted that Suriname is diversity. And at a time when diversity is too often manipulated as a source of division, Suriname has chosen the path to recognize the distinct histories of its people, while strengthening their unity and their shared responsibility for the future. Our experience affirms that diversity, when grounded in equality, mutual respect, and meaningful participation, is not an adversity. It is a source of national resilience and prosperity. Last month, the Republic of Suriname observed its first heritage month under the theme "Hoe wij hier ook samen kwamen, hoe wij samen verder gaan", meaning as much as "However we came here, united we move forward". This initiative was conceived not merely to celebrate our culture and the diversity in it, but as a deliberate national undertaking centered on growing inclusion, mutual respect, and unity. And this process is also relevant for the global community. Mr. president, the development of Suriname's offshore natural resources, including oil and gas, will present significant, significant opportunities to accelerate national development and improve the well-being of our people. Yet, we are equally conscious that oil and gas cannot and should not become the only foundation of our economy. Our approach is therefore clear. We must transform temporary resource wealth into lasting national prosperity, using resource revenues strategically to strengthen our economy and make it more resilient through diversification. Additionally, we will need to improve our energy security. And although we are preparing for gas to shore and gas to energy, renewable energy will be part of our national energy mix. Mr. president, beside the expected economic and energy transition, we must also prepare for the transformation driven by artificial intelligence. But only if we can implement AI responsibly and controlled, Suriname will be able to benefit from the opportunities of this technology and mitigate its risks. So we are preparing for that.

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Mr. president. I would like to also express my deep gratitude for the inscription during the most recent session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan of six medinas of the historic Comorian Sultanates on UNESCO's World Heritage List. This historic recognition is the fruit of 20 years of work and it honours our nation. I would like to express our gratitude to all of the partners who helped us technically and financially, and ultimately made this possible. Furthermore our country. In one year's time the Union of the Comoros will host. For the first time in its history the Indian Ocean Islands Games. This major youth sporting event promotes cohesion and personal development in a world. Far too often marked by division and rejection of diversity. And. Here I would like to. On behalf of the Comorian people, I would like to thank all of the countries and partners whose support has helped make this national and regional undertaking possible.

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Our experience in southern Africa has taught us that dialogue is a shared fortitude and not a weakness. In the African tradition, the meeting place is not where courage is abandoned. It is where wisdom is summoned. Lessons can be drawn from the heritage based approaches to peace building and conflict resolution from communities across the world, including within Africa. Military action may alter the battlefield, but durable peace is built through inclusive political processes that restore confidence, address grievances and allow affected communities to shape their socioeconomic and political destinies. Mr. president, Zimbabwe's grateful for the confidence placed in us through our election to the Security Council for the 2027 to 2028 term, my country will assume this responsibility in January 2027 with humility, independency and a readiness to serve, guided by our foreign policy of being a friend to all and an enemy to none. Accordingly, my country will prioritize for priorities in the Council. Firstly, the promotion of preventive diplomacy, mediation, a peaceful dispute resolution while tackling the underlying causes of insecurity. Secondly, we shall advocate for the strengthening of cooperation between the United Nations and the regional organizations such as the African Union and its Peace and Security Council. In this respect, we call for the full implementation of resolution 2719 to ensure predictable, adequate and sustainable financing for authorized African Union led peace support operations. Thirdly, our nation believes that our rich heritage and natural resource endowments must advance industrialization, modernization and the green agenda for the prosperity of all and not to finance conflict As such, Zimbabwe shall support Africa silencing the guns agenda and strong action against terrorism, organized crime, illicit arms flows, and illegal resource trafficking. Finally, women and young people must shape peace. From the outset, the support of Zimbabwe will also be extended to the women and youth peace and security agendas. The current times demand peace keeping that is grounded in clear political strategies, realistic mandates and adequate resources. Those most affected by the decisions of the Security Council should not be the least heard. There is need not only give a voice, but consider the views of the countries and regions on the Security Council agenda towards our shared aspirations for enduring peace and sustainable development.

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We call it Heritage Day. It is a day upon which we recommit to not just a united, but also a diverse nation. A day where we reassert that diversity is not a cause for division, but for celebration. Our strength is in our diversity.

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Mr. President, Secretary-General, Excellencies. There is an idea that has accompanied Andorra for more than 270 years, and that continues to shape the way that we understand politics. The Manuel Digest, one of the great works of our institutional heritage through which António Guterres condensed and recounted the essence of Andorran identity, reminds us that the legitimate exercise of power only makes sense when it places the common good above any other interest. This idea, written in 1748, long before modern international organizations came into existence, remains remarkably relevant today because multilateralism is nothing more than the application of this same principle to relations among nations: the understanding that the common good of the international community is inseparable from the well-being of each of our countries. In Andorra, this approach toward politics has enabled us to preserve more than seven centuries of peace, dialogue, and coexistence in harmony, not because history has been easier for us, but because we have learned the best way to protect freedom is to build trust, seek balance, and make compromise a form of governance. Perhaps it is precisely this experience that a small country such as ours can share with this great Assembly today.

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The first is the Tuvalu Digital Nation initiative that utilizes digital technologies to sustain our sovereignty, institutions and our capacity to deliver services to ensure that our national identity is not lost in the transformation. The second is the Tuvalu Digital Ark initiative, which seeks to preserve Tuvalu's culture and historical heritage in digital form. Mr. president, less than 24 hours ago, Member states endorsed in this very building the landmark United Nations political declaration on sea level rise, a monumental and gratifying achievement for Tuvalu, because Tuvalu was at the forefront of global efforts demanding such a declaration. For Tuvalu, sea level rise is not a future threat. It is a present reality. Tuvalu is therefore overwhelmed with joy and warmly welcome the commitments the declaration entails. Namely. Firstly, it affirms the continuity of statehood and sovereignty despite sea level rise. Secondly, it safeguards the permanence of maritime zones and rights established under the UN convention on the law of the sea. Thirdly, it recognises and protects the rights, dignity, culture, identity and heritage of affected people. Fourthly, it commits to strengthened adaptation and resilience. Fifthly, it calls for accessible, predictable and needs based climate finance. And sixthly. And it supports science, technology, data and knowledge systems that enable informed decision making and long term planning for vulnerable countries. The declaration affirms that Tuvalu's nationhood is not negotiable, that our maritime rights are not erasable, and that our people should never be forced to choose between their homeland and their future. Mr. president, for the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, Tuvalu is seriously concerned that the world is not on track to achieve them, because the consequences of such shortfall will be acutely felt by small island developing states. Of the SDGs, Tuvalu underscores the urgent need to accelerate progress on SDG 14 life below water, which is the least funded and least progressed. Yet it is the most fundamental to the survival and prosperity of small island developing states. Tuvalu calls on member States to expedite implementation of the commitments of the Third United Nations Ocean Conference, and to build momentum towards the fourth Conference in the Republic of Korea in 2028. Mr. president, climate change is and remains the single greatest existential threat to Tuvalu's survival, security and sustainable development.

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Solomon Islands therefore recognises the need for an inclusive and transparent international governance framework on AI. Mr. president, year after year, Pacific leaders have stood at this podium and urged the world to act on climate change. And yet, global action continues to fall short of what the science demands. For every passing COP, the impacts grow more severe. Our islands are being lost to the sea. Disasters are more frequent and more devastating. Food and water security is under threat and communities are being forced from their ancestral lands. Solomon Islands knows this reality firsthand. This year, Tropical Cyclone Maila, a category five storm, tore through our communities, destroying homes, schools, infrastructure and livelihoods. My government has just approved US$9.38 million for shelter recovery. That is money our essential services urgently need now diverted to deal with the impacts of this climate extreme. Like many Pacific Island countries, we are trapped in a relentless cycle of response, recovery and rebuilding. This is not sustainable, nor is it just. My people did the least to cause this crisis, yet they pay its earliest and heaviest price. That is the moral ledger that lies before this assembly. Last year, the International Court of Justice confirmed in its landmark advisory opinion that states have legal obligations to protect the climate system. Major emitters must make deep emission cuts and transition away from fossil fuels. Climate finance, including support for loss and damage, must be grant based and channelled through our national budget systems. Project based financing of climate action is unsustainable and out of step with the scale of a crisis we did the least to cause. Vulnerable countries should not have to choose between climate action and educating our children, caring for the sick or securing food and water. Yet that is the choice we face with every dollar we spend. We therefore call for the full capitalisation of the Pacific Resilience Facility, and an ambitious and timely third replenishment of the Green Climate Fund. Our region has long led on climate action, and we will continue to lead. The Pre-COP31 meeting, to be hosted in the Pacific by Australia in partnership with Fiji and Tuvalu, will bring the reality of climate change directly into the heart of the global process. I call on all parties and partners to come to that meeting and to COP31 with stronger commitments and concrete action. The communities on the frontline of the climate crisis deserve nothing less. Mr. president, Solomon Islands welcomes the convening of the second high level meeting on sea level rise and the adoption of the first political declaration on sea level rise. Every day our people are defending their coastlines, strengthening their resilience, protecting their food and water security and their cultural heritage, and, where there is no other choice, relocating. But we cannot do this alone. I call on this assembly to match the courage of our Pacific communities with collective international resolve to scale up adaptation and resilience finance, and to support communities facing climate mobility needs.

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They want the worst people to come in from the worst places on earth, and we don't do it anymore. We did do it, but we don't do that anymore. It is deeply ironic that the United Nations has an entire institution, the U. Nesco group of people and countries devoted to protecting cultural heritage. Yet with their ceaseless promotion of mass migration, these globalists are actively destroying the greatest cultures and most extraordinary heritage in all of history. There is no human right to illegal immigration, but there is a right to remain a sovereign nation, and we want to remain a sovereign nation. And so should you. The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now here and after officially called superintelligence, changing the name, and that the use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake, it makes it sound fake.

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President, I come from a country that is small in size but great— huge in terms of our nature. The Galápagos Islands, where Darwin found evidence of the evolution of life, are a world heritage site for the whole of humanity, and today they are threatened by illegal fishing networks that operate with the same logic and the same financing of other organized crime groups. The same is happening with illegal mining in the Amazon that's destroying forests and funding gangs. Protecting nature is also a matter of security.

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We want to develop these resources with clear rules, in full respect of the environment and for the benefit of our communities. Our extraordinary biodiversity, natural riches, and cultural heritage make us a country with a vast wealth of potential for tourism. We have crystal-clear waters and reefs in the Bay Islands. We have the Great Copan Ruins and the legacy of the Mayan civilization. And all of these things mean that we offer the world a unique combination of nature, history, and culture. And above all, we have the most valuable asset that any nation can hold: a young, hardworking, and capable population. A population who demands, and quite rightly so, the opportunity to use their talent on their own in their own country. We want to see investment. We want investment to arrive in the country and to stay. We want investment that creates jobs and which brings knowledge to the table to train our young people. My commitment is to facilitate investment in Honduras. Honduras is in a period of renewal.

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Mr. President, even as we work to restore trust, our world is transforming. Climate change is no longer tomorrow's warning; it is today's drought in Africa, floods in Asia, rising seas in the Pacific, and wildfires in Europe and the Americas. For Botswana, custodian of the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Kalahari ecosystem, climate change directly affects livelihoods, water security, and biodiversity. Botswana remains committed to the 30/30 target and the sustainable management of our natural capital.

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Not only do they protect knowledge and identity, they also allow people to adapt and to create. Bulgaria will continue to uphold this agreement at the international level as well. Our election as a member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2026-2030 is an opportunity to make this commitment an even more active contribution. Excellencies, all of these efforts lead toward a common goal: a world in which peace, security, human rights, and development are supported and upheld, in which international law protects human dignity.

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Croatia will continue to support merit based EU enlargement. EU membership can turn borders of division into lines of cooperation and reforms on paper, into stronger institutions and better living standards. But European transformation requires honesty about the past. Reconciliation becomes possible when responsibility for the crimes of the past is acknowledged and their glorification rejected. That standard allows no national exceptions. That means respect for victims and clear rejection of historical revisionism, not the glorification of war criminals. Ratko Mladić was a convicted war criminal responsible for the Srebrenica genocide, the first genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. While his criminal record reached its nefarious culmination in Srebrenica, his trail of war crimes stretches further back to the shelling of Croatian cities, the murder of civilians the mining of dams and the destruction of cultural heritage and industrial facilities. The military and official honours accorded to Mladić in Serbia were an affront to his victims and to the judgments of international courts. The participation of state representatives and the public acclaim that accompanied the ceremony is totally incompatible with the values of a Union Serbia seeks to join. The same commitment to equality and reform should guide Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a signatory to the Dayton Peace Accords, and a neighbour and a friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia is one of the strongest advocates of its European future. The Dayton Peace Accords ended the war and established the constitutional framework for Bosnia and Herzegovina. One state, two entities and three constituent peoples Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs. That balance is the foundation on which peace was built. Yet the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina are still being denied legitimate representation, including in the presidency of the country. That is unjust, destabilizing and contrary to the spirit of Dayton. The solution is neither division nor domination.

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For my country, for Cyprus, this is not an abstract principle; it is a painful existential reality. Fifty-two years have passed since the illegal Turkish invasion of Cyprus, an act of aggression violating the core principles of the UN Charter, an ongoing, flagrant violation of international law, with more than a third of the territory of Cyprus remaining under Turkish occupation. For fifty-two years, the tens of thousands of displaced and their descendants are prevented from returning to their homes. For fifty-two years, Varosha remains sealed off, with Turkey still in defiance of its clear and very specific obligations set out in the relevant UN resolutions. For fifty-two years, we are experiencing violations of fundamental human rights, the destruction of religious and cultural heritage, and the organized transfer of settlers amounting to demographic change. Pain and immense suffering are the daily reality of the relatives of the missing persons that, to this day, are demanding answers as to the fate of their loved ones. And for fifty-two years, the principles at stake have remained the same: respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity are not rhetorical vehicles, nor are they to be applied selectively depending on who the perpetrator is. These principles do not become less important with the passage of time, nor do the resolutions of this organization. UN resolutions cannot be upheld in one case and disregarded, fully disregarded in another. And the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a state cannot depend on its size, its power, or the passage of the time. And this is not only a question for Cyprus. It goes to the credibility of the international system itself. If we ask states to believe in multilateralism, if we expect them to be active contributors, then they must be able to trust that the principles and decisions of our institutions will be upheld without exception. Ladies and gentlemen, I listened very carefully to the speech of President Erdogan yesterday. References to international law, to the respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, to illegal occupation, to the drama of refugees. Yet, in relation to my country, in relation to Cyprus, Turkey is doing exactly the opposite: hyperosity of the highest form. President Erdogan yesterday also quoted extensively from the UN Charter, "But politicians are judged not by their words, but by their deeds." And if Mr. Erdogan wants to quote from the Charter, he must first apply the Charter. The UN Security Council has established the framework for the solution of the Cyprus problem. That framework of a bisonal, bicommunal federation with political equality remains the only basis on which a comprehensive settlement must be reached. And I remain fully committed to achieving a factional and viable solution. I'm ready. I'm ready to resume negotiations from where they left off, building on the substantial work already achieved. The common ground is there. The relevant UN Security Council resolutions, international law, and the law, values, and principles of the European Union. What is now required is political will by all parties and genuine willingness to return to meaningful negotiations, to engage seriously, to build on the body of work already achieved, and to reach a settlement that reunifies our country and our people. A settlement that allows Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, and Ladins to live together in peace, security, and prosperity. On my side, let me repeat it, I'm fully committed. Because, ladies and gentlemen, division will not be accepted. This cannot and will not be the future for my country and my people, ever. Our determination to reunify our island is firm. I therefore call on my Turkish Cypriot compatriots to perceive our future together as the opportunity for prosperity. And of course, I call on President Erdogan to give the green light for substantive negotiations within the UN agreed framework. Excellencies, I mentioned several times how change is inevitable. But the choices we make in response to change are ours. For countries like Cyprus, the answer must be cooperation with purpose.

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Your excellencies, some things demand our immediate attention, others demand sustained attention. Injustice demands both. Jordan understands this all too well. We know what it means to live in a region where one crisis arrives before the last one has receded, and we know that we cannot choose between responding to the emergency before us and building the future beyond it. So we're doing both. We are strengthening connections from the Gulf to the Mediterranean as a hub for trade, industry and technology while responding to humanitarian crises. We are confronting terrorism in the region and beyond, while developing our own defenses and remaining a frontline against threats like narcotics. We are protecting Christianity in its communities and heritage, in its native and historic land, while promoting the true image of Islam against the voices of hate. And through it all, we will not abandon our commitment to a just peace. We will continue to support Palestinian resilience, we will continue supporting UNRWA, and we will continue to uphold the Hashemite Custodianship and historic and legal status quo at Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Most importantly, Jordan is striving to build a different model principled, open and steady at a time when certainty is rare and politics can shift by the day. A country the world can count on, true to our principles, true to our word, ready to talk to everyone and ready to work with anyone seeking peace. However, our bias towards diplomacy will never supersede our commitment to human values and should not be taken for granted or mistaken for weakness. My friends, whether in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, or anywhere people live with war, displacement and fear. Whether crisis began weeks ago or has endured for decades, our principles cannot change with the world's attention. Military force cannot deliver meaningful solutions. It cannot feed the hungry, return the displaced, or build peace, nor can it repair our planet, manage mass migration, or guide technological progress.

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I'm referring to those who wish to progress in peace, to be able to work and return home safely. Also, those who defend the institution of the family that has its own credo and a culture forged throughout the centuries that today is being called into question. The majority feel under pressure due to the actions of progressive multiculturalism, that a large part of society is not prepared to accept, almost under coercion. I'm a president that comes from a great nation, a crystal of different cultural heritages that forged a society that's open to the world, with a strong belief in peace.

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Through ECOSOC, Sierra Leone will champion a development system that responds more effectively to Africa's priorities. Mr. president, restoring trust and delivering for all must also embrace the unfinished cause of Reparatory justice. In March, this Assembly adopted a resolution led by Ghana and supported by the African Union and Caribbean Community, recognising the trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. For Sierra Leone, this history is neither abstract nor distant. From Bunce Island, in our own river estuary, thousands of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic into enslavement. Freetown, our capital, would later become a home for formerly enslaved and liberated Africans. This history is woven into our national identity. However, the consequences did not end with abolition. Their legacy continues to be reflected in enduring disparities in wealth, power and opportunity across our world. Reparatory justice is therefore not a plea for charity. It is a call for acknowledgement, formal apology the return of cultural heritage fair redress and guarantee of non-repetition. Sierra Leone stands with Africa the Caribbean and the wider African diaspora in advancing this cause, not to remain captive to the past, but to build a more just and equitable future.

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Allow me to begin my speech by quoting the sentences that I delivered, uh, 14 years ago on this rostrum on behalf of Slovenia and also on behalf of vast number of current and former heads of states at that time who signed our declaration for. And, uh, allow me to quote This was, uh, 14 years ago, this year's team of the United Nations Assembly is peaceful resolution of disputes. Last year, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the entry into force of the convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention was the fruit of the tireless effort of the Polish jurist of Jewish descent, Raphael Lemkin. I would like to remind you that since the end of the Second World War alone, there have been more than 80 countries witnessing mass atrocities. At least 53 million innocent people lost their lives. And behind these numbers are concrete men and women as well as children. They had a future, but they were not allowed to leave that future. For this reason, I call on the member states of the United Nations, regional organizations and the United Nations system to develop a new approach and a strategy for the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities. In addition, an intergovernmental forum of like minded states should be established in order to propose a United Nations resolution that would give a clear mandate for preparation and adoption of an appropriate legal mechanism, legal mechanism that would give the concept of the responsibility to protect a new tool, a legal mechanism that will enforce the prevention of crime, a mechanism that will enable a faster and more effective response to acts of genocide and other mass atrocities. I would like to inform you that this initiative also comes from international civil society. The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy has gathered thousands of supporters and inter international non-governmental organizations among lawyers, lawyers, students, journalists and others. As early as 1960. 1946 Raphael Lemkin declared our heritage is the result of the contribution of all nations, all nations, as well as the United Nations, as we all have great responsibility, as well as an enormous opportunity to prevent atrocities in the future. We cannot escape history, but we can learn something from it. I firmly believe that the mistakes we made yesterday, we do not want to repeat tomorrow. We talk. We. We took responsibility for this word from our fathers, and we have a great responsibility to make it better for our children. I call on you to improve it by joining all our efforts for a world free from genocide and other mass atrocities. End of quote. This was 14 years ago, after 14 years. I know that despite the great initial support, our initiative has not been realized. And we can all say that today world is not better.

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Egypt is putting its experience and capabilities in service of solutions. Drawing upon its Arab, African and Mediterranean heritage, its historic role in founding the multilateral international order and its principled commitment to its survival and sustainability, Egypt will remain a bridge for cooperation and a partner to all those who seek a more just and effective international system. We will continue investing in partnerships with all parties. We remain open to cooperation and exchange of expertise, and to working with all nations in both the global North and the global South on solutions that do not impose a single model, but respect national priorities and are based on shared ownership.

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Fiji's identity, economy and future are inseparable from the ocean. Illegal fishing, pollution, biodiversity loss and warming. Acidifying diseases do not respect national boundaries. No island nation can meet them alone this year. The agreement on marine Biodiversity beyond national Jurisdiction entered into force a genuine achievement of Multiracialism multilateralism and Fiji calls for universal ratification for a first conference of the parties that delivers a functioning institution and for capacity building technology transfer that are real rather than aspirational. And in the deep sea, we ask for others not only to discipline not only the discipline, but we ask ourselves and no exploitation proceed until the science is sufficient and the rules are sound. The common heritage of humankind is an obligation all to those not yet born. Mr. president, Fiji comes to this great assembly as a small island state, but not with a small vision.

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Madam president, the Kingdom of Morocco. True to its constant approach, is determined to contribute effectively and responsibly to the maintenance of international peace and security. This is done in accordance with a realistic vision of international cooperation, grounded in solidarity and with full respect for international law, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity. It is in this context that the Kingdom of Morocco has presented its candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the term 2028 2029, so that it may continue to serve peace, collective security and multilateralism with full respect for the purposes and principles enshrined in the charter of the United Nations. It is the candidacy of a kingdom with a diplomatic heritage spanning several centuries, which carries the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. May God assist him as an actor for stability, as an anchor for stability and sustainable development in the world. This candidacy also reflects the continued contribution of the Kingdom of Morocco to the three pillars of the United Nations, namely peace, development and the rule of law.

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By the end of May, rainfall was 44% below the long-term average. We are investing in resilient infrastructure. But no small island developing state can adapt indefinitely to a crisis the world continues to intensify. Adaptation cannot excuse inaction elsewhere. Distinguished colleagues, the science is unequivocal. The years 2015 to 2025 were the warmest on record, and in 2025, global average temperature remained about 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, while global mean sea level stood approximately 11 centimeters higher than in 1993. For island nations, this is a question of sovereignty and statehood. If our coastlines retreat, our sovereignty must not. Mr. President, climate-induced sea level rise must never erase a state's international legal personality. Extinguish its UN membership, deprive its people of nationality, or diminish lawfully established maritime zones of sovereign rights. The International Law Commission has laid foundations for continuity of statehood, sovereignty, and maritime entitlements. This Assembly must turn them into firm guarantees. International law has spoken with increasing clarity. Saint Kitts and Nevis welcomed the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on states' climate obligations. Clarification must now become compliance. Compliments must become conduct. And promises must become performance. States must reduce emissions, strengthen adaptation on climate finance responsibilities, and cooperate with countries bearing consequences vastly disproportionate to their contribution to this crisis. Mr. President, those contributions least must not pay the greatest price. Our oceans must also move from promises to protection. Saint Kitts and Nevis ratified a BBNJ agreement in 2025. Implementation now matters. Large ocean states need access to capacity building, marine technology, scientific knowledge, and financing, while benefits from marine genetics resources must be shared fairly. For island nations, the ocean is not the space between us and the world; it is our highway, heritage, livelihood, and lifeline.

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Mr. president of the General Assembly. Mr. Secretary general ladies and gentlemen, 12 years could be in politics. A mere temporal span, the length of a protracted crisis. But for a Yemeni child, 12 years are his entire childhood. An entire generation was born amid war, grew up amid hunger, fear and weapons. Learning the names of minds before learning the alphabet of life. Today, we do not ask the world to mourn every Yemeni child whose future has been stolen. Rather, we ask how many more children must be deprived of their future before the world stands resolutely with the Yemeni people in their struggle to restore their state and their stability? The people of Yemen. Yemen. This great nation, with its rich history, civilization, and human heritage, has been enduring for 12 years. The consequences of the coup carried out by the terrorist Houthi militia against the state and its institutions.

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We're continuing the gradual expansion of universal health coverage, in particular through free maternity care, improved maternal and newborn care, vaccination, access to essential medicines, the strengthening of the healthcare workforce, and by expanding social protections. Mr. President, every health crisis confirms the same truth. Health sovereignty is built before emergencies. It is based upon accessible healthcare systems, robust epidemiological surveillance, high-performing laboratories, well-funded research, and above all, the trust of the population. In this regard, the Ebola virus outbreak caused by the Bundi Bugio strain remains a major test for our country. For the DRC, fighting this epidemic is an absolute priority. After having contained 16 previous outbreaks, the DRC is mobilizing recognized scientific and operational expertise. And thanks to national mobilization and the support of our partners, the response has recently begun producing tangible results. In addition, clinical trials are now underway to evaluate vaccines and treatments for this strain in particular. I'd like to pay tribute to the Congolese and foreign healthcare workers, researchers, communities, and our partners, especially the WHO and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the Africa CDC, for their invaluable support to the DRC in eradicating this disease and strengthening resilience to it. Mr. President, this need for resilience does not stop at the boundaries of health. It is also vital when it comes to climate disruptions, whose effects are already putting our societies under growing pressure: flooding, droughts, and erosion, not to mention population displacement, are threatening our stability. In light of these upheavals, not all countries bear the same responsibility or the same burden. Those who contribute least to global warming often suffer the heaviest consequences. This paradox is all the more striking, given that some of these countries are also some of the main custodians of the natural assets upon which our common future depends. The DRC is one of these custodians. It is home to a vital part of the Congo Basin, which is one of the planet's greatest climate regulators. Its forests, peatlands, freshwater, and biodiversity provide humanity with considerable ecosystem services. This world heritage will continue to be preserved while we maintain that the communities that protect it ought to be able to benefit from it. Climate finance, in this regard, is a fair solution. However, it ought to be accessible, predictable, and proportionate to the services rendered. Indeed, climate justice cannot consist in further indebting those who already bear the cost of damage they did the least to cause. In the DRC, this ambition is taking shape, especially through the Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor, which combines ecosystem preservation, economic development, and improved living conditions of the people. Generating 60 megawatts of electricity, this initiative also aims, by 2027, to create 25,000 jobs and protect 5,000 square kilometers of natural forest. The climate crisis is also a water crisis. Following the African Water Forum held in Jamena in July, the DRC has proposed the creation of an African Coalition for Water Security, which aims to strengthen regional cooperation and mobilizing the financing needed to make water a driver of development and for the prevention of tensions. Mr. President, these transformations require considerable resources. Four years from the 2030 deadline, the Congolese roadmap for accelerating the SDGs estimates our needs at more than $70 billion.

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And those words give my compatriots and I courage to uphold the Pan-African and anti-colonial heritage that was bequeathed to us by our forebears. Another line in our item petitions God to fill our hearts with true humility and make us cherish fearless honesty. That prayer inspires me today to follow in the footsteps of Doctor Kwame Nkrumah, Haile Selassie, Nelson Mandela and other global icons who have stood at this very podium before me and have spoken boldly and fearlessly about the state of affairs in our world. The words the world may not transform overnight because of the speeches that we deliver here in this August assembly, but history would faithfully record the truths we choose to speak and the silences that we choose to keep When we are granted the privilege of addressing this global town hall. Allow me, therefore, to begin by reintroducing myself to the General Assembly. I stand before you as president of the Republic of Ghana. Yet we too often ascend these heights draped only in the ropes of our titles, forgetting that alongside each of us stands a history, a people, and a legacy I was born in a little town, Damango, which was then a modest community in northern Ghana, and it's now the capital of the Savannah region of my country. I was born to Mr. Emmanuel Adama Mahama of Berlin and Madam Abeba Naba of both of blessed memory. I belong to them and I belong to the foremothers and the forefathers who gave birth to them, who named them, who nurtured them, and who passed down the enduring values by which I live today. I grew up at the crossroads of several Ghanaian cultures. I speak Gonja, which is a language I speak three and Ghana. I am fluent in Hausa, spoken across the West African savanna and the Sahel.

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We cannot call upon security in and of itself to bear the burden of peace. Economic recovery needs to be the other pillar. This is why we welcome the decision taken by the administration of President Donald Trump to extend through 2028 the trade preference known as HOPE/HELP. We are deeply grateful for this gesture of friendship, which is an important step for our economic recovery, and we call for it to be extended by ten years. We also want to extend our gratitude to the United Kingdom for the Developing Countries Trading Scheme, and we call upon more countries to put in place similar mechanisms that are capable of transforming access to markets and to opportunities for trade and investment. Haiti needs investment to craft its future. This is why today Haiti is calling for a paradigm shift. We need to move from aid to investment, from assistance to production, from dependency to partnership, and we must gradually transform resources mobilized in order to manage the crisis into investments that can create jobs and sustainable opportunities, in particular for our young people and our women. Because when you no longer hear the sound of the guns, you need to hear the sounds of peace: engines that are starting, construction sites that are beginning work again, bustling markets, women that are running businesses, young people that are working, the laughter of children that are playing, and our streets that again, are rediscovering the rhythm of our music and our life. Those who have had the privilege of knowing Haiti know that this country exists behind the images of crises. There's a people that is welcoming and has a vibrant culture with unique knowledge, with stunning beaches and heritage, and exceptional richness. We need to recreate the conditions so that the world can come to Haiti again to discover it, invest in it, do business there and stay there and come back.

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To those cynics, I want to point out an instance that shows how hope can triumph over defeatism. And I go back to 1967 when representing the then geographically smallest member state of the Europe of the United Nations, a member state that had been a member of the United Nations for less than three years, Arvid Pardo spoke up in this General Assembly in a stirring speech, Malta's permanent representative made a passionate plea to the world's common humanity. He may have been speaking on behalf of a very small nation, but he had a very ambitious vision. Pardo Pardo called for the world to treat the resources of the oceans beyond their own borders as the common heritage of mankind. His demand for a law of the sea was prescient, but to achieve it took persistence. In fact, it took 27 years before it came into being. What motivated Malta's action, then, is what motivates Malta's demands now? Doing nothing meant leaving the world's oceans to the mercy of the world's biggest, strongest and richest nations. Taking action showed that, and I quote, they belonged to all of humanity. Those living and those who still had to be born. That spirit was evident was evident when, in 1988, right at the start of the concern about global warming, Malta proposed the United Nations General Assembly resolution that recognized climate change as a global problem, requiring collective and global solutions suspicion of collective action won't be counteracted by retreat. It will only be overcome by the strength to turn convictions into action.

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For concern for creation and concern for humanity are inextricably linked. That is why, in the center of our reflection about the future of the world, what must remain is human and their dignity. Ladies and gentlemen, human rights are not an afterthought to international politics. They are at its foundation and also stem from ethical principles older than our organization. Violating them always leads to violence, destabilization, and conflict. History, including the history of my country, teaches us this lesson in a very clear way. The social movement that led to the fall of the communist government imposed on Poland was called solidarity. It was an expression of the courage of people who, despite repression and the lack of freedom, refused to live under a system based on lies and violence. We may differ in our assessments of the extent to which the crimes of the communist system have been addressed. This debate is still ongoing in my country, but this is precisely why we should pay tribute to all those people, especially the workers, thanks to whom we have a free world today and who do not boast of their wealth and status gained at the expense of others, but remain faithful to their values and commitments. They are the ones who showed that freedom begins with courage, always. Ladies and gentlemen, too many people around the world still face persecution because of their faith. This applies to many different religious communities, but today we must speak in particular about the plight of Christians in regions affected by conflict and persecution. Until recently, Christian communities were a natural part of social life there. Present for 2,000 years, helping to shape the culture, language, and identity of entire regions, today, in many places, their numbers have dwindled dramatically. Sometimes, only traces of their former presence remain. Along with these people, a living tradition is disappearing, the heritage of the first centuries of Christianity. This legacy has been stopped in many places and perhaps even lost. Attacks on places of worship, discrimination, violence, and even loss of life. This is a reality that cannot go unanswered by the international community.

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