Speech by Jean Kamau, UN Resident Coordinator in observance of UN Day 2024

Your Excellency Honorable Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, Acting President Prime Minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Honourable Dr. Frank Anthony, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Minister of Health
Senior officials of government 
Members of Parliament 
Distinguished Excellencies of the diplomatic community – High Commissioners, Ambassadors UN Heads of Agencies and colleagues
Staff of the UN System in Guyana
Representatives of civil society, the private sector, NGOs, youth organizations, the media, partners, friends 
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honor to address you this evening as we celebrate United Nations Day. This day holds special significance. It marks the anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter in 1945. The Charter still underpins our mission to promote peace, protect human rights, coordinate humanitarian relief, and advance sustainable development and climate action.

Today, the UN Secretary-General speaks openly of the crises we face — multiple conflicts affecting millions, the spiraling climate crisis, rising inequality, and humanitarian suffering.
He reminds us that global crises are best tackled, indeed, can only be tackled, with collective action. And he recalls that international institutions, such as our own, must respond better, and quicker to meet these challenges.

As the new United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guyana, it is my great honour to represent the Secretary-General, and it is my task to help implement the Secretary-General’s calls to action in the coming years.

Ladies and Gentlemen, last month’s Summit of the Future in New York, attended by leaders from around the world concluded with three new international agreements. These are the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations. Among their objectives, these agreements point the way towards a fairer global financial system. They re-commit us to ending war, which reverses development. They set a pathway for a greener planet, and one in which technology serves humanity. And they put future generations at the center of our decision-making today.

I am hugely inspired, as a UN official, to see Guyana leading in many of the commitments that were made in the Pact for the Future. With respect to youth, already Guyana is a Co-Facilitator for the establishment of the UN’s Youth Office, which puts young people closer to the heart of the multilateral system. As it relates to global security, as we know, Guyana is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council until 2026. In this role Guyana is contributing to discussions and decisions on international peace and security contributing to Key resolutions, sanctions and peacekeeping mandates. In the Caribbean sub-region, Guyana also is using its position on the Security Council to advocate for an end to the appalling gang violence in Haiti.

On Climate Change, Guyana is leading at the regional and global spheres. This week, Guyana has a delegation at the Global Biodiversity Summit in Cali, Colombia, for COP16. Next year, as announced by His Excellency President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Guyana will convene a Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit in Guyana. His Excellency’s initiative is hugely welcome: it encourages all countries to put a value on biodiversity, that truly acknowledging its role in the survival of our species. We look forward, too, to Guyana’s presence at the Global Climate Summits in Azerbaijan this year, and Brazil next year. These summits, COPs 29 and 30, represent potentially the final opportunities for the world to avoid the most damaging climate change scenarios. People worldwide will look to all countries, including Guyana, to set the very highest levels of ambition to reduce carbon emissions.

In this broader global context, I have the great privilege to serve as Resident Coordinator of our UN Country Team in Guyana.

Your Excellency, Prime Minister, ladies and Gentlemen,

Our UN Country Team includes 17 Agencies, Funds and Programs. Eleven have permanent offices here in Georgetown. Last year, we implemented US$17 million in projects with our partners here. We bring transparent, trusted, and technically robust support to this country, at the invitation of national authorities. We leverage global networks to help ensure that the country's development remains rights-based, inclusive, resilient, and aligned with the SDGs. 
We remain fully committed to supporting national authorities, and to our deep, long-standing partnerships with civil society, the private sector, and international development actors. 
It is a great pleasure to see so many of you here this evening.

Allow me, please, to highlight a few key areas of work of our UN Country Team and acknowledge some of my colleagues. 
•    First, our UN Country Team is working on prosperity, jobs, and livelihoods. Here, we are heavily involved in expanding Guyana’s non-oil economy, especially through our work in agriculture, led by the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative Gillian Smith. Right now, colleagues from International Labor organization (ILO) are working with Government, business, and trades unions on a new program for Guyana that focuses on promoting good jobs: that’s what we call ‘decent work’. 
•    Next, our projects to promote equality, and try to ensure that no-one is left behind from Guyana’s economic transformation. Here, I am proud of our efforts to improve early childhood development and education, and address the needs of young people, led by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and their Representative Mr. Nicolas Pron. 
•    Then, our long-term efforts to improve health, healthy living and reproductive health. I am most grateful for the leadership of the Pan American Health Organization PAHO/WHO Representative, Daniel Albrecht; United Nations Fund for Population activities (UNFPA’s) Adler Bynoe, and our UNAIDS Adviser, Nicholas Persaud. 
•    I would also like to highlight some of the work we do to help those people in some of the most difficult circumstances in Guyana. These people find themselves in extremely tough situations because of joblessness, because they have been forced to leave their home countries because of increasing insecurity, or sometimes because they are fleeing abusive relationships. Allow me, then, to acknowledge Eraina Yaw, Head of IOM in Guyana; Adriana Negry, who leads UNHCR’s work here; Gregory Munene, Head of our WFP Office, and UN WOMEN’s Akilah Dorris. 
•    Then, I would like to thank UNDP’s Resident Representative, Gerardo Noto, for his leadership of our projects on environmental protection, governance and human rights including our support to Amerindian land titling in Guyana. This is so important, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. 
Before I close, I would like to reiterate how much I am looking forward to working with all of you in the coming years. Our UN Country Team invited you here today, because we deeply sincerely appreciate your partnership. Without your efforts, without your knowledge, and without your long-standing commitment to Guyana’s development, the UN System has no meaningful footprint here.

On this UN Day, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of you and most importantly to the dedicated staff who do the hard work.

As we celebrate today, let us take this evening to recommit to the values of the United Nations: standing united in the face of adversity, acting with compassion, and pursuing justice for all people, no matter their circumstances.

Happy United Nations Day.

Thank you.