President John Dramani Mahama has declared that the equality of all races and nations is the unyielding moral foundation upon which the United Nations must stand.
His address at the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, held under the theme ‘Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All’, centred on the idea that every human being belongs to the human family.
“Belonging anchors us; it reminds us that we are part of a human story far larger than ourselves. It is a vital wellspring of dignity and pride,” he said.
He warned that belonging has a dark side when exploited for political gain.
“But belonging also has a dark side. When weaponised by political expediency, it transforms into nativism, chauvinism, xenophobia and the dangerous prejudices extended to those who are deemed different. It becomes the pretext for discrimination, displacement, persecution, and war,” he said.
President Mahama said despite these divisions, the UN’s founding principle remains unchanged.
“Yet for this Organisation, the United Nations, the founding principle remains immutable: Every human being belongs to the human family,” he stated.
He said restoring trust and making the UN deliver for all will only be possible if the world rejects hierarchy among peoples.
“No race is superior. No nation is inferior. No child’s life is worth less because of the language they speak, the faith they profess, the colour of their skin, or the land of their birth. This is the unyielding moral foundation upon which the United Nations must stand,” President Mahama said.
President Mahama had earlier said history will record the truth leaders choose to speak and the silence they choose to keep at the UN.
